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Does anyone feel my pain?

The warm-up tracks from the last several releases, including the latest one, are sappy love-song types. How can the the "live strong, pump hard" essence be reflected in these type of warm-ups? Why do they continue to be so lovey-dovey and - let's face it - yawn-inspiring? The choreographers always state that the warm-ups are to be used to engage our participants. Well, quite frankly, these warm-ups are no way to "turn it up". They are a big turn-off to instructor and participant alike.

 

I agree.  My favorite is Rise from 54 aka "Leave Me Alone" by far.  On the other hand I am training on 63 in 2 weeks and this warmup is easy, so I am not complaining one bit.  The back track..well..that's another story!  Ugh.  I'm not feeling that at all.

I feel your pain, though I like the warmup from 63 (just received it in the mail - maybe it hasn't started grating on my nerves yet)?  ;-)  IMO, the WORST BP warmup track was from 58.  That was the first (and only) release I didn't like from the first listen, and many of the tracks from that release did not make it past launch.  Everyone has different tastes in music, and trust me - it could be worse.  We could have non-original artist music with bad vocals, or we could have releases with a lot of "American Idol" type music.  YUCK!  I'll take Pump the way it is, because I know it could be a lot worse!  And, I have LOVED Pump from the first class I took as a participant, back around the time of BP 38.

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Pain is weakness leaving the body.

I agree, I'd something a little more creative in the warmup department. My favourite warmups apart from are not sappy love songs - "Rise (Leave Me Alone)" from BP54, and "Come to Me" from BP57. The only exception to this is I did like BP61 "Love Changes Everything" because I think it's catchy. 

In theory, "Invicible" from BP60 should have been great because of the lyrics but I think the song sucked and worse, the choreography was terrible (down, up, down, up, huh?!) 

I would like to start a class with something a little more empowering.

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Free the body. The mind will follow.

I will agree that there have been some less-than-desirable warm-up tracks... myself, I'm not super crazy for fluffy, cruisy songs as a way to launch an energetic workout. 

However I have learned that with all the different tracks we have at our disposal, it's nice to be able to select those that suit the nature of the classes we do: for example, I instruct four classes per week-  My group on Sunday mornings are usually quite responsive to mellow, easy-going tracks like "Evergreen" and "I'll Be Your Light"- even if I give them a dose of tougher tracks later on.  I think it's about taking them from the point they enter for the workout and leading them into the rest of the hour.  On the contrary, my evening/after-work classes are already stressed from their days so its likely I open the class with powerful energy tunes like "Rise", "Surrender (Nicki French)", or "Scream For More" because I know they are raring to go and I am there to take them.

Leading a group is somewhat of a science
 

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Changing the shape of the world one class at a time.

Thanks for everyone's input. Here's the thing: sometimes I think the chorey team forgets that the instructors need to be inspired too. I'm certainly not inspired by insipid warm-ups no matter what day or time of day it is. I need to feel a rush of adrenalin and I'm not getting it from these warm-up tunes....

To each his own....but I totally disagree.  Love is an all across the board, archetypal human experience, and when truly experienced, inspires people to do all kinds of things never though possible.  That sort of thing is something people can feel good about and hook into, and I personally think is a great way to start off a class.  You get plenty of material that is stronger and grittier as you progress, ie- the peaks and valleys of a Pump class.

Different strokes, I guess.  I loved the warmup song on 63 from the get-go and thought it was easy to memorize.  I like starting the class like that, not too much of a brain strain but preview of what's to come.

I thought 60 was awful...I had to work too hard staying with the music.  62 was pretty good, too, I still like it.  I enjoyed all of the back tracks I've done so far...the right kind of energy for the work. 

hotjam1869:

The back track..well..that's another story!  Ugh.  I'm not feeling that at all.

You just have to find the feeling

tputaala:

hotjam1869:

The back track..well..that's another story!  Ugh.  I'm not feeling that at all.

You just have to find the feeling

 lol! This was tricky to learn - my only advice - know your music.

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Rosy xx Please sponsor us for Macmillan Cancer Support http://www.justgiving.com/rosyredromeospin.

While I have to agree the recent warm up tracks have been lacking, I would have to say that release 44 has the absolute worst warm up song - "If Tomorrow Never Comes."  Nothing like a sappy song whose premise may bring your participants to tears to start off a BodyPump class.  And the Jackie O cover of "Light My Fire" (BP 45) wasn't very good either.

Rosy:

tputaala:

hotjam1869:

The back track..well..that's another story!  Ugh.  I'm not feeling that at all.

You just have to find the feeling

 lol! This was tricky to learn - my only advice - know your music.

Of course this is totally off topic but I think that's one of those tracks that is tough for people who learn choreography "mathematically" (4x 2-2 deadlift, 4x 3-1, etc) and easy for those who learn by the music. I've only done it twice and I think it's easy to learn but that's because I learn by the music so because I know what the song is doing next, it's clear to me what the choreography is doing. The BP61 warmup was the same - weird counts, like 5x of something, 9x, etc, which is hard for those who learn by the numbers but it fits with the music so it's easy if you aren't counting.

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Free the body. The mind will follow.

geezermama:

Different strokes, I guess.  I loved the warmup song on 63 from the get-go and thought it was easy to memorize.  I like starting the class like that, not too much of a brain strain but preview of what's to come.

I think there's a difference between liking a warmup because it's easy to learn, and liking it because you actually like it. I liked BP58 just because it's easy, but I looooove BP54 even though it's trickier remembering the choreo, because in the end it's a better track. I certainly can appreciate an easy-to-learn warmup though! It's nice having it just flow.

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Free the body. The mind will follow.

I agree.  Save the sap for the cooldowns when we are ready to take it down a notch.  I want to be building up and gearing up for a great workout, which is hard to do with the slow sappy songs.

Some further thoughts on sappy warm-ups...

To me, it's not about learning the chorey (after teaching it for a while, that becomes easier regardless) it's about feeling energized, pumped up, and ready to have a rocket-launch of a class. Slow, "lovey-dovey" feel-good warm-up tunes literally bring me down into the doldrums and I have to work extra hard to get ignited for the squat track. Let's face it: the squat track is the biggest calorie burner of the day. The warm-up should prepare us all - instructors and participants - for Track 2. Instead, we're having to fight through a swamp of cliche love songs before we can hit it hard for the squats.