Ok, I'm officially addicted. A friend warned me that would happen, and I kinda scoffed in my mind. Welp, now I'm eating that scoff.
I'd been wanting to try barre for a while, but was a little intimidated since I don't have any ballet experience. Last weekend, I figured it was as good a time as any to finally give it a go, so a friend and I decided to take a class. Apparently weekend classes are pretty popular (well, all the closes are popular, as I've come to find out!) so we were only able to secure spots in the core barre lite class. This is a 45 minute class, as opposed to an hour, and it's geared towards beginners or those wanting a less intense workout. Since we were both beginners, we figured this would be a great way to ease into the exercise. Ashley was our instructor and she totally made us feel at ease and explained every move as we went. The 45 minutes seemed to fly by, and after the class both my friend and I felt like it was a tad too easy. But we enjoyed it so we committed to trying a full class before giving up on barre. I should note that despite feeling like it was too easy, my arms did feel like they had gotten a workout the next day.
Not wanting to wait forever before giving it another shot, I signed up for the Tuesday pilates barre class, a 60 minute class fusing pilates and barre. Ashley was my instructor again and she was just as great as she was during my first class. I could totally feel the burn during this hour-long class and knew it was working some of my rarely used muscles. I left invigorated and excited to try another class!
Today, I tried the regular core barre class (one hour) and it was amazing. I think I enjoyed it even more than the pilates barre class, if only because it seemed a little faster paced and the tunes were totally up my alley. The first two classes didn't have me breaking much of a sweat, but today kicked my booty. In a good way. Alice was the instructor and, just like Ashley, she made me feel comfortable and was awesome about explaining every move.
I guess I should also mention that I've never been one for exercise classes. I'm an elliptical and weights girl, who likes to work out on her own. I did yoga back in high school, but switched to the gym during college and continued the elliptical affair after I graduated. Well, I can definitely say that I'm now a barre class fan.
Although the studio's on the other side of town from where I live, these classes will have me coming back again and again. read more