Body Pump is a group exercise class using barbells with adjustable weights.
It works the major muscle groups via a series of exercises including squats, presses and lifts.
Designed to “tone and condition muscles while raising metabolic rate for rapid fat-burning,” Body Pump is supposed to be proven to be “the world’s fastest way to get in shape.”
How many calories do you burn during a typical Body Pump class?
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research looked at the calorie-burning effects of a 50-minute Body Pump workout.
Subjects burned, on average, 265 calories during the workout. The men burned a little more calories (315) compared to the women (214). On average, the subjects burned 5.3 calories per minute.
A second trial, this time commissioned by the Les Mills Group (the people who invented Body Pump), compared a Body Pump session lasting 57 minutes with 60 minutes of continuous cycling.
The group (10 men and women) burned an average of 411 calories during the Body Pump session, and 483 and 339 when separated into men and women.
This comes to 7 calories per minute for the group, and 8 and 6 calories per minute for the men and women, respectively.
Taking the results from both studies, women can expect to burn anywhere between 5-6 calories per minute during a typical Body Pump class. Men will burn somewhere between 6 and 8 calories per minute.
In the cycling session, subjects burned an average of 623 calories when expressed as a group and 706 and 540 when separated into males and females. This equates to approximately 10, 12 and 9 calories per minute for the group, males and females, respectively.
The cycle session also consumed a greater proportion of fat than the Body Pump session (27% compared to 17%).
What about the extra muscle?
Even though cycling might burn more calories during the workout itself, the muscle that Body Pump builds will increase your metabolic rate so you burn more calories during the day, right?
Beginners, or anyone returning to exercise after a lay-off, may gain a little muscle. However, Body Pump involves the use of light weights and high repetitions.
As the Auckland researchers themselves point out, this type of workout will increase muscular endurance rather than add a significant amount of muscle.
“It is unlikely that strength gains and hypertrophy would occur for already fit subjects such as those who participated in the present study. However, for individuals without a history of resistance training Body Pump may provide sufficient stimulus to elicit strength gains.”
What’s more, despite the popular belief that one pound of muscle burns “50-100 calories per day,” there’s very little evidence to show that this is true (see The Myth about Muscle and Metabolism).
More accurate estimates suggest that losing two pounds of fat and replacing it with two pounds of muscle will increase your resting metabolic rate by just eight calories per day.
The Auckland research team also point out that Body Pump provides only a low to moderate stimulus to increase aerobic fitness.
“The implication of these results is that Body Pump is useful for maintaining aerobic fitness, but does not provide sufficient stimulus to improve aerobic fitness in already fit subjects such as those who participated in this study.”
It’s a long way from being the world’s fastest way to get in shape. But for beginners, Body Pump does provide some of the benefits of conventional gym-based resistance-training programs.
About the Author
My name is Christian Finn. I run a private "members only" website designed to help people burn fat, build muscle and get strong. If you want accurate, honest and in-depth reviews on the latest "hot topics" in the world of fitness, you're confused by all the conflicting advice out there, or you just want some training routines that will give you better, faster results, click here now to learn more about how I can help you.
