Your opinions on Goodlife Les Mills Body Pump Classes?

Thank you everyone for your replies but may i didn't phrase my question right.

I've been going to Goodlife Body Pump classes for a little over 2 months now and I do love it

but I'm just wondering if it is a good workout for toning/strengthening and whether or not it counts as "lifting" ?

I feel compelled to answer questions similar to these because I've seen a lot of people comment about how body pump is ineffective at creating muscle growth or does not do enough to 'tone' muscle. There are many studies that support the idea that heavy lifting with lower reps helps build muscle faster, however it is certainly possible to tone and build lean muscle mass with light weights under higher repetitions, which is what body pump is. The key is you have to know what is challenging for you, and push yourself to add more weight once you've adapted to your current load. It's all about creating change and pushing your body to reach muscular failure. If you've ever taken a body pump class, you know that if you've challenged yourself, it is incredibly difficult to keep lifting with the high tempo music especially towards the end of the song - that is muscular failure. Your muscle fibers literally break themselves, and your body has to recover and repair them. Once repaired, your body adapts by using stronger muscle fibers, which increases your strength.

It gets somewhat repetitive seeing people comment about how body pump doesn't build muscle. In fact, I've seen people inaccurately say that "you shouldn't lose much muscle mass doing body pump" (you don't lose any). Based on personal experience, I know for a fact that body pump does in fact build lean muscle. My body fat percentage has gone down, even though my overall weight has stayed relatively constant. Scales with body fat percentage measurements (although not entirely accurate, they provide a good baseline) don't lie. I'm not saying that body pump builds more muscle faster than heavy weights with lower reps, it probably doesn't, but I do know that body pump is one way to build muscle if you keep at it. I do not lift heavy weights outside of body pump at all, because I find it boring. In the end, you have to stick with something that motivates you and that you enjoy doing, because otherwise it just becomes a chore. I've been taking body pump for about two years now though, so it's been a while, but I've enjoyed every class.

If you want fast results and rapid strength gains, though, you probably are better off with heavy weights. If you like doing body pump and prefer it over heavy lifting, you'll see results, it just might not be as fast. If you're looking to tone, strengthen, and burn fat, body pump will definitely help you. I'm a guy, so it's different, but I've seen a lot of women take body pump classes and none of them ever bulk up (like the hulk), they just lose some weight and look all around healthier. You won't become like one of those female body builders, unless you maybe take testosterone pills.

See link below for more information:
http://www.builtlean.com/2012/07/19/high-reps-vs-low-reps/