It’s been six months since you jetéd into the world of barre fitness. Since then, you’ve acquired an impressive collection of grippy socks, use the words “seat,” “pulse,” “plié” and “tuck” in everyday conversation and are slowly edging your way up to Barre Star status at your local studio.
You excitedly pop out of bed to catch the early morning Classic class and sport that “I-just-took-a-barre-class-
Photo credit: Jennifer Mathieu Henshall
1. Barre class is for everyone
Anyone can take a barre class. This low-impact, all-inclusive workout is for women and men of any age and/or fitness level. From those just getting into or back into exercise, to hardcore athletes, to expectant mothers, barre’s signature isometric strength and full-range flexibility movements benefit all who desire a joint-friendly and well-rounded workout.
2. Barre has a sexy past
Although it may seem as if barre is a recent fitness trend, its roots actually date back over sixty years ago when ballet dancer Lotte Berk developed the discipline in London after suffering injuries from an accident. Almost twenty years after Berk opened her studio, barre took on a more sexual undertone, as studios positioned the workout as a combination of ballet, yoga, orthopedic exercise and sex.
During the sexual revolution of the 1970s, women sought out barre classes to boost their confidence both inside and outside the bedroom. Berk’s combination of ballet training and rehabilitative exercises lay the foundation for barre – the unique combination of ballet, Pilates and strength training – as we know and love it today.
Lydia Bach of The Lotte Berk Method in a newspaper clipping from 1974.
3. Barre is growing
You don’t need an Instagram account to know that barre studios are popping up all over the place. Some statistics indicate that barre has grown 141% since 2013 and approximately 1/3 of the fitness industry has integrated barre classes into their programming. According to USA Today, Pure Barre, alone, has grown just over 100% in the last five years and now operates over 500 locations worldwide.
4. Barre will do amazing things for your body
Ask a studio of barre stars what they love most about barre workouts and without hesitating, they will tell you that barre has improved their flexibility, muscle definition and strength. They may also admit that they feel taller (in barre, it’s all about lifting and lengthening the spine) and have better posture.
As an added bonus, not only will barre’s signature micromovements tone and sculpt your muscles, but they will also help burn fat and give you a killer core. Barre’s unique fusion of full-body exercises, which focus on balance and control, will sculpt your mid-section more safely and gently than those crunch-heavy workouts of the past.
5. Barre enthusiasts don’t plateau
Since barre is really a one-size-fits-all workout, it can be easily modified or intensified. Simply dropping an inch lower or coming up an inch higher in your plié or making your movements bigger or smaller, will greatly improve your results.
Incorporating props such as balls, weights, resistance loops or sliders into the workout adds variety while increasing your strength and flexibility. And after you’ve mastered your form and have become familiar with the coveted “shake,” increasing the tempo of a sequence will boost your heart rate, as well as your endurance.
Photo credit: Jennifer Mathieu Henshall
6. Barre requires no dance training
You don’t need years of dance training (or any dance experience at all) to participate in a barre class. Barre fitness classes are not dance classes, but dance-inspired workouts that incorporate warm-ups, positions and stretches from traditional ballet classes.
You will learn how to properly execute a relevé and plié and how to perform positions such as first, second and fourth, but you won’t be asked to pirouette your way across the room or dance en pointe. One of barre’s unique features is that you get all of the feels (French vocabulary included) of being a graceful ballet dancer without actually having to dance.
7. Barre is hard
Some may think that pulsing in second position, using only one- to three-pound weights or lifting and lowering your leg for countless consecutive repetitions doesn’t make for an intense workout. However, when barre’s signature micromovements are choreographed in conjunction with high reps and cardio bursts, it doesn’t take long for you to feel the effects of this low-impact, but, high-intensity workout.
A 60-minute barre class can burn upwards of 300-400 calories (depending on factors such as the participant’s weight and the class structure), with 30-40% of those calories being in the fat-burning zone.
8. Barre improves your mind-body awareness and concentration
Barre will get you well on your way to sculpting a dancer’s toned and sleek physique and also help improve your mind-body awareness along with your concentration.
Unlike more traditional forms of fitness (i.e. regular strength training), barre’s smaller movements help you strengthen your neuromuscular connection, as you lift and shape your way to a stronger core and tighter glutes. Just raising your outstretched leg up one inch at a time helps bring a new level of awareness of your body, while improving your ability to activate frequently underused muscles.
9. Barre is one of the most efficient workouts around
Long gone are the days of sweating it out for hours in the gym. In just 60-minutes (or less), a barre workout will help improve your posture, balance and coordination; sculpt and tone your muscles; increase your flexibility, burn calories and strengthen your mind-body connection.
The combination of a well-trained barre instructor, along with a strategically-choreographed class, will give you an effective workout that will keep your metabolism revved and your energy level up long after you leave the barre.
10. Barre is fun
It’s no surprise that barre classes and studios are sautéing (a ballet term for jump) up worldwide. Not only are they highly-effective at increasing our strength and stamina, as well as those all-important neuromuscular connections, but they are also really fun!
The community atmosphere, ability to make the workout your own, judgement-free zone, and chance to tap into your inner dancer for an hour are reasons why barre enthusiasts say they keep returning to their neighborhood barres day after day (which, by the way, is safe to do!).
See you (and your new barre buddies) at the barre!
About the Author
Jennifer is a barre instructor, personal trainer, clinical aromatherapist and author who discovered barre — her soul-mate workout — while training for the 2016 Boston Marathon. As a long-time runner, former bodybuilder, and melanoma skin cancer survivor, Jennifer’s recent battle with autoimmune disease has changed her fitness focus to one that incorporates more mindful, purposeful and low-impact movements.
A former communication professor and mother of two daughters, Jennifer is excited to share her thoughts and experiences on ways to create and maintain a strong connection between the mind and body through barre.
