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Ladies, it’s time to grab a friend and hit the barre, and we aren’t talking the kind with happy hours; we’re talking the ballet barre. With franchise studios like Pure Barre gaining momentum all over the United States and Canada, barre is the latest and greatest fitness rage women are falling in love with. During a barre class a ballet barre is used to balance while completing a series of exercises that combine high reps of small-range-of-motion movements combined with isometric strength training. These small movements and the alternative options given for almost every exercise make it easy for woman of all shapes, sizes, and ages to participate and work at their own ability. The first time ditching your usual Saturday spin class can be a little intimidating, but those who do, don’t regret it. Here are reasons to join the movement if you aren’t already convinced.
1. Your average class takes less than an hour. You heard that right, your typical Barre class is only 50 minutes, so it is lunch and class-break friendly for working and college-age women, making it the perfect class to fit into your daytime routine at any age. Although every person is different in the amount they sweat, you usually aren’t drenched when class is finished, like with other types of exercise. So throw some dry shampoo and a spray deodorant in your bag to freshen up and you’ll be back to work and class in no time.
2. You get a dance body without being a dancer. Since you only use light weights and your own body weight during your barre session, you tone and build lean muscle without the bulking. This makes it the perfect cardio supplement for someone trying to gain weight and build heavy muscle and the perfect muscle building supplement for those cardio bunnies who are trying to slim down! Like traditional ballet, barre workouts elongate and lean out your body.
3. Forget about the worries of life. Barre is the type of workout that is so short and so intense that you may find yourself asking, “what just happened?” when you walk out the doors. The “barre blackout” is a phenomenon not uncommon to even the most tailored veterans of the workout, and means losing yourself in the movements, music, and in your focus on precision. The entirety of a barre session does for your brain what the savasana portion of yoga does — all stresses of the day float away and for 50 minutes, it is just me, my body, and the music.
4. Music you will want for your next Spotify playlist. Ranging from dj mix ups of classic pop to alternative to jazz, the music in barre will take you on a rollercoaster of genres but is always A-1. There is a never a class that I haven’t paused before leaving to ask for a playlist, because that one song from the class before hasn’t left my head since and I just need the name.
5. Barre is the perfect opportunity for ex-dancers to stay in touch with their love for ballet, or for someone who has never danced before to fall in love for the first time. My personal favorite thing about Barre is that it is the perfect way to keep dancing after my competitive dance career came to an end when I went away to college. The many aspects of ballet incorporated in barre brought me back to old times, and I got a work out all in one. Many dance studios even use barre as a form of conditioning for their students.
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