Everything you need to know about barre fitness.
What is barre fitness?
A barre fitness class is a mixture of low impact, high-intensity exercises, with foundations of ballet technique. It is designed to work the entire body, strengthening the core and improving the posture. A good barre workout will also work on your flexibility and balance. You can definitely expect to feel your glutes the day after one of these classes! As you go from beginner to more advanced, you can add in light weights and resistance bands to ramp up the intensity of the workout.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately for some (?!), you won’t need to wear a tutu or ballet slippers for these classes. Your standard form-fitting gym wear will do the trick. If you really want to nod to the ballet influence you can pop your hair in a bun for authenticity! Barre fitness will leave you feeling poised for sure. However, potentially not so graceful or elegant until you have mastered the intensity of the multiple pulsing exercises without the grimace and endurance sweat.
Barre fitness pulses in second
How effective are barre workouts?
If you regularly do barre classes you will certainly tone and strengthen your muscle. You’ll also burn calories. However, if you’re looking to exercise with the main aim of losing weight, you’ll need to get some HIIT and cardio mixed into your exercise routine. A good barre class will add in some impact work with mini jumps. However, the majority of the class is low impact, pulsing movements. These are unlikely to raise your heartrate to the desired zone for optimum fat burning results. Nonetheless, weight loss is essentially about using up more calories than you intake, so any form of exercise is going to help you with this balance.
What are the main benefits of a barre workout?
We’ve listed our top 5 favourites below:
- Improves posture and poise, you’ll carry yourself with a new sense of confidence.
- Long and lean muscle tone, who doesn’t want ballerina legs?!
- A focus on core strengthening, improving stability and all-over body support.
- Increases flexibility, minimising risk of injury and easing functional everyday movements..
- Improves coordination and mental focus, giving benefits you’ll notice in other areas of your life.
Stretches at the barre
Can anyone join in barre fitness?
What’s great about barre workouts, is that they really are suitable for beginners to advanced practitioners. Exercises can always be simplified or made more difficult. No matter what level you are at, the exercises will still be beneficial. Due to the turned-out nature of the legs in many of the exercises, it is advisable to proceed with caution or ask for extra advice from your instructor if you have any knee or lower back issues or injuries.
Written by Becky Barrett.
Becky Barrett is an international talent manager and personal fitness coach with over 15 years’ professional experience and a 1st class Honours degree in Business & Law.
Driven by her unique values of compassion and a holistic approach to talent management, Becky has devised an innovative solution to take on the fitness industry with a brand-new personal fitness concept that aims to inspire and boost ‘new normal’ approaches to exercise routines.
Features include: Health & Wellbeing, Natural Health, Arden University, The Telegraph, BBC, Time & Leisure, Bdaily News, The Stage.