7 Reasons Why You Need To Try A Barre Workout

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I started a barre workout routine during my contract at Google about a year ago. One of the advantages of working there was the access to the gym on the campus.

First, I just did the elliptical while watching a show but quickly realized that I needed more to stick to my workout routine. And what I meant by more is that I needed someone to push me harder and hold me accountable. So I decided to try the classes available on the campus.

I tried Zumba and loved it. I tried Metabolic Challenge and it was too much for me so I decided to try something less intense but still building my muscles: barre!

My workout routine looked like that:

• Barre  on Tuesday and Thursday
• Zumba on Wednesday

The funny thing is even if I am no longer working there, I found a gym close to my home where I could take these classes on the same day.

Now my workout routine looks like that:

• 10-minute yoga in the morning from Monday to Friday
• Barre  on Tuesday and Thursday
• Zumba on Wednesday
• Elliptical on Monday (or Strong by Zumba if I have the strength because this class is HARD)

It took a while to find a routine working for me. So try things and see what makes you feel great! (I’m not going to say “try things and see what you like” because who likes working out for real?)

What is a barre workout

The other day I started a poll on Instagram to see how many of my followers tried barre before and I was surprised to see that most of the people didn’t. But I received a message asking about it so I thought it would be a good idea to talk about it here 😉

So barre is a low impact muscle-building workout inspired by ballet. It consists of repetitive movements by sets of 16, 8, 4, 2 or 1 with different speeds between 4 and 1-time count, followed by pulses targeting specific areas of your body.

Basically, you start working on the muscle slowly to make sure that you get the exercise right and gradually intensify the movement and finish with pulses.

The workout is usually divided into four parts:

• warm up
• lower body with the help of the barre: squats, lunges, curtsy, and movements in first and second positions
• upper body with weights
• core on the mat

I had classes with 4 different teachers so far and I can tell you that all of them have their own way of doing the class but the structure is about the same.

I also wanted to mention that the barre workout is for both men and women. 

Reasons Why You Need To Try A Barre Workout

1. Meet new people

When you take the same class every week, you will quickly notice familiar faces and smile at each other until one day you start talking!

You also are going to share the barre with other people and are going to suffer together which helps to easily connect.

At work, it was a good way to meet people from other teams. Now, it gets me out of the house and helps me socialize with people other than my husband and my cat 🙂

2. Low impact work out

If you have been following me for a while, you might be aware that I am dealing with chronic knee pain so I cannot do a crazy workout.

But doing barre actually helps me build muscles on my leg so that it’s easier on my knee when I am walking.

Also, I always wear a knee strap brace on my right knee to make sure that I don’t hurt myself more and to make the movements easier on my knee.

3. Improve your posture

Barre is going to help you improve your posture for two reasons:

1. To get the movements right, you will have to have the right posture like in ballet. If you have a good teacher they will correct your movement during the exercise.
2. You will build your back muscles during the upper body part of the class with exercises like deadlifts.

4. Tone up and build muscles

Since I started doing barre I can barely notice arm-fat. I love how toned my arms are! From the biceps to the triceps.

I started the class with 3lbs weights and used 8lbs for my biceps and 5lbs for my triceps the last few months at Google. In the class I am taking now, we only use one light set of 3 or 4 lbs for the whole workout.

Trust me, you will feel your muscles after a barre workout!

5. Become more flexible

As I was saying earlier, barre is inspired by ballet so a few of the movements will help you become more flexible. Especially at the end of the class when you work on your core and stretches afterward.

6. Create happy chemicals!

Do you know what is the most important about working out regularly? It’s what happens in your brain!

Taking a barre class will help you create endorphins and serotonin that will reduce anxiety and depression.

I have to say that it’s not always easy to get the motivation to go to the gym when you are dealing with depression, this is why I added it to my google calendar and my daily to-do list to get notifications! Also, the day before, I tell my husband to get me out of the house to go to the gym on time.

The funny thing that after a workout you feel happy and full of energy.

So my advice is to force yourself to go, exercise to create the happy chemicals and get yourself a treat on the way back home to celebrate your hard work!

7. Relax

Obviously, since you are creating happy chemicals during the workout you will feel relaxed after the class.

But there’s more than that.

For one, you will focus on getting the movements right and forget about your worries. Which is awesome right?

Also, there’s something mindful about doing barre. A few of the movements remind me of yoga, which is a way to ease into mindfulness.

So my take on it is to try it!

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Further reading

• Start The Day Right With The Best 10 Minute Yoga Videos
• The Best FREE Resources to Live a Healthy and Happy Life
• 11 Meditation Tips You Need To Know When You Start
• 12 Hobbies That Will Reduce Your Anxiety And Make You Feel Fulfilled
• Everything You Need To Know To Stop Stress

Over to you

Search barre workout near me on google and get a free pass to try it out!

Write in the comments your experience with barre.