Les Mills Pump update! Started Week 5 this morning, which is the last week of Phase One: "Te Wero", which is Maori for "The Challenge", and it kicked off with the first new workout since Week 2: "Pump and Shred".
This is structured similarly to the previous go-to workout "Pump and Burn", in that there are multiple blocks targeting specific muscle groups.
Pump and Shred is around 45 minutes. It starts out with a warmup done at a light weight on the bar (I used 10lbs plates). The warmup includes deadlifts, deadlift rows, shoulder presses, squats and lunges. Haven't had to do lunges under weight since Week 2, in the beginner "Pump Challenge" workout where the track is pretty short. The warmup's a bit under 5 minutes.
Then come the working tracks. Each track in LMP targets a specific muscle group. They are divided up into "laps" of about 60-90 seconds each, and sometimes you get a quick recovery break before the final "lap". The laps generally start out slowly and build up in intensity. Every track is accompanied by music (covers of pop songs for the most part), and you do the moves to the beat of the music. Within a lap you'll typically start out with a 4 down, 4 up count, progress to 2 & 2, then 3 & 1, then "singles". Some of the movements will have you hold at the bottom for 2 beats, then raise for 2, and you'll also do "bottom halves", where you go to the bottom, pulse up half way, go back down, and then either repeat that 4x or stand up depending on the trainer's instructions.
In Pump & Shred, the tracks are all about 5 minutes long, and they are:
1. Squats. Lots & lots of squats, omg. About 2/3 through they switch to a wider stance.
2. Chest. I use my weight bench; most of the trainers are on the floor but a couple are on "step" risers that you can optionally buy with the program. If you're on the floor you're instructed not to let your elbows touch the floor. Obviously a bench is preferred as you'll get a greater range of motion. The killer about this track is that after you've pretty much exhausted your chest, they have you put the bar down & do wide pushups. Ho lee crap.
3. Back & legs. This one has deadlifts (you only go to your kneecaps, though), deadlift rows (start with a deadlift dropping the bar to your knees, raise the bar along your legs to your waist, shoulders pointed backwards), clean & press (which they go through great pains to demonstrate & reinforce proper form) -- and these are usually followed by a single deadlift row, and wide rows.
4. Legs. Yeah so finally lunges are back in the picture. You do a "lap" of lunges on one leg, then some squats (for "recovery"), another lap of lunges on the other leg, and finish up with more squats. This one was really tough.
5. Abs. Started out in low plank (or what they call "hover position"), then it's wax on, wax off with alternating hands, trying to keep your torso & legs completely still. Harder than it sounds. After that it's a bunch of crunches with different tempos, followed by some oblique work. Not the toughest ab workout but it was decent.
6. Stretch. A series of much-needed muscle-lengthening stretches.
Oh, and there's a SUPER brief cooldown in between each track, with a few dynamic stretches to shake things loose and just enough time to change weights.
This program is fantastic. I highly recommend it. Starting next Monday is Phase Two: Panoni ("The Change"). Pump & Shred is done 3X in that first week, and two more new workouts (Pump Extreme and Pump Revolution) get rotated in after that. Both of those workouts are 55 minutes.
