Gym Impersonating Les Mills Bodypump

It’s common place. Pure gym have their own body pump classes. They aren’t Les mills unless it’s stated otherwise. I know they own Bodypump trademark. But I’m not sure they own body pump because half the gyms in the country would be up for trademark infringement.
I do know what you mean about the quality. I’ve been to some great non Les mills classes but it’s hit and miss. A lot rides on the instructor. But the same can be said for actual Les mills classes. I always pick my classes on instructor quality rather than branding

OP I just googled this as I also thought Body Pump was a Les Mills class and the internet says Body Pump is a trademark of Les Mills so it sounds like you are right

Our spin class is called 'group cycle', but everyone knows it's spinning.

Our bodypump / balance/ combat is LM though.

If they impersonate they need to call it something else, I don’t know if Les Mills would care

fyi, you can pay monthly for les mills at home. You can get a body pump set cheaply.

but yes, body pumps classes are at most gyms but most aren’t official les mills ones. Same with body combat. Or spinning, which is also a brand. But loads of gyms have spinning.

All the styles of fitness class which people claim are trade marked, have been around for years! Way before Les Mils or anyone else ... (except maybe Jane Fonda).

If anything, Les Mills et al. have ripped off the ideas of millions of fitness instructors

OP, this is really common. At my gym the instructor does Les Mills Body Balance but calls it XGym Body Flow. And, I used to go to a zumba class where the instructor changed the name from zumba to latin dance fitness without changing the playlist or choreography. It's a way of avoiding paying for the TM name. Strictly speaking very bad of course. But if you like the class and the instructor I would turn a blind eye to it myself.

Body pump is not a generic term - it was created by Les Mills back in the 90s. I’m an instructor, have been for years. gyms have to pay licence fees to Les Mills monthly (plus as instructors we have to pay £35 per quarter) - I’m guessing your gym doesn’t want to pay it. If the other class isn’t as good that’s a shame but hopefully you can still get a decent workout. If it’s any consolation, the latest release is terrible so you’re not missing much!

Sounds pretty much like all the pump and aerobics and step classes I did in the 80s and 90s - before the Less Mills branded stuff. Which is not all that, actually.

Why would you complain? If it's not advertised as "Les Mils" then it's just a good old pump class. And there's nothing wrong with that. There is more to workouts than Les Mills stuff - I find the way that they do "releases" and you do the same routine for several weeks is verrry boring, frankly.

I’m not a fan of the official TM classes. Some instructors get around it by doing basically a body pump class but calling it total body workout. So much better imho. Please don’t complain if people seem to like the class

I've clearly got too much time on my hands because I have googled this 😂

Google seems to say 'Bodypump' is trademarked. But as a pp says, Body Pump with a space in the middle might not be? Someone on a forum says they were asked to remove Body Pump from some classes they were running, but obviously that might be bullshit.

No need to complain regardless though

I was coming on to say the same. I remember doing Body pump 15yrs ago and that was just a class at a leisure centre, no Les Mills.

I’m so old I remember there being body pump classes before Les mills. In our gym they are now called pump fix etc

pretty sure everyone does a version of it 🤷‍♀️

What outcome would you be hoping for if you complained?

LM classes come at a large cost to both the gym amd the instructor. Chances are if the gym could afford the LM fees they would offering LM classes already - or there may not be an instructor locally who wants to pay the quarterly release fees. You may get it removed from the timetable but it's unlikely to be replaced with LM Body Pump.

'Body pump' as a generic name for aerobic classes in that style has been around for decades. In every gym I've seen and beyond.

It wasn't advertised as by that particular operator/brand/technique. I can't imagine the words 'body' and 'pump' have exclusive use by one firm legally.

Surely if you dislike the class then don't use it and maybe give feedback about it's actual content. But the name isn't really misleading so don't get caught up in that.

If you want 'Body Pump (TM)' by that specific branding then attend classes approved by that company.

It honestly astounds me what people can find to complain about on here

Oh I thought bodypump was always les mills tbh. Some gyms local to me do versions but they're called something else.

I wouldn't complain though. Just don't go again if you didn't like it

I used to do 'body pump' at my gym, I don't think Les Mills can own the name or they would be suing people all over the place.

I go to a Les Mills gym two of the instructors are not experienced and do some random mashup Les Mills whereas the older more experienced instructors are fab at mixing and matching old and new Les Mills. It is like playing Russian roulette hoping to get the decent instructors so I feel your pain.

Doesn’t matter, Les Mills owns both trademarks.

Is it advertised as BodyPump or Body Pump?

To be fair to OP, Les Mills owns the trade mark “BodyPump” so no one else can call their exercise class that, unless it is a Les Mills class.

I’d probably report to Les Mills and let them enforce it if they see fit (which I think they routinely do from looking at Google).