Barre Pilates is where Ballet and Pilates based exercises join forces to give you the ultimate full body workout!
Where did Barre Pilates come from?
Barre Pilates was developed in the 1950s by Lotte Berk, a German ballerina, living in London who wanted to combine her dance conditioning routine with rehabilitative therapy after injuring her back.
What does Barre Pilates do?
Barre Pilates workouts tone those hard-to-target muscles in your core, glutes, arms and legs. Whilst Barre Pilates has origins in dance, no leotards or fancy footwork is required. The focus is on small movements which encourages your muscles to work in a contracted position. You’ll often hear your instructor telling you to come into a position and hold, pulse, and move slowly up and down, all leading to that infamous Barre burn.
Additionally, movements used in Barre Pilates will help strengthen muscles without straining tendons or ligaments, so there’s less risk of injury compared to more traditional strength training. Anyone, no matter their age, weight, or fitness level, can give Barre Pilates a go and get results. Who wouldn’t want to plié their way to a stronger body?
Benefits of Barre Pilates
Here are just a few of the benefits you can expect to feel from Barre Pilates:
- Build longer, leaner muscles
- Strengthen your glutes (buttock muscles) to help support your back
- Improve your balance and stability
- Enhance your flexibility
- Increase your coordination and mind-body connection
What should you expect from a class?
Each class will give you a full body workout, with certain classes tailored to focus on specific body parts. We alternate between working your arms, back, abs, glutes and legs (or a mix of these!) all whilst improving your stability and flexibility.
Our Barre Pilates classes begin with a standing warm-up. We then move into the main phase of the class which you will perform standing at the Barre (support) before moving down to the mat to really fire up your core. To finish, you’ll perform stretches on the muscles you used during the session to improve your flexibility and prevent aches. When you attend our studio, you just need to bring yourself (and maybe a bottle of water!). Or, if you join us online via Zoom, you just need an exercise mat and something to hold on to such as a chair, kitchen counter or bannister. At times we use small equipment such as hand weights, resistance bands, balls or magic circles to help target certain muscle groups but all classes can be done without as well.
Our Barre Pilates Class Timetable
We currently run 2 Power Barre Pilates Classes each week, on Mondays at 7:30pm, and also on Saturdays at 8:30am. Both these classes can be attended either at our Billericay Studio (SS15 4ER / Basildon / Laindon / Noak Bridge), or virtually via Zoom.
Your first class with us is always free, and all Barre Classes are included within our Pilates memberships. You can find out more about our classes, studio, and how to book by clicking here.