1. You don’t have to be a ballerina or look like a fitness model to come play.
Zero intimidation, zero judgment. YOU ARE WELCOME HERE. And in fact, our barre instructors are among the most upbeat, positive group there is—and studies even show that having a positive experience while exercising is a predictor of how successful you’ll be, which is why positivity is actually built-into our barre teacher training programs. Our instructors will have you laughing, smiling AND sweating.
2. You’ll reshape your body to be long, lean and fierce in as little as thirty days.
What! (We know, right?) Come three times every week and we’ll show you a side of your body you never saw before. Barre works your muscles in ways that traditional workouts don’t, using micro-movements and isometric holds to lift and shape muscles. (And that includes your butt.) In short? You’ll get toned everywhere. And we mean everywhere. (See The Science of Barre for more.)
3. You’ll make all-new #BARREANDSOULMATES.
As humans we have an innate need to seek interpersonal connection. At Barre & Soul®, we pride ourselves on fostering an inclusive and empowering community. Looking across the evidence, social support positively influences exercise directly and indirectly. Directly, we cheer you on with encouragement, can be your accountability buddies to help keep you exercising, set goals, and be a happy place for you to escape from your day. Indirectly, support from others helps to foster your overall enjoyment for exercise (working out with your friends is fun!), your confidence in your own ability to exercise, and your attitude towards exercise. We mean way more than just a hashtag when we talk about #barreandsoulmates.
4. No mirrors = no body shame.
You won't find any mirrors inside our barre studios, nor will you hear your instructor encouraging you to compete with your classmates, or to work for your bikini body. Removing the objectifying nature of exercise class improves your overall enjoyment of the class, your self-compassion, state of mindfulness, intrinsic reasons for exercising (e.g. because you enjoy it), and your likelihood of maintaining exercise. A health-focused, non-objectifying environment decreases body image anxiety, self-objectification, and increases your ability to maintain good postural alignment outside of an exercise class. Some people call this science. We call this awesome.
5. You’ll build grit...and grace.
Within a positive psychology framework, grit is the passion and perseverance for long-term goals, and its close cousins are self-control, and conscientiousness; and yes, these are the psychological super-foods to add to your acai bowl. They predict our happiness, quality of life, job success, relationship satisfaction, and health behaviors. Evidence suggests these "trait-like" features, are actually more like muscles, muscles that can be strengthened and fatigued. One way to flex your self-control muscles, is to adhere to a regular exercise regimen, like coming to barre class 3 times a week! Some studies show that participation in any exercise regimen can increase self-control and executive function, and that this self-control can have cross-cutting improvements in your ability to exert control over other hard to maintain behaviors. Other studies show that mental exercises which test your perseverance (i.e how long you can go before you back out) increase your overall self-control. Barre classes are a winning combination of both kinds of evidence. We have regularly scheduled classes for you to schedule a fitness routine into your week. We also work on pushing you to that point when you are deciding whether or not you're going to stay in the muscle, and then do everything we can to motivate you to stay there. Because that's where the change is, physically AND mentally.
6. You’ll never get bored.
Very rarely will you take the same barre class twice. Boredom with exercise will reduce your motivation to keep exercising, and can result in plateaus in your fitness levels. One day it might be plies and releve, and the next you might be hanging out with mermaids on waterskis. This spicy variety helps to foster your positive enjoyment of classes week after week, and makes sure you're listening!
7. It goes by crazy fast, and we play sweet music.
Music and movement are beautifully intertwined within our brains. Our neural circuity is set up to respond to music with movement, and in general, enjoyment. When your brain is trying to focus on tired, fatiguing muscles, music competes for your brain's conscious focus, and while it doesn't change the fatigue itself, it has the power to alter your perception of, and response to, the fatigue to increase your confidence, perseverance, and motivation. Our instructors focus on finding fun, inspiring playlists for you to enjoy and help drown out the complaints from your quads. Sidenote: Did you know that humans have an innate preference for music that’s around 120-125 beats per minute? It’s no coincidence this is the same number of beats per minute that we use in class. :)
8. It’s AWESOME if you spend all day at a desk.
We’re going to correct your musculature imbalances, improve your posture, and get rid of that back / shoulder / neck / ow I’m getting old pain. Furthermore, it’s low-impact and you’re not going to get injured—but we will make you delightfully bendy! The smaller movements in a barre class can bring a new level of awareness to the body that you don’t get in regular strength workouts. The more you focus on a micromovement, the more you recruit your muscle fibers—and that leads to revolutionary new changes, fast.
9. We’ve had students lose 50 pounds or more, just from barre!
‘Nuff said.
10. This isn’t a passing fad (thank goodness!).
Barre has been changing bodies for 45 years. We just decided to let the cat out of the bag. Rahr. We can’t wait to show you what this is all about!