The lights dim in the Pure Barre Ardmore studio while I lay on my back, ready to finish strong.
“These are your last few minutes of class to really lift, tone, and burn,” our teacher Chelsea encourages. “Give it all you’ve got!”
As I lift my hips to tempo with the music, my mind can’t help but look back to just three weeks ago, when I could barely get through this workout without wanting to cry (okay, maybe I actually cried a few times, but shhhh).
I walked into my first class with an unnecessary sense of bravado and left with my pride handed back to me. I laughed at the two and three pound weights, wondering if there were heavier options. Surely, I’d need at least twice that size. Being a trainer, my experience with heavy weights and fast circuits was extensive. Barre was going to be a breeze, akin to some really good stretching.
Flash forward to ten minutes later when I’m drenched in sweat, struggling to lift three pound weights, question my validity as a fitness professional. It was not the prettiest of sights, nor the most flattering. Countless times the teacher had to come over and readjust my form. There was a tiny bit of shame in not understanding the proper movements and needing someone else’s help. When I got back to my house, I was humbled and fascinated. Running the Philadelphia Half Marathon was arguably easier. Why was this the most difficult exercise class I’ve ever done?
Pure Barre was founded in 2001 by dancer and choreographer Carrie Rezabek Dorr. While the workout utilizes the ballet barre, it is nowhere near dancing. Instead, clients use isometric movements and light weights to perform focused exercise in the arms, thighs, butt, and abdominal areas. Small movements are the key to big results, and in feeling the inevitable burn. Barre is a favorite exercise of many notable celebrities, particularly the Victoria’s Secret Angels. The exercises are low impact, with stretching between each circuit change to vamp up flexibility and lean out the muscles. Sound easy enough? Don’t be silly.
Our bodies aren’t dumb. They’re meant to change and adapt. While I didn’t have my split perfectly down the next time I made my way to the barre, I could feel a difference a few classes down the line. I began to pick up on the movements, and predict what would be coming next (and how much longer left in the class). It wasn’t any easier and I was still sore the next day, but the routine became comforting.
Buzzwords like “tuck”, referring to the tucking of the hips, and “pulse it out”, became second nature. The phrase “Just a few more changes”, became more of a God send, a signal that I could relax my shaking muscles, than a purveyor of fear and confusion (exactly how many is a few?).
As I dragged my slumber addicted body out of bed before sunrise every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and tucked my classroom troubles away during Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I noticed a change in myself that wasn’t more defined abs or stronger thighs. For starters, the fact that I was getting up way earlier than I needed to be was a small miracle that my mother still cannot believe. Honestly, I can’t either. There’s no more flinching when I set a 6:20am alarm, no more making excuses as to why the morning isn’t “the right time for me”. I had found something I loved so much, I was willing to leave behind my warm comforter for a fix. My “night at the barre” was vastly different for the rest of my college campus’.
Pure Barre became my happy place, my safe haven that checked all the stressors of the day at the door. I found a community within the studio that can be rare in the boutique fitness class world. Many clients just want to get in and out, not bothering to socialize. This strategy is fine, and the workout time is put in, but it wasn’t the environment I wanted to immerse myself in.
Pure Barre Ardmore quickly became my second social life, not that I minded. The warmth exuded by the staff can be felt the second one walks through the door. I think it’s quite special when someone really takes the time to know your name and your story, a relationship I’m lucky to have built with my Pure Barre family. This peaceful atmosphere allows for an even better workout, for both your butt and your psyche.
It seems counterintuitive to think that the best time to clear your mind is when you’re focusing on exercise. Yet, the only time my worries can release is when my muscles are working their hardest. It’s probably because I’m sweating them out at an alarming quantity. With my toes pointed and my forearms on the barre, I could create a deeper connection between my mind and body, and leave the deadlines and emails until after the final stretch. While I’ve now learned the proper way to bend my body for barre exercises, I’ve accepted that there is no shame in readjusting; in barre, in relationships, in workspaces, in life. We grow stronger in understanding that we don’t always have to be right the first time.
One of the trademark Pure Barre lines is, “embrace the shake”, meant to refer to the shaking of our fatigued muscles as we move through the class’ circuits. However, I’ve come to see it as riding the turbulence we encounter in life. Hardships are going to come our way. Roadblocks are going to appear. But as long as we have a tough foundation, we won’t crumble, just shake. And thanks to Pure Barre Ardmore, I know I can shake through even the toughest of difficulties (and thigh exercises, because let me tell you, those are killer).
HCxo,
Cristiana