I did Les Mills Pump...and I Need a Tan

WARNING:  This post contains graphic whiteness. Eye protection is strongly advised.

Okay, now that I have warned you accordingly, I'm excited to report that this week I finished Beachbody's Les Mills Pump home workout program.  For those who are unfamiliar with Les Mills Pump (or LMP as I will call it from now on because it's late and I'm tired and it's faster to type it that way), it is full body workout during which you use a barbell and do hundreds of reps per muscle group.  It provides what is known as "The Rep Effect" which is long, lean and sculpted muscles.  LMP is taught in gyms worldwide and, because of it's huge success and popularity, Beachbody created a 90 day at-home workout taught by LMP master instructors from around the world.  Most of the male instructors were a good dose of eye candy for me so it made the workouts much more enjoyable and helped keep my mind off the seering burn that was happening in my muscles (okay, well this didn't happen all the time because that burn got pretty insane sometimes). These are the trainers from the video series (see what I mean? - YUM):



I started this program after doing a hybrid of P90X and TurboFire, two of Beachbody's other home workout programs.  I love....LOVE....weight training but I felt that from going heavy with P90X I had gotten a bit too "thick" for my body frame so I gave LMP a go because working with lighter weights and higher reps would lean me out and give me more definition which is the look I have been after for quite some time.

February 22, 2013 was my first day and it was instant addiction.  The energy of the trainers was so motivating, the music was great (Pump Up the Jam....remember that one from c. 1990?!) and the moves were good old standard weight training moves....right up my alley.  Squats, chest press, deadlifts, clean and press, lunges, shoulder raises/presses.  Perfect perfect PERFECT!  The workout schedule was easy to follow, as all Beachbody workout schedules are. The program had me doing the barbell workouts 3 days a week and on the other days I would do a great Flow Yoga inspired stretch workout, a Hard Core Abs workout (ouchie!) and walking.  I tend to get bored with walking so I would throw in my TurboFire workouts on the walk days to keep me engaged and burn more calories.  Good times.

I would say that it was somewhere around the 7th week of the program where I really started noticing my body morphing.  I started to see definition in my arm muscles first which was really exciting for me because this is something I'd been struggling with.  Then came the abs...BOOM there was a real six pack! WHAAAAATTT????!!!! 

 



I get a stupid smile on my face every time I look at that picture.  I've dreamed of these abs forever.  As my 14 year old daughter would say, "yeah gurl!!".

 

I do admit that towards the end of the 90 days my body was getting tired.  I started LMP the day after I finished my 90 day P90X/TurboFire hybrid so my body started telling me it was time to settle down and take a break.  I pushed through the final three weeks and there were days where the thought of the barbell workouts made me cringe a little.  Not because I didn't like them, but because I was just getting tired.  Some of the chest and lunge tracks in the Pump Revolution and Pump Extreme workouts (the hour long workouts) almost brought me to tears a few times.  I ended up doing just the walk on the cardio days because I knew I wouldn't be able to make it through the intensity of the TurboFire workouts.  But I'm proud to say I told that voice in my head that was trying to tell me to give up to go have a nice hot cup of STFU and finished all of the workouts, tears, swearing and all. 

 

Okay, so here is where you grab your sunglasses. K?  Just do it....I'm a blend of British and Scottish skin.  It's gross.

 

I completed the LMP program on May 22nd and here are my before and afters:

 

Front:

 

 Side:

 

 

Back (Yes, my poses suck.  I am no Nicole Wilkins):

 

 



 

 Annnnnd, the Gun Show :-)

 

My before and after stats are pretty damn cool if I do say so myself.  Keep in mind, I was no newbie to working out and my weight and body fat were already at the low end of the normal range for women my height (I'm 5'6"....of pure milky whiteness).

 

Weight:

February 22, 2013 - 134 lbs
May 22, 2013 - 128 lbs

 

Body Fat:

February 22, 2013 - 22%

May 22, 2013 - 17.5 %

 

Girth (aka Waist):

February 22, 2013 - 30 inches

May 22, 2013 - 28 inces

 

The rest of my measurements pretty much stayed the same with the exception of my chest which went up by 1/2 an inch.  So ya, my boobs are still pretty much non-existent.  I've settled on the fact that nothing other than $8000 and a couple beanbags full of silicone is going to fix that department for me. Whatever. My arm and leg measurements stayed the same but what did change was my muscle definition and that was my goal so I'm a happy camper.

 

I can definitely say that I have way better endurance when it comes to my muscles than I had before.  The low weights and super high reps (over 800 reps total in Pump Revolution and Pump Extreme) really trains your muscles to go until they're completely crapped out.  I notice a huge difference when I do other workouts that require a lot of repetitions of one move....it's like nothing to me now.  LMP isn't the most intense cardiovascular workout that Beachbody has to offer but your heart does get pounding pretty good during the squat, back and lunge tracks.  The program claims that you can burn up to 1000 calories in a workout but I don't know what they are basing that claim on.  I never wore a heart rate monitor during my workouts so I can't say how many calories I burned.  Given my drop in body fat percentage, I'm pretty confident that I burned more than a few.

 

My journey with LMP is not over.  I loved this program and plan to do another round starting in July.  For now, I need to listen to my body and give it the break it's asking for.  I'll be taking a 3 week vacation from my workouts while I work on transforming my insides with Beachbody's 21-day cleanse, The Ultimate Reset.  

 

If you've read this story and are interested in giving LMP a try, let me know.  I'd be happy to answer any questions and get you started.

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm off to shop for a good self-tanner now.

 

Be fit, be healthy, and as they say in LMP, KIA KAHA (Be Strong).