strength training in gym classes

[tielan]

I've been doing weights resistance training for strength and fitness on and off for the last twelve or thirteen years, almost exclusively in gym classes.

The specific class I attend is the Les Mills' Body Pump class where one performs repetitions of muscle-strengthening exercises to music during an hour-long class.

It works the entire body through a series of 10 tracks - warm-up, squats (quad/thighs and butt), chest (pecs), back, triceps, biceps, lunges (calves, inner thighs and butt), shoulders, abdominals, and cool down. Each track lasts around 5 minutes and focuses on a specific muscle group, with the exception of the warm-up and the cool-down tracks, which work/stretch all of them.

In Body Pump classes, most weights resistance uses adjustable weights on a bar, so the individual can set them as light or as heavy as they wish. Reps are usually done in sets of eight, with each rep being timed with beats of the music. The format of 10 tracks gives a structure to the workout, and the music tracks change every three months with a new 'release'.

Personally, it's easier for me to attend a class than to do freestyle weights, because:

• I give up too easily when it's just me;
• the routine is comforting - quads are followed by chest are followed by back is followed by triceps... every week, without fail;
• the structure makes it easier for me to remember what I was pumping last time in the same track (quads last week, 10kg; quads this week, 13kg) and consequently, easier for me to work my way up the weights
• because it's you lifting the weights and not the machine, you're working your whole body, even when you're focusing on one muscle group
• I like singing to the music. (What? I like music! I like singing! I like dancing to the music!)

Benefits for me are:

• reducing body fat
• increasing muscle strength
• improved metabolism
• better core strength
• feeling good about myself and my general health

The downside is that it's a class at a gym, and can be intimidating for people who are self-conscious, or for people who feel they need to be 'co-ordinated' to go to one of the classes.

One of the things I like about the Body Pump series is that it doesn't require that much co-ordination to do. It's not a 'dance' class like Body Jam (funk/jazz/hip-hop), or a highly choregraphed class like Body Combat (psuedo-kickboxing moves), Body Attack (traditional aerobics), or Body Step (step aerobics). Yes, there are moves to learn in Pump, but it's not too different to learning how to use the weights machines and the moves don't change from release to release - a row is a row is a row, a squat is a squat is a squat...once you know, just go!

Regarding embarrassment and self-consciousness, in my experience, the people who go to the classes at the gym are there to improve their own fitness, not to show off as people in the main gym areas can sometimes be. So they're more focused on themselves than on other people. (Plus, when your muscles are screaming at you, you don't really have the concentration to notice what other people are doing: you're too focused on getting through the next rep.)

Ultimately, I feel that strength training is not about looking good while working out - it's about working out. So my perspective is if I need to adjust my weights so I don't strain something, then I'll stop and adjust my weights. If I'm slower than the rest of the class, then I'll go slower and do it right. If everyone else is stretching right and I'm stretching left, then as long as I give both sides a good stretch, does it matter?

If you've got questions about pump classes specifically or gym classes generally, I'm happy to answer as I can, just keep in mind that my experience is from an Australian point-of-view and that the way things work here may not be the same in the US or Europe.

Comments

[damned_colonial]

You say they do 8 reps ... so is it 8 reps, then a break, then repeat for the length of the track? How many sets do you typically do of each exercise?

Do they do a mix of exercises for each thing? Like, is it a whole track of doing the same squat exercise, or do they change exercise partway through the track or do supersets or what?

Does the instructor give tips on good form?

How easy is it to switch weights between tracks? Do you have to have a little stash of weight discs by your place ready to switch stuff in and out? What is the mechanism used to attach the weights to the bar? What's the max weight that you could put on the bar? Like, if you normally lift pretty heavy weights (say you squat 100lb or 200lb or something) would you be able to do that with the equipment provided?

[tielan]

Okay, I suspect I've already gotten myself tangled in my terminology! :/

I said that the reps are in sets of 8 when I meant that the reps are set to 8 counts of the beat - usually around two bars of music.

Standard "timings" for reps include:

• "super slows" - four counts down, four counts up
• "two-twos" - two counts down, two counts up
• "singles" - one count down, one count up
• "bottom halves" - single reps that only extend halfway up, so the muscle is kept partially flexed.
• there are also variations within the four counts - three counts down, one count up ("slow down, one up") or one count down, three counts up ("quick down, slow up").

There's no break between the grouped sets of reps, they just keep going. Breaks overall might happen briefly after a verse-and-chorus combination, or when there's a musical interlude or break in the song.

