Body4Me

Hi Everyone.

Well, we just finished our first week of Bodypump 66 classes. So, what’s the verdict from the crowd ? They love it!

I’ve had some real positive feedback about the warmup track. It’s a nice upbeat song with a really good bass line. It sets the mood very well. The Squat track is awesome with it’s three big rounds. For me though, the real fun is in the Chest track. Now, do yourself a favour : Go heavier on the weights ! The track is designed to allow you to put a little more weight on the bar as we finish early on the bench to hit the pushups. For my first class, I used my normal chest weigths and it simply wasn’t enough. Since then, I’ve been putting an extra 2.5kg on each end and it really makes a difference. You need to overload the muscles in the ‘Get Down’ part to make the track work properly.

The Back track is the next big one. Four sets of clean & presses is a lot of work ! You really have to focus and pull together to finish the last few sets of triple rows in good form.

As I said before, I love the Tricep track. Again, the choreography works very very well. I like it that much, I wish the whole track were longer. I’m sure my participants feel otherwise about the dips at the end though :)

The next big track is the Lunges. It looks easy on paper, but, wow, does it hurt. You get a few dynamic lunges to warm up, then 32 proper ones to really hit home. Each Leg. Once again, I had one of my usually so well mannered front row ladies whisper some pretty harsh obscenities during the track. That’s when you know the workout is doing it’s job… :) I really like the lunge tracks from the last few releases.

For the shoulders, again, go with the heavy option. Towards the end, you have the choice to very quickly grab a bar instead of using the hand weights. I highly recommend that one. Don’t get me wrong though, the track is hard, real hard. The Arnold Press move tires out every part of your deltoids. Using the bar at the end though really makes you feel though you couldn’t have done another press if you wanted to.

The Abs track is another one of my new favourites. The song itself is really good, but the rolling side plank move is my new favourite. It’s another one of those things that looks easy on paper but is quite hard to do properly. Watch your hips! Lock them into place. The idea is that you move your upper body and use your obliques to stabilise and rotate. If you move your hips forward during the movement, you take all the work right out of it. Don’t worry, once you’re doing it right, you’ll know it :)

So, once again, BodyPump 66 is a fantastic whole-body workout. The use of body weight exercises throughout the class really gets in deep. The music is fantastic, the choreography is perfectly matched and workout is hard. If you have friends that think group exercise classes are the easy option instead of going to the gym ‘properly’, bring them along to this one.

Enjoy your workout.

BodyPump. One Tribe, One Bar, One Workout.

Kia Kaha!

Hi Patrick,

Your posts are inspiring, glad that I stumbled upon ur site. Wish you were my instructor to keep me constantly motivated ;) I can’t wait for the launching of the new BodyPump tomorrow evening at my gym! =) Must mentally (n physically) prepared for the tough tracks and eat good high energy food before class.

Looking forward for more of your posts and congrats on your new born baby.

Take care!

Hi msbodypumper

Thank you very much for the comment. It’s nice to get feedback :)
You’re going to love BP 66. I’ve been doing it for a couple of weeks now and i’m still right into it.
If you’re every in (sometimes) sunny Melbourne, Australia, feel free to drop by at Fitness First, Collins St any time. We always have a blast.

You know, you’re exactly right about keeping constantly motivated. That’s why I love the group exercise classes so much. All the fun of a big workout with a free personal trainer thrown in. That’s exactly why I got into it in the first place. When i was a participant, i had some fantastic instructors who always lifted me through the workout no matter how much it hurt and how much i just wanted to put the bar down and have a rest. Now it’s payback time :)

Enjoy 66. Do me a favour though. When you get to the end of the Chest, Tricep and Bicep tracks and you get to do the sloooow Pushup, Dip and Curl, put a big smile on your face, grit your teeth and go as slow, deep and deliberate as you can. Right then, it doesn’t matter how much it hurts. Do it for yourself and know that that’s the one that’s going to make the difference. Challenge yourself. Win!

Have fun,
Patrick