7 REASONS You Should Try a Barre Class

We wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t 100% sure what Barre is, or what a class might look like. Barre is the name given to the warmup exercises done prior to engaging in ballet training. Now, most of us have never been to a ballet class but you’ve probably seen dancers doing barre work on TV shows or movies. Even though it was designed to be used by ballet dancers, it turns out that barre training can help all of us to become fitter, stronger and more flexible.

1. You’ll Get Stronger
Barre training involves quite a lot of isometric work. This involves tensing the muscle without moving it or shortening its length. In barre, you often perform minute pulsing movements that alternate between contractions and split-second recovery. This allows you to hold the isometric contraction for longer.

If you’re one of those guys who thinks that this ballet training thing could never benefit a real weightlifter like you, I suggest you get hold of a copy of the classic bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron. In it, you’ll see Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu performing barre training. Those two iconic bodybuilders were enlightened way back in 1975!

2. Compound Training
Barre training does more than target individual muscle groups; it works between two and four muscle groups at the same time. An extra benefit of this type of compound training is that your heart rate is elevated and you receive cardiovascular benefits.

3. Enhances Focus
Unlike many of the large compound movements that you might do in a gym, barre training is all about bodily awareness and small controlled movement patterns. This requires full concentration, helping to develop the mind muscle connection while also improving focus and mental calmness.

4. Boosts Cardiovascular Endurance Levels
Even though barre training does not involve large full range of motion movements, it still produces an effective cardio endurance workout. The constant pulsing isometric contractions are carried out at a quick pace. After a period of time, this becomes taxing to your cardiovascular system. After a few weeks of sessions, you will find that both your blood pressure and your heart rate have come down, two excellent signs of improved cardio endurance.

5. Fat Loss
Achieving long-term fat loss requires getting into a caloric deficit. To do that, you not only have to eat less, but also choose exercises that burn a lot of calories. While not as effective at doing this is something like a spin class, barre training will still churn through an impressive number of calories in a session.

Barre training puts the emphasis on working such large muscle groups as the quadriceps and glutes. When you work these bigger muscle groups, you burn more calories. As you progress through your barre training, you will also increase your lean muscle mass. This, too, will help you to burn more calories throughout the day.

6. Core Engagement
Ballet training in general, and barre in particular, fully engages the core. Virtually every move that you make will involve contraction of the abdominal wall, obliques, intercostals and erector spinae. As you are no doubt aware, having a tight strong midsection is absolutely vital to overall health and wellness.

7. Enhanced Flexibility and Bone Strength
Stretching is an important part of any barre training session. This naturally improves your flexibility. In turn your balance, proprioception and coordination will all be boosted. In addition, barre training will make your bones stronger. That will enable them to withstand the stress of a fall or injury and help to ward off such afflictions as osteoporosis.

Summary
Barre training classes are becoming more and more popular. This is a direct result of people getting more educated regarding the benefits that they offer. Now that you are among that group, why not give barre a try for yourself? You’ll soon discover that it is more challenging than it looks – and that it is an awesome addition to your regular fitness and strength training.