Fellow blogger, instructor, and long distance friend Mr. Timothy dropped us a line this morning with a couple of rather interesting observations. He points out that over the last 10 or so releases (since Glen Ostergaard took over as lead choreographer) there's been a definite uptick in the lunge track length. To be sure, 9 of the 10 longest lunge tracks are Ostergaard-choreographed routines. Since Pump soundtracks need to fit within a ±49 minute time window, something has to give - and it looks like the bicep track has been the primary donor. Which isn't all bad, really... the longer lunge tracks work a much larger group of muscles, burning more calories and building core strength.
Bottom line: Now may be the time to amp up your bicep workout with an extra plate on both sides of the bar. And take an extra deep breath between tracks 6 & 7!

Notice any other trends in the Pump workout over the last couple years? Tell us about it!

Well a couple weeks ago we finally got around to launching release #68. Ours is the Wednesday 4:10pm class, an awesome timeslot for everyone who just wants to knock off work a bit early and take a midweek break for an hour. It's our favorite class to teach.
I'm a full-time software developer who's always running five minutes late, so finding the time to pick up choreography can be a challenge sometimes. It's definitely not unusual for me to resort to "cramming" just before class - Tami, on the other hand, is never late and learns her music days ahead of time. Good thing for me that opposites attract!
Our class tells us they enjoy the banter that goes on between Tami and I during the workout. Well there's nothing scripted or made up for that - it's just a continuation of what goes on between us pretty much most of the time. It just so happens for an hour that day everyone gets to overhear it. I'm behaving badly in this pic to the right, with Tami on the verge of thumping my head lest I forget who really wears the pants in our family.
Somehow, in spite of ourselves, we usually manage to run a pretty tight class. Form - not weight - is our hot topic, and we've found that most everybody really wants to execute the routines properly. Last week we ran another of our Form Friday classes - the cool thing this last time around was that we were mostly helping people make "fine tuning" adjustments (all the typical "big stuff" seemed to be in pretty good shape!) Which brings me to the closing thought for this post - maybe it's time to resurrect our Wicked Wednesday mix for this afternoon's class...

Fellow blogger Glen Stollery has posted the Body Pump 69 Tracklist... Our quick thoughts: Kid Rock and Rihanna join Fall Out Boy on a release that has more "top 40" tracks and artists than most of late... Good to have 3 Doors Down serving up a quick encore to their BP 68 Chest Track thriller, while Pink's becoming almost as regular on BP releases as E-Type once was on the shoulder tracks. Pop Quiz: Who remembers the last release on which "Castles In The Sky" made an appearance? (bonus: Which workout track was it?)

Like many instructors, we've got full-time jobs that keep us both pretty busy - Tami's a personal trainer specializing in Senior Fitnees and Craig's a software engineer. So finding time to learn new releases isn't always easy.

Which brings us around to release #68. Tami's going with our tried and true formula for learning new releases, while Craig plans to cram it in 24 hours before the first class. Gee, should be interesting to see which of us crashes and burns on Wednesday! (yeah we know we're deadbeats for just now getting around to the 68 launch)

One of the things I most respect about Tami is the way she keeps her promises - both to others, and to herself. If you've been following our blog for awhile you may remember her New Year's Resolution to walk 500 miles. She had me put together a little spreadsheet on her laptop where she could enter her mileage each day. Next to each entry it showed mileage accumulated to-date, along with a comparison to the minimum mileage needed to complete 500 miles by year end. Every now and again she tried to turn the milestones into shoe-buying excuses -- "Hey Sweetie, I just crossed 300 miles - don't you think that deserves a new pair of shoes?"

Well, it was my honor to walk the last 40 or so miles with her during our vacation in Montana's Glacier National Park these last two weeks. I don't know exactly where or when we crossed that 500th mile, but I do know that the mountains there in Glacier are a whole lot taller than the ones back home. I also decided I prefer climbing over descending - Tami practically runs down the mountains, leaving me stumbling along behind in a contrail of dust (see video below). She's a hiking machine. Me, I'm more of a pack mule - I get to carry the water, lunches, cameras, maps, and sunscreen. Which works out fine, since I'm always stopping to take pictures anyway! Enjoy...