What is Pump training
Pump training, or Body Pump, is a group fitness program in which strength exercises with light equipment are repeated repeatedly to music.
Bodybars are used as weights – short rubberized bars, separate plates for a barbell or dumbbell. There are also movements with your body weight, such as push-ups.
Fitness direction BODYPUMP™ came up with back in 1990, the founders of Les Milles from New Zealand. They now sell training licenses, train instructors, and provide music and exercise combinations for classes.
The Pump program, offered in many Russian fitness clubs, is essentially the same, only with its own music and exercises.
What is good about Pump training?
Pump training provides several benefits:
- Promotes weight loss. Due to intense work with minimal rest, your heart rate remains elevated throughout the entire session, which allows you to burn no less calories than during cardio exercises. Moreover, thanks to strength training after training rises the level of growth hormone, which promotes the breakdown of fat and muscle building.
- Strengthens muscles without making your figure bulky. During classes, weights used are 20-30% of a one-rep maximum – a weight with which you can perform the movement only once. Due to numerous repetitions, Pump workouts load the muscles well and can make the body visually more toned, but will not greatly increase muscle volume.
- Helps you get used to strength training. Working out with rest between sets can feel boring. Pump training lasts 45–60 minutes without stopping, accompanied by energetic music and instructor comments. This format helps you get used to strength exercises, which necessary for good health.
- Suitable for any skill level. During Pump training, the weight of the weight is selected individually, so the lesson can provide a good load for both a beginner and a well-prepared person.
Who should not do pump training?
Because the Pump workout is quite intense and involves strength training, you should be careful if you have the following conditions:
- diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems;
- problems with the spine or joints, old injuries;
- exacerbation of chronic diseases;
- pregnancy.
If you are unsure about trying intense exercise, consult a therapist and let your trainer know about your concerns and limitations.
How to prepare for your first lesson
Pump or Body Pump programs are offered in almost any fitness club. Find the one that suits you and sign up for a group training session.
Body bars with weights, step platforms and dumbbells are provided by the fitness club, so you only need to take comfortable sportswear and sneakers, a water bottle and a towel.
The class begins with a warm-up without weights. As a rule, it includes vigorous steps, swinging arms, bending and squats. The main part may include various strength exercises with a bodybar: deadlifts, standing and lying presses on the floor or on a step platform, chest and abdominal rows, squats and lunges with weights on the back.
They also often perform movements with dumbbells: standing and lying flyes, biceps curls and triceps extensions.
All exercises are performed one after another to the music. As a rule, there is no strictly prescribed number of repetitions – you work for 60-120 seconds, varying the tempo or amplitude of the movement.
The video below shows an example of back squats. At first, the exercise is performed evenly and calmly, then the lowering phase is lengthened, pulsation is added – quick squats after a smooth rise.
The specific choice of exercises depends on the trainer, but almost all Body Pump classes include movements on the chest and back, abs, shoulders and arms, back and front thighs, and buttocks. So in 45-60 minutes of exercise you will have time to work all the main muscle groups.
And don’t be afraid to get very out of breath in the process. You will rest while changing implements and positions, and while the instructor explains the technique for the next movement. As a rule, this takes at least a couple of minutes, so you have time to regain your breathing.
Is it possible to do pump training at home?
To practice at home, you will have to purchase equipment: a body bar, weights for it, dumbbells and a step platform.
As for the program, on YouTube you can find ready-made BODYPUMP™ workouts in English, as well as group Pump classes from Russian fitness trainers.
Make room, prepare all the necessary equipment and follow the video trainers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries
If you have ever done strength training and know how to properly perform presses, rows and squats, you can easily study using the video even without knowing English.
If exercises are new to you, it’s worth attending at least a few group training sessions in the gym to learn the technique and avoid mistakes that could reduce the effectiveness of the movement or lead to injury.
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