Les Mills BodyPump is the OG of group strength training classes. Set to great music, participants move through a barbell-based workout targeting all the major muscle groups. It’s a fun, motivating, calorie-burning class for beginners to regular exercisers.
To talk about WHY you should do BodyPump is also a WHY you should strength train. Strength training is an important part of total fitness and wellness. So let’s get into why you should strength train and why BodyPump is a great training option.
Build lean (muscle) body mass
When people are talking about fitness and wellness you don’t hear a lot about building body mass. Instead, you’ll hear about losing mass (or weight) but building muscle mass is still a big part of that journey.
- Lean body mass helps keep your metabolism firing so you are a calorie burning machine — helping with weight loss AND weight maintenance.
- When most people set out to lose weight, they start with a number on a scale. But really most of the time it’s about body composition. They want to feel better with how they look or how their clothes fit. Increasing your lean body mass is what actually changes your body composition. The “lean” look or feel comes from fat loss + muscle gain.
BodyPump is high rep, low weight
A high rep, low weight training protocol is an effective and approachable part of strength training. Some of the benefits are:
- Your heart rate will be up there! Strength training already has heart health benefits, but the specific training format of BodyPump actually has more physiological benefits than doing strictly cardio training.
- Improved bone density and lowered risk of osteoporosis. Feeling stronger doesn’t just come from building muscle!
A workout for every BODY
- It’s low impact. No burpees, no jumping — easy on the joints.
- It’s very adaptable. Not only do you choose what weight you will put on the bar, there are so many modifications available to adapt to your body’s needs – you just need to ask the instructor!
- There is a ton of potential to improve and/or challenge yourself. Strength gains come from progressive overload — consistently increasing the stress placed on the muscle. Increasing the amount of weight lifted is typically the number one way we accomplish this. As we get stronger we can lift more. However, increasing reps and working on range of movement will also place more stress on the muscle. This means a beginner can benefit from BodyPump but a seasoned exerciser will too!
