I’m a little fitness enigma. I run, I yoga, I CrossFit, I BodyPump, I strength train on my own…I love it all. I would say that most people give up things like BodyPump when they start CrossFitting but I enjoy teaching BodyPump so much and I still really like the workout. It’s just so fun!
I taught BodyPump 85 for the first time tonight. This was after a two-week BodyPump hiatus. It kicked my ass.
Overall, I really like this release. It’s full of challenging choreography and interesting combinations of movements. Musically, it’s my favorite release in quite a while. Here is my take on the release, track by track.
Warmup – The warmup is what it is. BodyPump tries to innovate but it’s a formula that always serves it’s purpose.
Squats – Hard. It’s two super sets of work and they are not messing around with this one. Lots of bottom half pre-fatiguing before moving into singles and drop and holds. It burned like crazy to stay low in the bottom half. I could barley walk to pause the music when the track was over…and that’s not an exaggeration.
Chest – HARD! This is a longer chest track than usual that involves working from the bottom of your chest press for a couple rounds. I loved this and I’m so glad that they brought this back after a long hiatus.
Back and Hamstrings – Easier. But only because I love clean and press and there are a ton of them in this track. I always struggle with the tracks that focus more on lots of sets of dead rows but I can rock the clean and press and power press.
Triceps – Medium. The only reason why this track was challenging for me was because I used the recommended weight – my back weight. Typically I go back down to warm up weight or a little heavier but I’m glad I went heavier. There are no tricep extensions and only presses, which were hard with the heavier weight. Then you move on to dips and overhead extensions.
Biceps – Hard but fun. I’m usually not a huge Pink fan but BodyPump seems to really love her. I have to say I liked this track and it was way challenging. Lots of focus on bottom halfs and tons of singles. Good stuff.
Lunges – HARD! You start out with squats before moving onto static lunges. Then the good stuff happens. BodyPump has been adding in some plyometric work in recent releases and I like it. In this release you jump on and off of the bench at the end of the track and it left me with burning thighs and gasping for air. Check out my video demo of the plyo work. It doesn’t look so bad but try it and then you’ll understand. Oh, and don’t laugh at my jazz hands. 😉
Shoulders – Hard. Walking push ups to start, which I L-O-V-E. Then you take a break in child’s pose before hitting a big set of singles. I loved the music, loved the choreography, loved the combination of movements in this track. I predict it will become one of my “go-to” faves.
Abs – Easy. Hated this ab track and will most likely never teach it again. I didn’t find it challenging at all and I missed the planks at the end.
Cool Down – Again, is what it is and serves its purpose but the song was great. I’m going to use it in my yoga classes.
BodyPump was so sad tonight because it was my last time co-teaching with Andre. We have been teaching this Thursday night class together for TWO years. The Y is cutting us down to one instructor per class so Andre and I will alternate Thursdays moving forward. I am going to miss his energy so much.
Fellow BodyPumper lovers, what did you think about this release?
