Give Your Workout An Artistic Twist With The New Barre Workout

Are you looking for grace and elegance in your workout routine that would also help you gain killer core strength and flexibility? Then, you should opt for barre workout – the new fitness routine in town! Inspired by the classic dance routine of ballet, the barre workout requires only one equipment - the ballet barre and involves isometric movements. Want to know more? Here you go!    

Let’s Take a Look at How Barre Workouts Came to Being

Born out of ballet, it goes without a doubt that only a ballerina can formulate the unique fitness regime of barre workout. Lotte Berk, a German ballet dancer, combined ballet dance moves with her rehabilitative therapy to recover from a back injury in 1959. She later opened the Lotte Berk Studio in her basement.  

Later, in the 70s, one of her students popularized it in New York. But it was in 2010 that this form of workout caught global attention, more so after the intense Hollywood drama Black Swan.    

What can you gain from Barre workouts?

1. Strong Core: Enroll yourself for Barre workout classes if you want a robust core. Barre exercises contain isometric movements, meaning, you hold on to a position while contracting muscles, much like in planks during strength training sessions. It involves repeated small muscle movements that build up endurance and thus contribute to strengthening your core.
2. Improved posture and muscle coordination: The dance form of ballet requires perfect posture and spring-like flexibility. Similarly, barre workout, too, helps you to gain better posture, flexibility and loosens your muscles promoting proper coordination.   
3. Soreness but no injury: Barre exercise may prove to be a demanding workout routine for your muscles, but not for your bones and joints. It is a low impact exercise with slow to static movements making it easy for anyone at any age. So, you will sweat and feel sore, but never will be injured.
4. Fun: Barre workouts consist of diverse movements and modifications. It all depends on your age and level attained at the workout. Beginners’ set of barre movements are different to that of pros. And even those have variations. No class consists of the same old routine. So, it is varied, coupled with good music and is always fun and challenging.   
5. Weight Loss: During barre workouts, the smallest of small muscles in your body undergoes extensive work. This will make you sweat a lot. You will even feel sore. The extensions in this workout help to develop more lean muscle mass, whereas as the static positions increases resting metabolic rate. This leads to more energy and loss of more calories.
6. Rapid results: Barre workouts are result oriented. Performing barre exercises two to four times a week will evidently provide you with a well – sculpted and toned physique.  

3 Easy Barre Exercises You Can Begin With

Here are three easy barre exercises that you can do as a beginner. All these three exercises put sufficient strain on your abs and lower body muscles. Take the support of the ballet barre to maintain balance.

Plie Pulses: The exercise of plie pulses is quite similar to that of squats. Keep your heels hip-width apart. Bend your knees slightly. Holding on to this position bounce (pulse) your hips slightly. Do this 25 – 30 times. You can also do this simple exercise with your heels together or one heel in front of the other. The only trick is to hold the position and bend the knees to create the pulses. To maintain balance, hold on to the ballet barre.

Develope Leg Lifts: Stand straight with your heels together. Slide your left foot up your knee forming the figure ‘4’. Now, extend the left leg and try to move it away from the floor as much as possible. With practice, you will be able to lift and extend your leg higher and straighter. Hold the position for a few seconds and come back to the initial position. You can extend the leg in the front, at the back, and on the sides.

Ballet Jumps: Stand straight with your knees slightly bent. Jump lightly in the air and come back to the initial position. To practice its advanced levels, you can even practice with the help of a ballet barre. Its advanced variation would require you to grab the barre and lift yourself from the ground, putting all your weight on your arms. Holding on that position, cross your feet alternately and come back to the initial position.    

So, sweat it out not with intense exercise sessions but with slow and elegant postures popular in ballet. Uplift your mood with the release of endorphins and find peace as you perfect the isometric extensions.

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