I don’t think I’ve been so happy to see the arrival of a weekend since I started fitness full-time. This may have been my busiest week yet and I definitely taught the most classes that I have ever taught in one week – 18 between Sunday and today! That is insane.
I am determined that this weekend will be ultra-productive and I got off to a great start this afternoon. I kicked-off my organization rampage with a bang and got a ton done in the guest bedroom (AKA my closet) and cleaned out my car (including the trunk) and took it to get washed. Ahh…feeling so much better already. Nothing in the house is safe this weekend – I am going to be ruthless with the “trash” pile. 😉
Breakfast this morning was banana pumpkin oatmeal. I haven’t opened a can of pumpkin in months but it sounded good this morning. Oatmeal included oats, oat bran, chia seeds, golden raisins, pumpkin pie spice, salt, banana, pumpkin, milk and water. Topped with sunflower seed butter and Crofter’s Superfruit Spread.
I made a late lunch when I got home from teaching deep stretch and vinyasa flow classes. I made a panini/grilled cheese with apricot preserves, brie, apples and spinach on Great Harvest Whole Grain Goodness. I cooked it in a cast iron skillet with Kerrygold salted butter. Apples and carrots on the side.
BodyPump 80 Review
We launched BodyPump 80 at the Y this week and I am loving the release! It is challenging and includes new and fun innovations. I also feel like it is more cardio intensive.
Here is the track list…
- Warm Up: Resuscitate Me – September
- Squats: The Edge Of Glory (Glory Mix) – Red Beans & Rice
- Chest: Smells Like Teen Spirit – Ninth Immortal
- Back and Hamstrings: The Tide – Twilight
- Triceps: Till The World Ends – Britney Spears
- Biceps: Eye Of The Tiger – Altiyan Childs
- Lunges: Fading Like A Flower (Club Radio Mix) – Dan Winter
- Shoulders: Hands Up! (Sample Ripperz Remix) – Jens O
- Abs: Rolling In The Deep – Colourbox
- Cool Down: Fade Into Me – David Cook
Warm Up – the warm ups in BodyPump are pretty formulaic but this one does include a little more of a cardio focus with more single repetitions, especially with dead rows.
Squats – there are nearly 150 squats squeezed into this track. It’s heavy on the singles which are not only challenging but also drive the heart rate up. It’s broken into three sets of work. I don’t love the cover of “The Edge of Glory.”
Chest – the chest track is pretty standard but packs a punch at the end with 20 singles. It annoys me a little that the music is recycled from a shoulder track a few releases back.
Back and Hamstrings – this track sees the return of the power press combo where you clean and press and then complete three overhead presses before coming down and then it’s followed by triple dead rows and then a lot of wide rows. LOVE THIS! I not only got the cardio benefit from the clean and press power combo but my back was burning from all the dead rows and the long sets of repeaters in the wide rows.
Triceps – HARD! First things first, love Britney in this track. You start off with a couple of sets of work with the bar before moving into triceps pushups and overhead extensions. The triceps pushups in the middle are what really put this over the edge because there’s a set of 16 singles. I struggled to complete them all on my toes and I pride myself on my love for pushups of any kind! 😉
Biceps – there’s no break in the bicep track but it’s still relatively easy. Usually I struggle the most with biceps but I actually feel like I could go up on my weight here. I like the retro music selection and the choreography goes great with it.
Lunges – it’s hard to say whether lunges or shoulders are the shining star of this release. I think they are equally
Shoulders – just when I think they can’t make shoulders any more difficult, they do. This shoulder track might be the hardest one since I started teaching BodyPump (back on release 66). It’s designed to be circuit-style training. You start out with the bar doing overhead presses and then move to the plates for a variety of exercises including the new rotator press. Then you hit the floor for a big set of 16 pushups before repeating the plate work and another set of pushups. Then it ends with more overhead presses with the bar. Wow!
Abs – usually I find BodyPump abs to be pretty easy but I found myself shaking during the hovers and side planks at the end of this track. The holds are long and with tired shoulders, you have no choice but to use every ounce of ab strength that you have to stay in it.
Cool Down – I never study the choreography for cool down but I like the song! I’m always just so happy to be on the floor and stretching by that point that I love all cool downs! 🙂
For those of you who BodyPump – what do you think of BodyPump 80?
