Workout trends come and go. We’ve seen and tried ’em all. If you’re like me, working out is NOT your forte. So, you’ve probably tried every trend workout in the book to find one you like. Yoga, pilates, Zumba, cycling classes- the works. So when I was turned on to barre by a friend about a year ago, I was READY.
For those of you who haven’t heard of barre (pronounced bar) before, it’s a type of workout that incorporates ballet barre training into yoga and pilates. Ballet dancers do much of their training at a barre, to work on building their muscles for when they dance center stage. From the ripe age of 5, I took dance classes. I dabbled in tap, jazz, modern, but ballet was always a constant. I danced through middle school, and off and on through high school. So, discovering a workout class that focused on ballet barre exercises excited me, and gave me confidence. I thought I had finally found a workout that I was going to SLAY at.
Boy, was I wrong…
Walking into my first barre class, I was cool as a cucumber. For the first time, I was confident going into my workout! I knew what I was doing!
The music started, and the instructor’s peppy “ok ladies here we go” into her headpiece pumped me up even more.
We started with pliés, with a mix of relevés and tondus, and I was feeling good. However, the intensity was NEXT LEVEL. Plus, with added in weights and exercise balls, things were getting real sweaty real quick up in here. After the first few songs, I realized that this was going to be much more than I had anticipated.
The ballet gods were punishing me.
After we had been squatting, pulsing, and lifting at the barre for what had seemed like an eternity, we took it to the pilates mats for some abs.
After an hour, I had finished the hardest workout of my life. And I felt like I was now best friends with the lady next to me (mostly because I was worried I accidently sweat on her), but also because of the couple instances where we exchanged knowing glances of complete and utter misery to one another. We were pretty close.
The pain was over, and I had to be honest with myself. It was the most fun and challenging workout I’d ever done. I loved the feeling of familiarity in the ballet moves, but they were designed so that someone with no dance experience at all could do it too. I was sweaty and tired and my legs felt like jello, but I couldn’t wait to come back!
Barre is a great workout. Something great about it is that it doesn’t necessarily get easier the more you do it. There is so much variety that each class is a totally new experience. The use of weights, resistance bands, workout balls, and the barre make for a total body workout. It leaves you feeling stronger and more confident, and the best part is, you have a great time and feel beautiful while doing it.