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Our 58 Launch (w/pics)
After months of speculation, the time has finally came for us instructors to get on with life without Mike. And yet he's still with us, as head choreographer for the BodyPump 58 release. So while the bad news may be that we won't be seeing one of our favorite international trainers presenting future releases, the good news is that his shoes are already being filled with some very capable athletes.

So, on to our launch. As with past mid-summer events we weren't completely full, especially since Blacksburg is a university town. But our attendance lately has been consistently much higher than past years, no thanks of course to my propensity for regularly botching choreography. Naturally the 58 would be no exception; not less than two minutes into the warm-up I called squats instead of overhead presses. You don't suppose the class noticed that set of 32 2x2 squats seemed a bit excessive, do you?


Well once we got that little gaffe out of the way, the rest flowed pretty smoothly. It seems the combo squats in Republica's Drop Dead Gorgeous caused a bit of consternation, as did a dizzying array of presses during that B52s classic on the chest track. Once we got through those numbers it was smooth sailing through the back & hamstrings, triceps, biceps, and lunges.

The party really got into high gear with the shoulder track. If you're a ZZ Top fan, this Bodyrockers' track combined with a round of MAC Raises serves up a mean rijsttafel that won't soon be forgotten. The MAC Raise, incidentally, is named after legendary New Zealander Paul McDonald who developed the exercise for training kayakers. The abs track proved equally challenging, with a seemingly endless set of reverse crunches that challenged even (Ms. Abs) Tami. Only when the cooldown stretch commenced did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

To our way of thinking, this was definitely one of the more enjoyable (and, yes, playable) releases. Yeah Mike, you went out with a bang on this one: just when we thought we'd seen all the moves that could possibly be fit into ten tracks, here comes a release with a slew of combos and that nifty MAC Raise for our exercise enjoyment.

Which leaves us with one question: How's Glen gonna top this one? We'll find out soon enough - 59's right around the corner!
3 Comment(s):
On 20 July, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mike was great, but every release is about the same 2 and 2 ,3 and 1, singles
Everybody gets comfortable with anything in life, I am positive are members
wont know that there is a new choreographer for 59. I think all of us instructors
when we hear a song we say that could be a great squat track, and we could make up
the choreagraphy in are heads, so glen job is not hard

 
On 21 July, 2006, Blogger Reymond said...

Body Pump 59 is more fun, I reckon. Love the music. Especially the squat track and bicep track, they're nicely choregraphed... :)

 
On 25 July, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

When is 59 out?!?! You are so far ahead Reymond!

 

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