In the average track, between 75-150 reps are performed, more or less non-stop. For some tracks, it's the same movements - ie. squats and biceps are almost always the same movement, it's just the timing and range that differs. For others, there's a mix of movements - the chest track might have press-ups and push-ups; the back track usually does rows, hamstrings, and the clean-and-press; shoulders have push-ups, flys, mac raises, and overhead presses; lunges can have hip flexor stretches, lunges, calf raises, squats, and forward/backward-stepping lunges.

As an example of a squat track: (to "I Do Not Hook Up" by Kelly Clarkson)

• 8x two twos, 2x three-down-one-ups,
• 8x singles, 2 sets of 4x bottom halves
• 8x two twos, 2x three-down-one-ups,
• 8x singles, 2 sets of 4x bottom halves
• 2x super slows
• 2 sets of 4x bottom halves
• 1x super slows
• 4 sets of 4x bottom halves
• break
• 8x two twos, 2x three-down-one-ups,
• 8x singles, 2 sets of 4x bottom halves
• 2x super slows
• 2 sets of 4x bottom halves
• 1x super slows
• 4 sets of 4x bottom halves
• 1x super slow

for a total of 138 reps in about 6 minutes. (That’s a particularly hellish track, mind you - I’d say one of the harder ones.)

Consequently, I would recommend lifting a much lighter weight for a pump class than for, say, three sets of 8 reps.

The instructor gives time between the tracks to switch weights and arrange the "bench" (a step box which is set up so you can lie on it for the chest and triceps tracks, and sometimes as additional height for the lunge track). It's generally pretty easy to switch weights - you pick the weights you'll need at the start of the class, and have them by your bench so you can swap them on and off. Between the tracks, the instructor also should give advice on form, and some will intervene in the middle of the track with advice if they feel it's needed.

It sounds pretty confusing, and it can be a little daunting the first time, but I've found the results really good.

[thothmes]

I live in the country, and the gym is a 45 minute drive away. Once I take out time for 1 to 1 1/2 hours of aerobic activity, and then I add the same amount for drive time... So I do free weights at home. I really prefer the aerobic component (I walk or run depending on the day, all outside, or I nordic ski or snowshoe if it is too snowy and I'd have to argue right of way with the plows), but I absolutely agree with you on the benefits of weight training. I disliked that portion of my workout enough that I tried to convince myself that just the aerobic component would be enough. Empirical evidence showed me otherwise, and now I'm back on the wagon weight bench.

I've taught swimming since I was 15. During those years I manage to slowly gain (and subsequently lose) 95 lbs - about the weight of the average 10 year old. Standing around in a swimsuit, with a class staring with rapt attention in the general direction of my obese body while clad only in a bathing suit has taken care of any problems with embarrassment or self-consciousness! This was a major help in grad school when we all had to address the Roman Games class, some 100 or so strong. My fellow grad school students suffered greatly from stage fright, and I didn't, which was a real shock when it happened, because previously I'd had a terror of public speaking. So my theory is that just the act of heading off to the class at the gym will help with those issues, and then the effects of the exercise itself will reinforce the lesson!

[tielan]

I find that it's a mix of aerobic and anaerobic that does me best. So I do pump class 3x a week, a pilates class once a week, play one hockey game and also go to hockey training. I have the time for it right now, and while I think I've may have been overdoing it a touch on the weights lately, my body feels happier and healthier overall.

[yvi]

Oh, interesting.

If I'm slower than the rest of the class, then I'll go slower and do it right.

You mean making the exercises slower, right? Otherwise, won't the rest of the class be waiting for you to finish.

[tielan]

Usually, it's not as rigid as "you must do every rep". Sometimes one can 'hurry up' or skip a movement in order to keep up with the class and the music. But it's not unusual for people to pause in their workout, to take a rep or two off, especially towards the end of the track.

[meri]

That sounds really fun. I just do boring old weight lifting and pilates. Although I do like that I can lift very heavy weights if I like because it makes me feel strong. :D

[tielan]

Heh. I understand that very well! When I first started reading rydra_wong's posts, I admit that I was shocked to find people pressing up to 40-50kg and felt very inadequate. And then I realised that they're doing maybe a quarter or a third of the reps that are done in a class track, which explains why the weights are so much heavier!

One of the things I find Pump classes do is develop stamina and endurance as well as build muscle. I remember discovering that I could run to the bus-stop without feeling completely wrecked after a couple of months doing Body Pump classes when I'd done no aerobic training in the same period.