Barre Classes in Studio and Online
Inspired Fitness Evergreen

Inspired Fitness offers a unique variety of classes and one of our most popular forms of exercise is Barre. Barre class is a rigorous workout that blends elements from different exercise styles including ballet, pilates, and yoga. You'll also use other equipment, like a mat — which you're familiar with if you've ever tried yoga — or free weights, exercise bands and exercise balls. Combining so many different challenging workouts can seem intimidating. How will you know what to do with your body? What are the different pieces of equipment? Take a deep breath. Most barre classes welcome first-timers, and your instructor will use hands-on guidance to help you get used to moving your body in new ways.

Barre class is named for the primary piece of equipment: the bar. If you’ve ever been to a ballet studio, this piece of equipment will be familiar. You’ll also use other equipment, like a mat — which you’re familiar with if you’ve ever tried yoga — or free weights, exercise bands, and exercise balls. You can pick how heavy you want your weights to be, and your instructor will walk you through the proper use of each piece of equipment. They’ll explain how you can integrate the equipment into the class to get the best workout possible.

It can be done in small spaces, and it is a style of exercise that is suitable for beginners — if you continue to practice barre, over time your strength, technique, and confidence will increase. You don't need to be a dancer to get started — if you're new to barre, here's what you need to know to work out at home.

Online Barre Class

Benefits of Core Barre Fitness

Getting the best workout possible means you’re going to be working a lot of different muscle groups. You can expect barre class to address multiple areas of your body, including your:

Arms
Legs
Core
Glutes

The exercises are set at a slow pace that aims to build strength and flexibility — you won’t have to worry about high impact moves, like jumping.

First Barre Class: What to Expect

Barre class might push you to your limits, but you can expect to gain a lot from dedicating yourself to the class. When you regularly challenge your body in barre class, you’ll notice benefits like improved muscle definition, greater flexibility and better posture. Like other types of regular exercise, barre can also help you manage and reduce your stress levels.

1. What to Wear to Barre Class

What to wear to barre class depends a lot on your personal taste. It’s important to be comfortable during an exercise, so you shouldn’t feel the need to impress anyone with your barre outfit. Choose clothes that will allow you to focus on the exercise. Here are our suggestions for what to wear to your first barre class, in addition to what to bring along:

Grippy Socks, Barefoot or Athletic Shoes: Our studios have specialized athletic flooring. To keep your feet firmly planted on the floor and boost your overall stability and balance during the workout, invest in a pair of grippy socks.

Snug Clothing: You don’t have to wear skintight clothing to a barre class, but an outfit with a snugger fit is a smart choice. Looser clothing can restrict your movement and make it harder for your instructor to see your form to give suggestions on how to adjust your body for each exercise. Grab your favorite pair of yoga pants or capris — leave the shorts at home for this one. You can pair your comfy bottoms with a tank top or a fitted t-shirt.
Sports Bra (Optional): Some women feel more comfortable during a workout in a sports bra, but we leave this up to you. Barre class isn’t too high impact, like running, but it does require you to move around a lot. Feel free to wear a sports bra with moderate support, or skip wearing one altogether. Remember, exercise clothes are about your comfort.

Pulled-Back Hair: Barre class isn’t extremely fast-paced, but you do have to move your body in a lot of unusual ways. If you have longer hair, bring a headband or a hair tie to keep your hair out of your face.

A Water Bottle: Just because barre class isn’t high-impact doesn’t mean you won’t work up a sweat. An important part of any workout is staying hydrated. Allow yourself a water break whenever you need one during class.

Don’t worry about bringing any equipment with you. Everything you need to participate in the class, including yoga mats, will be waiting for you in the studio. We use light weights (typically 2, 3, and 5 lbs., small squishy balls, pilates rings, gliders, loop resistance bands, and resistance tubing.) Come ready to work hard but beginners will love the class too!

2. Come To Class Ready To Be Engaged

Going through the movements in barre class isn’t enough. Barre class focuses on working specific groups of muscles you probably don’t use on a regular basis. This means you need to position your body in a specific way and move it in a precise way. You might think you’re moving just like everyone else in the class, but if you aren’t listening closely to your instructor’s cues, you could be cheating yourself out of the full intensity of the exercise. Making even small adjustments to your form can make a big difference.

Another key part of mental engagement is being attuned to the way your body feels and pushing yourself to embrace the challenge. Barre class helps you improve your strength, flexibility, and balance while working your core and giving you a cardio workout. That’s a lot going on with your body at once — and you’re going to feel it.

Don’t be scared to push your muscles to the point of burning, but listen to your body. If you need a brief break during your first class — or any subsequent classes — that’s perfectly fine. Grab a sip of water and prepare your mind and body to jump back in.

3. Don’t Be Afraid to Shake

Barre class is designed to work muscles more than we normally do. You’re going to be using your arms, legs, glutes, and core throughout the class. As the class goes on, you might notice your arms or legs starting to shake. Your first reaction might be embarrassment. Are you that out of shape? Why is this happening?

Forget about being embarrassed. Any barre instructor will tell you shaking is a great sign. This means you’re following their guidance, working the right groups of muscles, and reaching the right level of intensity. Muscles we don’t use all time aren’t used to this type of focused, intense exercise. If you’re doing barre class right, the muscles are going to work to the point that they start to burn and shake.

Barre class has a slower pace, which focuses on holding positions for longer periods of time. Don’t let the slower pace trick you — your muscles are still being challenged. While workouts at a faster pace sometimes give your muscles a break between movements, this isn’t the case with barre. You’re giving your muscles some serious endurance training.

