Equinox Class Review: Barre Essentials

This post is part of my 2017 New Year’s Resolution to try every group fitness class offered at my gym, The Equinox in Chestnut Hill. See the full list of reviews here.

Progress: 39 Classes Down, Approximately 6 To Go (class offerings sometimes change)

I’ve scheduled my remaining classes with the intent to finish this resolution before Thanksgiving (!!!!!!!) and then have December flexible for new classes. I’m so close!

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Class: Barre Essentials with Paula Fonseca

Class length: 45 Minutes

Description from the Equinox: This class provides a sneak peek into the methodology and the opportunity to unveil the mysteries that may have held you back from stepping into a barre class for the first time. Experience the immediate effects and receive all the information needed to make barre classes a regular part of your group fitness schedule.

PSA – Take this class soon! It’s a workshop offered a few times in November (Saturdays at noon) and may not remain on the schedule. So don’t wait if you’re interested!

What Class Was Like

This was a slightly shorter version of a regular Barre class with more emphasis on explaining form and intent for the exercises. Class size is intentionally limited to a smaller group to facilitate questions and the instructor’s ability to help newcomers to the barre experience with their form so they’ll be ready to try a traditional Barre class. Paula is a great combination of friendly charisma and expertise.

This is such a great idea from Equinox! Barre has so much to offer, and any new class can be intimidating when you’re walking in. And the props and specific movements may require an introduction if you’ve never done it… I mean, you’re squeezing a purple ball between your thighs and hanging onto the barre for pliés in relevé. It takes a bit to get used to.

Sample Exercises

Barre classes are a combination of light weight work for the arms and a variety of abdominal and leg strengthening exercises that rely on repetition and micromovements “and pulse… pulse… pulse…” for you to feel the burn. They’re typically low impact, target muscles with great precision, and are challenging.

I think attending class and checking it out for yourself is better than me trying to list each individual movement here; just know that they’re more similar to pilates than other exercise classes, and because they’re low-impact they can be a wonderful way to increase strength before hitting the more intense HIIT or Tabata classes. But they’re not easy. Pulse will not be your favorite word. You’ll stop pulsing your food processor because you’ll have PTSD. Kidding. TOTALLY KIDDING. You pulse those bread crumbs. I’m just trying to say that this class gets things done AND is accessible, and isn’t that lovely.

Who would love it?

Anyone curious about Barre who’d like to try class in a slightly smaller group setting that’s intentionally designed for beginners. Questions encouraged.

I’d love to see similar workshops offered for some of the other classes, for example a class that teaches you how to tell which weights you should grab when an instructor says “light” “medium” or “heavy” and how to tell during class if you should switch. If a whole class isn’t needed, maybe an optional “come ten minutes early for a beginner tutorial” for certain classes in January when people are trying new things.

That said, I’m quite aware that Equinox already has a packed class schedule and tons of offerings… so if it doesn’t happen, I’m thinking it might be worth doing a half hour personal training session and asking those questions for myself. Alternately, if you arrive a bit early to class, the instructors are fantastic about talking to newcomers. But having an actual test you could do to hone in on good starting places would require more than a quick convo before class. Food for thought!

Know before you go

Most people did the class barefoot. Socks are also acceptable but they might be too slippery.

 

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