A Workout Everyone Swears By: The Ballet Barre Workout
Angela Jenkins
| 2 min read
I love new, fun and innovative ways to work out and the ballet barre workout is no exception. This is a comprehensive total-body workout that incorporates major muscle groups in a unique way that reshapes the whole body. The ballet barre workout offers fun exercises that that challenges the body’s strength, endurance and increases overall fitness.
The ballet barre workout uses a ballet barre to perform small isometric movements set to upbeat music. It tones the whole body by burning fat fast, lifting the booty and toning the thighs, abs, hips and arms. Each session is accompanied with stretching to elongate muscles, looking taller and leaner. (The Pure Barre workout, now a nationwide franchise of exercise studios, was reportedly founded in Birmingham, Mich. in 2001.)
Comparisons to Yoga and Pilates
There are many benefits to doing this type of workout that differ from more common workouts. The ballet barre workout differs from Pilates and yoga in the following ways:
- Pilates works smaller muscles that realign the core and help to stabilize it, while the ballet barre workout works most muscles, small and large, by using body weight to isolate these muscles.
- Yoga offers a more comprehensive approach to health because people can work on their physical, mental and sometimes spiritual dimensions of health. The ballet barre workout focuses on fitness specifically by strengthening and stretching the muscles to provide overall power, grace and stamina.
Plié Please
The ballet barre workout is a one hour, non-impact workout that integrates fat-burning with interval training and muscle-shaping isometrics to improve posture and overall body image and shape. Other benefits include:
- High calorie burn rate
- Increase in lean muscle mass
- Assists in weight-loss and sculpting the body
- Workout design from physical therapists to ensure joint safety
- Improves mental focus
Since this concept is still relatively new, there aren’t a ton of studios dedicated only to the ballet barre workout in Michigan. Some studios, however offer these types of classes:
- Equilibrium Studio in Bloomfield Hills
- Body Fit in Northville
- East Street Pilates in Rochester
- Barre Bee Fit in Ann Arbor
- Pure Barre in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Okemos, Midland and Saginaw
- The Dailey Method in Birmingham
Have you tried this workout before? Are there other workout studios that you know of that offer this style of workout?
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Photo credit: Angie Chung
