A barre blend workout includes a series of low-impact and cardio interval training exercises, inspired by the graceful dance movements of ballet, the balance and flexibility of yoga and the strength of Pilates. Each class provides a variety of dynamic exercises using light weights and combining high reps of small range movements with cardio interval sequences to keep your muscles activated while keeping your heart rate up. The active stretches will stabilise your core, sculpt and tone your muscles and give you strength and flexibility, allowing you to achieve a lean dancer’s physique. You will truly feel your entire body changing and your fitness levels improving. You will be exercising and burning calories while having fun, you won’t even feel like you’re actually working out. You also don’t need any previous dance experience to get started. Only energy and the motivation to feel stronger, leaner and happier. Barre blend classes will provide you with a strong sense of movement and body awareness that will make you feel much more confident in your own skin and give you the power to express yourself through your body.
Why barre?
Small range movements
In other workouts like the typical strength training and cardio/aerobics classes, you usually move your joints through full range motion as you execute exercises like squats and lunges. On the contrary, barre uses small range movements with very little joint movement, the so-called isometric contractions. Especially in strength training, the exercises often stretch and shorten the muscle, creating more impact on the joints. Barre, however, stretches the muscle without changing the length, allowing you to perform a higher number of reps and develop your muscular endurance without any risk of strain and injury, as long as you’re using proper form.
Multiple muscle groups targeted at once
The core is the main focus of barre, as the abdominal muscles are responsible for holding the body in position. Another group of muscles highly activated by this workout are the glutes: they gain strength and tone that will help with pelvic stabilisation and lower back pain relief. As for the legs, other workouts easily target the glutes, quads, and hamstrings but not the smaller muscles of your inner and outer thighs, like your adductors and abductors. Ballet dancers are no strangers to exercising these types of muscles, making barre, with its ballet-inspired movements, a great way to sculpt the legs.
Balance and flexibility
Barre uses stretching exercises designed to create more flexibility, which will give you more balance, coordination, and better posture. You will increase your range of motion by building up long, lean muscles. Flexibility is easily improved with regular practice and will allow you to go deeper into your barre workouts, avoid pain and injuries, and reduce soreness. Even though weight loss is not the main priority in barre, your toned limbs and better posture will definitely make you feel leaner.
Cardio interval training
Cardio is usually the method of choice for losing weight. However, even though it is associated with an increased amount of burned calories, it also leads to loss of muscle. Muscles are responsible for burning a substantial amount of calories per pound per day, raising your resting metabolic levels and helping you with weight loss in the long run. Barre allows you to increase your heart rate and improve your cardiovascular performance while building up muscle. The short intervals between sequences allow the heart rate to remain steady, providing more energy and intensity to your workout.
Low impact
Barre is suitable for all fitness levels, no matter your age, weight, or gender. It is also a great workout to ease into more intense forms of physical exercise, as you can adapt it to your capacities. It's rehabilitative exercises provide a physical challenge with minimal impact and no risk of injury, making it a great workout for people recovering from acute or chronic injuries.
Mind-body connection
Barre will also have a positive impact on your mental health, your ability to manage stress and anxiety, as well as your ability to focus. You will feel more connected to your body and this connection will not only help you improve your fitness performance but will also manifest as positive physical changes, such as improved sleep quality and circulation, better posture, low back pain relief and injury prevention.
Classes can be quite difficult to fit into a busy schedule, not always being the most practical solution for everyone. It is pretty easy to improvise a barre studio at home, and barre includes many exercise sequences easy to replicate at home, requiring only minimal equipment (usually just a mat and your body weight). Just make sure you exercise in a quiet place and that you have enough room to move around and stretch your entire body.
Where to get started?
Head to the PBB On-Demand Page on our website to sign up for the PBB On-Demand App - you’ll get 7 days free and get the opportunity to explore the App and everything it has to offer from Dynamic Pilates, barre, yoga, functional training, BabyBarre and tons more.
Each month you’ll have access to new recipes, live classes, new on-demand workouts and more! There are many classes you can choose from, according to your fitness level and goals:
▪ PBB Signature
▪ PBB Burn
▪ PBB Dynamic Pilates Sculpt
▪ PBB Burn + Sculpt
▪ PBB BabyBarre
▪ PBB Sculpt
▪ PBB Peach
& MUCH MORE! We hope to see you on the mat