By Jodi Broz - Personal Trainer
If you haven’t taken a barre class at the Paseo club then you are missing out, or maybe you’re just not familiar with what can happen to the body in a barre workout. Barre based fitness classes of gained in popularity over the years. Who isn’t looking for the super fit and tone of a Ballerina body? Lucky for you the club has four classes on the schedule with three amazing teachers.
So what exactly is a barre workout?
Barre is a whole body, head to toe workout that uses your own body weight to build alignment, strengthen your core and tone and elongate the muscles. It is a low impact conditioning class that combines the movement of ballet, the strength of Pilates and the stretching of yoga to help tone and reshape the entire body. One of the biggest misconceptions of Barre is that you have to be flexible or a dancer to take barre.
The actual barre in class refers to a prop used to help with balance and support. The use of the barre for balance allows you to focus on small isometric strength exercises, basically holding your body still and working the muscle at a specific joint within a given range of motion to fatigue. These small, targeted movements focus on strengthening and tightening the hips, glutes, thighs and abdominal wall, or core. The movement may be small but trust me you will feel the burn.
In my class I always say… “Embrace that burn.” It is your clue that the muscle is breaking down and changing shape and that is the primary benefit of barre to reshape the entire body. Here are four ways you can benefit from barre:
- Improved Posture: working on the shoulders, arms and upper back in barre practice will prevent you from slouching. You will feel yourself standing taller with a sense of elongation from head toe.
- Lifted Bum: barre training is fantastic for training the glutes. This can be great for your rear end department but there is more to it than building a bigger bum. Stronger glute muscles will help stabilize the pelvis to alleviate pressure on the back, hips and knees.
- Stronger Core: your abdominal muscles are used the entire class to hold your body in correct alignment. A stronger core means a flatter tummy and a flatter stomach help strengthen the muscles around the spine witch can ease tension we hold in our lower back.
- Less Stressed: Barre can be mentally challenging as it takes mindfulness to stay engaged in the tiny movements. It forces you to connect to your breath to be able to stick to your form. You’ll no doubt leave class feeling lifted and calm.
Improved posture and balance, a stronger back, and a tighter, flatter stomach are sure to leave you walking taller.
And while weight loss is not a focus of barre I’m sure you will have the appearance of a longer, leaner physique.
Jen Azevedo is a tennis professional, pickleball professional, personal trainer, group exercise instructor, and the general manager of the Paseo Club. She loves the community at the Paseo Club and that it is also a safe and fun place for her daughter. Jen’s favorite activities are joining her tribe for trail races or her partners for tennis matches. Occasionally Jen slows down to relax with a book — she reads over 100 a year!
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