Since I missed my normal Pilates class this week at Pilates of Forrest Acres, I decided to take a Barre Dynamics class as a make up. When my wife heard this, she immediately made a bee line to see this and document it for her own amusement.
However, there is no shame in my game. Mixing up your exercise routine has a lot of benefits, and I’m always willing to try something new. And if you think men shouldn’t take barre class, remember the opening scene of Pumping Iron shows Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Franko Columbo doing ballet.
Now, despite what the photo above shows, Barre Dynamics is not just ballerina/dance training. In fact, this was just done at the end of the class for a couple of minutes (and I think only because my wife was begging to see this). After some standard Pilates moves like bridges and heel taps for warm up, the majority of the class focused on core strength, balance, and upper body strength training. Most of the exercises involved maintaining your form and balance in a squat or plie position, while doing bicep curls, lat raises, dumb bell rows, or tricep kick backs; all at a high rep count with low weight. I’m also not ashamed to say that in some cases I had to leave the weights behind so as to maintain balance in certain positions.
Overall, it was a very intense, full body workout. I worked up a nice sweat, and I’m sure I’ll feel that good soreness tomorrow.
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