It’s been one year since I made my commitment to BodyPump. Since July 2010 I have attended two to three times a week – usually three. While the article above specifies May as my first class, it wasn’t until July that I caught the bug and made a commitment.

Special thanks to Kat, Janelle, Andrea, Bart, Cheryl and Lindsey for your inspiring teaching. With your help, I plan to keep pushing the envelope, reaching for new accomplishments and enjoying the results along the way.

Does anyone else have a one-year anniversary coming up?

It is true what we keep hearing from the stage – that protecting and building on the core muscle groups is absolutely essential to making significant gains in BodyPump, or frankly, any weight training regimen. And what are the key components to building a stronger, enduring core? I suggest the following:

• A deliberate focus of your mind (during the workout)
• A precise movement of each technique (muscle isolation)
• A consistent nutrition program (before, during and following the workout)

This is what I have gradually realized and gravitated towards since I started BodyPump a minimum of two (usually three) times a week almost ten months ago. While the commitments to fine tune my fitness routine have been gradual, I can testify for each change and the resulting improvement – and that’s a whole lot of fun!

So what’s on my mind right now?

[Focus] Growing up, people have said to me, “You’re a serious guy,” or “Do you smile?” Harsh words to a guy who appreciates relationships. Later in life I recognized that focus comes pretty naturally to me and I must remind myself to loosen-up in social settings. If you see me at my station before the workout begins and I’m just keeping to myself, just know I’m a nice guy and I like you – my head’s getting in the game.

[Nutrition] In my last update (December 3, 2010) I noted that I had been consuming lean proteins within 20 minutes of each workout. That practice developed out of an article I came across that spoke on the critical benefit of nutritional timing. I thought, “Gees, if I’m gonna work THIS hard, I’m gonna make every effort to make it count!”

If you think like I do, here’s the article:
http://www.training-conditioning.com/2007/09/timing_it_right.html

You’ll discover that there are specific steps you can take in preparation for, during and following each workout that will magnify the returns for every effort you make. It’s like getting 20% interest on your mutual fund.

[Cross-Training] In February of this year I taught an eight-week course that blended traditional BodyPump-style strength routines with high-cardio stationary cycling called GearUp. What a blast! We worked very hard, encouraged each other through the tough spots and had a whole lot of fun along the way. If cycling is not for you, it’s a great idea to find something else cardio-based that you can do in between BodyPump sessions. It will help “wash” out your muscles of lactic acid (which is what causes your muscles to burn) and will help you build greater vascular efficiency – a key to quick recovery between sets of weights.

[Overall] To describe the philosophy of BodyPump to someone who has been doing it a year or so, I would say it’s like ballet-style choreography in a street fight. You’ve got to perfect the steady and controlled movements of each muscle group while approaching the workout with a teeth-gritting, do or die attitude. And that’s just it!

Then two weeks ago it hit me – I thought, “Greg, if you’re doing BodyPump right, you shouldn’t leave the building feeling like a superstar, or like you’re the easy victor. You should feel like you’ve taken hits to the head, the stomach, a knee in the back – anything but good, save one thing – a sense of satisfaction that you gave everything you had to give.”

THE WORKOUT

[Squats & Lunges] For several weeks I struggled with my lunge routine. It seemed that no matter how much sleep I got the night before, or how well I prepared my mind, by the time lunges came along my legs were so fatigued from squats I could not complete the routine. It would seem that I should go lighter on squats in order to save my legs for lunges, right?

Instead, I decided to keep pushing my weight up on squats until I got to 8 large plates (as much as the bar can hold). Of course, every lunge track was murder on my legs, but now that I’ve been doing heavy squats for a few weeks, my lunges have finally come around. It’s very exciting!

[Chest] Big improvement in the last three weeks. I’ve worked my way up to 2 large and 1 medium plates and can almost complete the routine. Shirts are getting snug across the chest.

[Biceps] My nemesis of the moment. I’ve struggled to increase my weight for biceps from the beginning. Few things I’ve tried and seen some success are adding a “donut” for a few weeks, or adding a medium plate on the outside of the bar clips and then dropping it part way through the routine. This early fatigue is a real killer by the end of the track.

[Nutrition] I’ve been very diligent to consume lean proteins within 20 minutes following the workouts. This seems to really help me keep from getting sore and building my body back up for the next routine.

I’ll check back in in another couple months or so. Keep working hard!