Advertising will not enter our heading! Everything that we describe here is an honest opinion about the tested beauty products, procedures, new products in the world of beauty. This time we tried the latest barre fitness workouts on ourselves and share our emotions.
It would seem that in general, what new can you think of in fitness? It seems to me that there is already everything: ballet for amateurs, yoga, aero yoga, cross-fit, functional training, toddler EMC classes … Training for the lazy, for those who want harder, rejuvenating and so on. I really think I’ve seen everything. Therefore, barre fitness went to the testing itself – out of curiosity, with the mood “well, well, what can you surprise me with here.”
Expectations: in Moscow, such training was launched for the first time, although the barre trend in America is insanely popular. But in general it was invented by a German woman – a ballerina who was injured, but decided to give the world effective groundwork. The workout is a mixture of Pilates, yoga, ballet and light dumbbell exercises. And from the outside it looks very light. So much so that when I saw what exercises we were going to do now, I was disappointed: well, squat, well, swing. And is this the latest technique? Pffffr. But the coach warned: this simplicity is deceiving. Much attention is paid to technique – performing one exercise, you actually work out an entire muscle group. Let’s get started!
Reality: after a short warm-up, I was handed dumbbells weighing 0,5 kg each. Fluffy. And they offered to perform triceps extension of the arms. Isolation trick: you perform the exercise leaning forward slightly, turning on your back and abs. And in a multi-repetition mode, you methodically work out various muscles of the arms. Honestly, after 10 minutes of this workout, I howled. But she wrote down the effect on the account of the weakness of these particular parts of the body. “Let’s move on to the legs,” I thought. “You can’t take me that easily.”
Then we worked at the machine. We did the usual ballet plie (squat), but holding the ball with our knees. Do you understand, yes? Again, several muscle groups worked at once. Etc. Exercises seem to be outrageously simple, for example, which of the experienced gym dwellers will surprise you by moving your legs back, without even weighing it down! But they are performed in a slightly uncomfortable position, unusual for the body, forcing even deep muscles to be included. As a result, after a measly 15 repetitions, the legs burn with fire. Finally, I was convinced that this works when I felt that the muscles of the buttocks refused to do even one more approach. To light the ass is worth a lot!
For an hour of training, we worked all the groups – back, arms and legs, abs. There was stretching and yoga asanas. And although we did not jump or run, I came to the finish line wet as a mouse. The pulse rose, the body warmed up, which means that the cardio effect was a success.
Already exhausted lying on the mat, I asked the trainer what is the peculiarity of barre fitness.
– The whole trick is that you hold your body in a certain position for a long time, while making a short movement, – Olga explained to me, on whose body there seems to be not a single fat. – Some groups, for example, the buttocks, which you felt today, are isolated in the most uncomfortable position for them and are loaded. Have you noticed that all the time I made you remarks about posture, straight back, long neck? During training, we stretch the body, do it like ballerinas, and at the end we stretch. In this way, the muscles are lengthened. They become stronger, but take up less volume, as happens during training, for example, in the gym. Hence the fit and the bonus – excellent posture.
Friends, already that day my whole body ached! And this despite the fact, I repeat, that it knows regular physical activity.
Price issue: 990 rubles per lesson. 9900 rubles per month unlimited.
Evaluation: 9 out of 10. In principle, training does nothing that you cannot get in other activities. By and large, if any exercise is performed technically and with many repetitions, the simplest will give a result. Its big plus is a calm pace, if you, like me, do not like the exhausting cardio jumps of group classes. But at the same time – high efficiency. I was confused by the cost. For example, when you pay so much for EMC, you realize that you are giving money at least for this equipment, which you simply won’t take anywhere. In the same case, the feature is in a new configuration, you do not need to buy any additional studio equipment, except for a fairly standard set of halls. And an annual subscription to a fitness club will cost you several times cheaper than regular barre classes.
But overall, my impressions were very positive. If you are looking for an effective load – give it a try!