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Shoulders: Our Picks From The 50s Series
Most of the major muscle groups have been addressed - and the lion's share of the calories burned - by the time the eighth track rolls around. Yet the path remains steep: though the shoulder muscles are smaller, their work is no less difficult. At no point in a BodyPump workout is the need ever greater for a motivating piece of music than during the shoulder track.

Fortunately, the 50's series has delivered handsomely. In fact, no other track has achieved the choreographic variety we've enjoyed with shoulders over the last ten releases. From Crack It's crossover push-ups and Pretty Vegas' rotator presses to the MAC raises in Round And Round, track #8 is a virtual smorgasbord of shoulder-burning exertion. Here's our picks:
Best: Round and Round (Bodyrockers) - BodyPump 58 -Loud, tough, innovative, fun - this is the complete package, folks. The standard's raised so high now it's almost scary to think what topping it might be like. Runner up: I Get Up - BodyPump 55

Worst: War Machine (Techno Boy) - BodyPump 52 - Strange, campy, just a little too far out for us. We still run it every now and again in our classes to break us out of a rut but it'll never be a playlist favorite.

Most Memorable: Word Up (Korn) - BodyPump 54 and Crack It (Bomfunk MCs) - BodyPump 50 - (tie) You can't go wrong with either one of these. Just make sure you keep a cry towel handy for Crack It (yeah we know Something Going On is the "official" title of that tune) Runner Up: Pretty Vegas - BodyPump 59
And the list goes on. Could the selections get any more controversial? We'll find out soon enough when we tackle the final workout track! Next up: Abs
Lunges: Our Picks From The 50s Series
After all the excitement of the tricep and bicep tracks, the music selections for 50's series lunges have been a bit of a letdown. "When I'm working lunges," says Tami, "I want a strong piece of music - not a love song." Fully half the tracks on her list had "girly" or "yawn" scrawled next to them. Maybe that's why our classes usually rock out to lunge tracks from the 30's and 40's series - we like a bit of variety in our sound, and for the last couple years we've had to reach back in the archives to find it.

That said, there's plenty of good to go around when it comes to 50's series lunges - you just have to look a little harder to find it. Here's what we turned up:
Best: Breathe (One More Angel) - BodyPump 58 -Maybe it's not the our favorite piece of music, but it's definitely one of the toughest lunge workouts in the stack. Thank goodness Breathe is the song title - you sure don't want to hold your breath on this one!

Worst: Like The Sun (Trinity 17) - BodyPump 59 - Actually this honor could've gone to 50's Try or 52's I Can't Let You Go or even 55's As The Rush Comes. We chose 59 to drive home our point: Like the back & hamstrings track, more often than not these songs represent what might be called your typical lunge track - if squats, chest, biceps, and triceps songs don't have a "typical" sound, why should lunges?

Most Memorable: I Want You (Paris Avenue) - BodyPump 57 - Or was that "I want choo"? We love it all - the song, the workout, even the Double Pulse Dynamic Lunges. Anyone know how to get the chorus out of your head after class?
Good thing we hosed down the inbox before posting this one, otherwise the incoming flames might set the whole place on fire. Safety first. But hey, we bet we're not the only ones that want to see the "lunge track mold" get broken. Next up: Shoulders
Biceps: Our Picks From The 50s Series
The biceps have always been fertile territory for memorable songs, and quite frankly the 50's are an embarrassment of riches. Which is what made this one of the most difficult lists to compile - Without a lame song in the bunch, how do you come up with a "worst"? Picking the best of the best became an exercise in splitting hairs; only the most memorable came easily to us:
Best: Spirit In The Sky (Gareth Gates) - BodyPump 56 -This remake of the 60's classic more than does justice to the original. The folks at the front desk can always tell when we run this song - we all leave the gym with our knuckles dragging the ground. Runners up: Pump It, Walk This Way, Gonna Make You Sweat, and pretty much everything else.

Worst: Somewhere I Belong (Linkin Park) - BodyPump 50 - This one always seems to split right along gender lines: Guys love the ultra-slow workout, the ladies say it's too dark. Hey, we had to pick a worst and this was the closest we could find!

Most Memorable: Save A Horse (Big & Rich) - BodyPump 53 - Whether or not you like Country Music, you have to admit this one made you smile. In fact, this song probably got more play in BodyPump classes worldwide than from radio stations back here in the States.
And there it is, an admittedly tough list to compile for a track that never lets us down. Why can't the music be this good on all the tracks? Speaking of which, we've already got our list done for the next: Lunges
Triceps: Our Picks From The 50s Series
If there's any one routine that's seen a lot of variety over the course of these last ten releases it'd be the triceps track. From 55's tricep-busting dips to 58's combo-laden Let's Get Down, the 50's series has taken BodyPump's triceps from a basic extensions & presses routine to one of the most dynamic tracks in the workout. So while many of our weekly mixes include a variety of picks from the 30's and 40's series, more often than not the triceps track is a 50's number. Here's our picks:
Best: California (C.O.) - BodyPump 55 - From the moment this track hit the streets it became the de facto standard against which all other BodyPump triceps are measured. No kidding. Just listening to it makes our triceps cry.

Worst: A To The B (Infernal) - BodyPump 59 - Is this a triceps song or squats? Sorry, we got confused for a moment and thought this was 57's From Paris To Berlin by the same group. More than once we've been tempted to swap those two and see if anybody notices...

Most Memorable: Take Your Mama (Scissor Sisters) - BodyPump 57 - Okay, after lavishing praise for all the great triceps variety in the 50's series we've turned right around and picked a basic extensions & presses song (with a few triceps push-ups thrown in for good measure). But hey, what's not to like about a tune we'll gladly play even when we're not rehearsing? We love it, and even after a full year of play we still haven't gotten enough of it!
Yes, once again we've managed to stir up all sorts of trouble with our latest list. Why? Because we love it when you click the comments link and tell us what think - even if you think we're nuts. By the way, we've got BodyPump 60 in our hot little hands, and we'll soon swat the beehive even harder when we post our review. In the meantime, we're spinning up our next list: Biceps