I call it the love child of Barre, Yoga and Pilates. So, anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE my Barre classes. Well what is that? Check out my article about “How Barre Sculpted my Physique.” Even though I’ve been doing Barre for the past 2 ½ months, I really enjoyed the Barre 3 community classes at Athleta, and wanted to get the full experience at their new location.
The studio is boutique-style with fresh Spring colors, changing rooms, a main studio and a childcare area for those with young children. (I have seen quite a few women taking Barre classes until very near to their due-dates.) We were given the tour and taken to the studio to get our station set up. “Trust me,” John, Katie’s awesome husband says. “A 3 pound dumbbell is plenty. You want to look at those numbers like they have a “0” on the end of them.” He was right. By the end of one exercise in particular, that thing felt like it weighed 30 pounds instead of 3.
Moving on to the thigh portion of the class. I think we did bout 200 hundred baby sumo squats. Just move one inch, said Katie, the lead instructor and owner of Barre 3 here in Atlanta. The micro movements get to the stabilizers. As we rise onto our tip toes while squeezing a soft foam-like ball between our thighs, my legs began to quake. “We LOVE the shakes. Take as many of them as you can while you’re here. They’re free. The shakes mean we are improving our muscles.”
By the end of class, I was definitely sweating. I left feeling like I worked hard, but energized, not run-down. One thing I liked about the fusion of these three exercises is that I was able to incorporate breath-work, strength, core, flexibility and posture all within an hour’s time. If you want long, lean muscles, you want to be flexible and find your Zen, this is the class for you.
Free Classes are being offered in Atlanta THIS WEEK Go HERE for details.