If you get to the point that you feel the shake is uncontrollable, take a moment and stop. Grab a sip of water and stretch out the muscles in question. Even people who are barre class regulars deal with shaking. The more regularly you attend class, the less intense it will become.

If your legs don’t shake, but your instructor tells you your form is great, don’t worry. Everyone’s body is different. Focus on yours and how it reacts to the exercises.

4. Realize You’re Working New Muscles

You’ve probably heard people love barre class because it helps you achieve a lean dancer’s physique. Everyone’s body type is different, but you hear this because the movements in barre class help you achieve strong muscles.

When you watch someone else go through the various poses in barre class, it will probably look like they are not doing a whole lot of moving — that’s because barre class relies on isometric movement. During an isometric exercise, you use your muscles to hold a single position without moving. It might sound easy, but it actually challenges your muscles. Holding them in one position for an extended period of time can lead to that shaking many people experience in barre class.

Holding a plank is a great example of an isometric exercise. You work your arms, legs, and your core, but your body is completely still.

A dancer’s physique radiates strength, and one of the most obvious benefits of barre class is improved strength. The exercises focus on muscles that often get ignored during other workouts. Expect to feel the burn in places like your glutes and hamstrings. Exercises that incorporate weights are also great strength-building tools.

When we imagine someone with a lean and lithe dancer’s body, we often think about how flexible that person is. Barre class is a great way to improve your flexibility. The exercises in barre class involve a good amount of stretching that will help you gain a greater range of motion over time. Greater flexibility helps relieve muscle tension and improve your overall balance and coordination. Barre class is going to work muscles you hardly ever think about. Prepare to feel tired and sore from head to toe. Remember that is a good sign!

5. Head Back to Barre Class Within 48 Hours

You might want to give those sore muscles a break after your first class, but it’s important to get back to barre within two days. You’re probably going to have a lot of lactic acids, which is causing those sore muscles. If you commit to a regular exercise routine instead of working out occasionally, you’ll notice that sore feeling less and less. Push yourself to return and build a healthy exercise schedule.

It can be easy to talk ourselves out of exercising. Maybe we tell ourselves the workday was too long and stressful, or that we’d rather sleep in than get up for an early-morning barre class. To avoid falling into that trap, sign up for your second barre class ahead of time. You’ve set aside the time and paid for the class. It is going to be a lot harder to talk yourself out of going after that.

Once you’re in your second class, you can feel a little more relaxed. You know what to expect. The names of the exercises, what the equipment looks like and what’s expected of you aren’t completely new anymore. You’ll still have plenty to learn, but you have a great starting point.

For your second barre session, you can take the same class or try something new. Play around with the available classes and the different instructors to find the right fit for you. Once you’ve found your ideal class and instructor, you can create a schedule and stick to it. Eventually, your instructor will become familiar with you and push you to challenge yourself even more. You’ll start to feel the benefits of barre class in no time!

MORE BARRE INFORMATION

How It Works

Pliés, relevés, and sauté jumps don’t just look graceful, the ballet moves also lengthen and strengthen muscles and burn calories.

Ballet-inspired classes like Pure Barre, Bar Method, and Balletone are a popular workout trend that incorporates moves from ballet, Pilates, and yoga to upbeat music.

Many gyms offer ballet-inspired fitness classes, and barre studios offer classes for overall conditioning as well as targeted workouts for abs, thighs, or glutes. There are even “barre light” classes for beginners.

You don’t need a tutu or ballet slippers. Instead, dress in comfortable workout clothes and show up to the 60-minute classes prepared to use the ballet barre to do the movements your teacher shows you.

Some classes also use small balls, resistance bands, and hand weights to do floor work. The low-impact workout focuses on proper alignment.

The classes blend cardio, strength training, flexibility, balance and core conditioning in a total body workout that targets the hips, glutes, abs, and arms.

Intensity Level: Medium

The emphasis on proper alignment, balance, and core engagement means the classes move at a slower pace. You might not leave a ballet-inspired class drenched in sweat, but you’ll feel the burn after a class thanks to moves that target specific muscle groups.

Areas It Targets

Core: Yes. You'll do a combination of ballet positions and Pilates moves to target the abs.

Arms: Yes. Classes include exercises like military presses, lateral arm raises, and triceps lifts to work the arm muscles.

Legs: Yes. Expect to perform movements like pliés, releves, leg lifts/extensions, and other ballet-inspired moves that target the legs.

Glutes: Yes. Targeted moves like glute raises, fire hydrants, help tone the backside.

Type

Flexibility: Yes. This ballet-inspired workout will gently improve your flexibility.

Aerobic: Partially. The barre moves can raise your heart rate in a low impact way. Unless you're in a class that includes exercises off the barre that gets your heart rate going, don't count this as a lot of cardio.

Strength: Yes. Some ballet and barre classes use weights and resistance bands, and others use your body weight to strengthen and tone.

Sport: No. It’s not a sport.

Low-Impact: Yes. There is no jumping or bouncing in barre classes, so the workout is easy on the joints.

What Else Should I Know?

Cost: You’ll need to sign up for classes through Inspired Fitness contact 720-320-4770.

Good for beginners? Yes. Ballet-inspired classes are good for beginners who want to try a new workout.

Outdoors: No. Classes are done in a studio with ballet barres.

At home: Yes. We ZOOM each class and can be done at home. Minimal equipment is often used.

Equipment required? Yes. Most workouts include a barre, weights, resistance bands, and balls that are provided by the fitness studio. You may need to buy some of those things for at-home workouts.

Barre Classes in Studio and Online Inspired Fitness Evergreen