Body Pump 73

Thursday 29th October - 4:40pm

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I've really liked how Les Mills has started scheduling the equipment-based classes first for the last few quarters. At GFX it was absolute genius having Pump be the first filming of the quarter, with everyone's weights pre-set up, since it would have been absolute chaos having all of the internationals clamouring for weights.

Again, the filming wasn't as packed as previous quarters - simply because it is typically quieter at this time of the year, and also because it was still before 5pm, when most members were still at work.

The presenting crew this time around was a 5-strong team with flair and flavour from different parts of the world. Susan Renata (from Kumeu), Glen Ostergaard (from Motueka) - which are enough of a distance from Auckland Central in their own right - Yannick from France, Sara from Spain - who is partner to Oscar, who presented in BS79 - and my favourite international presenter on the Pump team this time, Cesar from Argentina.

In fact, in the only Pump rehearsal that I saw, I found myself staring at Cesar, thinking constantly... "Far out... I KNOW this guy!" I couldn't think of where, though!

It came to me later. Check out this photo I took of Gandalf after the BJ49+ filming.

Does anyone know what he was doing in Auckland at the January/February filmings? I don't remember seeing him in any of the other programmes, but that could just be my faulty memory at work.

There was something strange about this Pump filming... there was a lack of energy, lack of buzz. Yannick was struggling with the gloves that the men were wearing - he dropped the bar at the end of the back track, and during the bicep track (which was one of the tracks that he presented); he really did struggle. It was only during the triceps track that the energy in the room temporarily rose - though this was testament to how awesome the triceps track was. Even knowing this, when the team practised the release during the week, there was more energy. I felt like something was not quite right... the speakers weren't turned up quite so loud, or *something*... there was just a lack of energy which I couldn't explain. Even Glen didn't seem like his normal self up on stage this time.

That all changed when Cesar came to the front to teach the shoulder track. Right from the beginning of the track, he owned that stage, and he owned that track. He definitely impressed, and it was only a shame that he presented tracks towards the end of the release. I'm not just saying that because my friend Isi is Argentinian, I honestly believe that Cesar was the standout international presenter on the filming team this time around.

How is Body Pump 73? It's a good release, though as an RPMmer, I found a *lot* of overlap of tracks used between Pump and RPM. Though let's be clear, that's not an overlap with 'RPM46', but 'RPM'. Several tracks had me going, "Oo! Oo! This is an RPM track!", some of them from really old releases, but all the same, RPM tracks. Unless your RPM instructor regularly uses old releases, you may not be affected so much by this release - though Jaci at New Lynn does regularly use a lot of old releases, which is probably why I'm a bit sensitive to this release. I will say it is a miracle that there has been so many Pump releases where Glen has been program director for both Pump and RPM where there hasn't been such a stark overlap - if anything, I find that Combat and RPM share tracks (though never in the same quarter), so hey, it's a surprising thing. (and again, I'm probably being sensitive since through Jaci I'm exposed to RPM tracks going back right from RPM 1 through to the current release.)

My favourite track by far is the triceps track. Chest track is difficult, I actually cut my weight down for the filming since the first time I tried the track with my regular chest weight, I couldn't finish it. A great track for developing your strength. The other track that would probably be a favourite of mine is the shoulder track as well.

This is going to be a popular release when it hits the globe, though due to the nature of the song selection, I do have some concern that it might get 'old' faster than other releases. If I were a Pump instructor, I *might* be tempted to mix this one out faster because the tracks currently in there are getting a lot of radio airplay at the moment. I'm not saying that any of the tracks are bad, since that's not the case at all! I'm just aware of when these releases will go out to gyms, and the songs in there will no longer be current and will have a shorter lifespan as far as member acceptance goes.

Ack, I'm sounding very negative!

I don't mean to, since it's a good, solid release. The first time I did it, I was definitely sore! Expect a lot more sore bodies in the months to come with this release :-)
when it hits the world.

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Next up...

Body Jam 52