Among the latest trend of fitness classes arises a new dance inspired type, Barre, for all you girls (or guys) out there that always wanted to be a ballerina, or like me, was a ballerina at the age of 6, quit, and constantly has quarter-life crisis about playing sports instead of pursuing life as a dancer. If you have similar views, then barre is for you! It uses techniques from ballet and incorporates it into an everyday fitness routine.
How do I know this, you ask? Well, Xtend Barre graciously opened their doors to HerCampus Northeastern this past week to get a taste of this fitness trend. Studios have been popping up everywhere, and this is an adorable studio located on Newbury Street. They offer a variety of classes from a normal barre class, to a TRX version (which uses suspension bands), and even yoga classes! Your whole body will get a workout from this studio.
Now onto the class:
Andrea was our lovely instructor. A former BU student and member of their nationally ranked dance team, she enjoys working at Xtend to keep up her dancing and fitness after college. She first brought us through a warm-up that involved some basic ballet techniques and some typical exercises like lunges.
Next was arms and let me tell you, IT BURNS. We were using 1-2 lb. weights but this was perfect for the constant movement of your arms. In those 10-15 minutes of arms, we were able to work the biceps, triceps, shoulders, back and chest! Talk about efficiency.
Towards the end of the class, we focused more on legs, but on the ground, working the inner and outer thighs. All around, my body felt like it had a good workout.
One of the reasons I love to partake in group fitness situations has to do with the instructor. Being told what to do when, being motivated, and having corrections to form is really vital for me and helps make a better workout.
For those of you who found this intriguing, right now Xtend is running a promotion where for the price of $49 you can attend unlimited classes for 2 weeks! This is an amazing deal considering most fitness classes run about $20-30 per class! If you attend a class every day for two weeks, you will only be spending $3.50 per class! That deal is hard to beat. For more questions, concerns or registration, check out Xtend Barre!