How to Get the Most Out of Your Barre Workout

Have you ever taken a barre class?

When we first started teaching barre our families were slightly confused. They didn’t know if we were studying for the Bar Exam or becoming a bartender.

While they had never heard of a barre workout before, we were so glad to let them in on what an incredible workout it can be. Barre comes from ballet barre. Barre was created by the ballerina Lotte Berk in London in 1959.

She developed barre after injuring her back and combined her rehabilitative therapy exercises with her ballet moves for a whole new exercise program and we are so glad she did.

Barre focuses on small movements. It’s all about muscular endurance training. The difference between barre and more traditional strength training is that muscular strength training focuses on how much you can lift while barre or muscular endurance training focuses on how long you can lift.

Both are important for everyday living.

It’s not only helpful to be able to carry all those groceries in one go, but being able to hold your little one or even blow dry your hair takes muscular endurance.

Now that you know what barre is, let’s talk about…

How to Get the Most Out of Your Barre Workout

Barre is a great workout. It’s also very deceptive. If you were to walk by a barre exercise class, it may not look like the participants were doing much. Yet, if you’ve ever taken a barre class then you know that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The number one strategy for how to get the most out of your barre workout is to engage your core.

Barre is about muscular endurance and the most important muscle when it comes to endurance is your core. Your core is what holds the body up throughout the day after all.

If you’ve taken a barre class, you’ve most likely heard your instructor say, “engage your core!” So what does that mean exactly? It means that you need to activate your inner abdominals. When you think about your core, it’s easy to picture it like a box. The top is your diaphragm, the bottom is your pelvic floor, the sides are your obliques and then the back muscles and your rectus abdominals in the front aka “the six pack.”

What we often forget about is the transverse abdominals or “nature’s corset.” It’s crucial to engage those first before you work the outer layer of your abs. You can think about it like you’re bringing your belly button up and in or like you’re trying to zip up your skinniest jeans.

While doing any movement in class, you want to make sure that you are engaging your core. This will ensure you are doing movements safely, will get you stronger, help your posture and take your workout to the next level.

The second strategy for how to get the most out of your barre workout is to embrace the shake!

This is another phrase you may have heard come out of your barre instructor’s mouth in class. Often with barre it’s tempting to get right out of the move once it starts to burn or if your muscles start to shake. Yet, hold out, close your eyes and embrace it! It’ll help make you that much stronger.

Finally, when it comes to getting the most out of your barre workout, be sure to check your posture and your form.

We aren’t doing many big movements when it comes to barre, so your form and your posture is EVERYTHING. Think about a plank. There’s a big difference in the exercise if you are in a nice straight line as opposed to lifting your hips up slightly. If you are doing any glute work, you want to make sure you aren’t overarching your back and you’re putting all of your energy into your legs to avoid stressing your lower back out.

Think about each movement and where you are supposed to feel the exercise. Listen to your instructor. They will be your guide and be sure to check in with them before or after class with any questions you have about form. They are there to help.

If you haven’t tried barre yet, then you’re going to want to head to our schedule right away and book your first class. It’s a tough, but fun class that’ll leave you feeling stronger and empowered. You’ll walk out of those doors or turn that computer off feeling on top of the world.

New around here? Try a free week of unlimited classes, that includes in person and virtual classes, on us!