This morning I decided to try something completely out of the box for me, Barre Method!  Athleta in Bellevue hosted a Pop Up Barre class today and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to give this workout that I hear about all the time a try.

It’s a weird feeling going into a workout with absolutely no expectations and just rolling with it!  But so many people I know love Barre and are religious about attending the workouts.  My mind however has been a bit clouded about it because we’ve seen so many injuries in our office from people overdoing it.

So in my post today I’m just going to lay it all out, my first impressions of Barre Method!

*First, I will start by saying the instructor today were awesome!  Great in their delivery and coaching.  They also seemed to share my love for muscle pain 🙂

*Barre Method uses isometrics mostly to target the muscles.  This is something I can definitely get on board with.  Studies have proven that in the world of asymmetrical athletes, isometrics are a much more effective way to bring more balance to the body than trying to do more reps on one side verses the other.  Many of the moves we did today were very similar to the Tom House protocols we use in our office!

*I was also a huge fan of how the workout addressed different joint positions.  Pointing the toes inward and outward, even rotating hand positions in the pushup.  These are all awesome ways to work on better mobility will asking the muscle to exhaust.

*One of the biggest takeaways for me today was how weak my big toes are!  Sounds strange but there were so many moves where we needed to go on our toes and I felt so incredibly weak.  Note to self, must build stronger feet!

*There was an emphasis on natural spine during the workout, and that was awesome!  I love seeing that prioritized especially when hip extension is involved.  Now, I spend everyday hyper focusing on spinal positions, so it did occur to me that this could be really difficult for some people to do.  And as I looked around, you could tell there were some people really struggling to keep lumbar spine stable especially as fatigue set in.

*And on the subject of fatigue, that was one of my only big concerns today.  At points my muscles hit a point of exhaustion that I have never experienced.  I don’t mind the feeling, but when it leads to altering ranges of motion because of the pain, I get worried.  It’s so important to work the muscles in a full range in order to promote mobility, but if your muscles are on fire and you start cutting it short, it only emphasizes a shorter range of motion.

*The glutes were the star of the workout today.  In fact, I felt areas of my glutes I didn’t know existed.  As a coach that spends a lot of time strengthening this muscles group with my clients, it was awesome to experience a level of fatigue this intense!  The funniest part was attempting to stretch the glutes at one point and I couldn’t even do that because it just kept cramping!

*My body was shaking all over and was still shaky for several hours after, but it didn’t stop me from doing a 2 hour hike this evening.  That folks is a plus!  I will say that when I realized there was still 200 kicks and 1100 punches on the docket today, my body finally said enough.  I just had to walk down stairs and almost sat down to take a break.

*And finally, while I found there to be a lot of awesome today and just a few concerns mostly for myself personally because of all the previous injuries and issues I have, the most important aspect of today was the importance of trying something new!  Wow was this a challenge, and I’m sure I will find out just how much in the coming days as soreness sets in.  But I did win a month of unlimited Barre Classes, and I’m just crazy enough to switch up my workouts and see what happens!

See you all tomorrow, I’m going to go pass out!

-S