By Gia Cahloun
A Barre Workout generally fuses the principles of Pilates with ballet-inspired movements and some elements of yoga and strength training. The workouts generally include micro-movements, like pulses, and exercises that develop your balance.
According to Gia Calhoun, Pilates expert and Vice President at Pilates Anytime “Creating more awareness about how you’re feeling and what your body wants/needs will help you understand how you can communicate this information to your partner. This will lead to more satisfaction in your sex life.”
She offers her expert input on barre exercises & how they can intensify your sex life.
Target Muscles
In a Barre workout, you should work your entire body, but there is usually a focus on the glutes, legs, and abdominals. Many movements include compound exercises where you are working more than one muscle group at a time, especially as you begin to add props and variations.
Barre’s Workout vs. Sex Life
In addition to strengthening your abdominals and pelvic floor, you will find improvements in your endurance and stamina because you frequently hold positions or add small movements that will work your muscles to the point of fatigue.
Our expert goes on to add “Barre workouts should incorporate breath and a mind-body connection.”
3 Barre Exercise by Gia
1 – Standing Side Bend:
- Stand with your legs wide and turned out, like in a ballet second position.
- Bend your legs to a plié position that you can hold.
- With your hands behind your head, bend to one side and then return upright. You can repeat it on one side and then switch to the other or you can alternate each time.
Do: Make sure your plié stays constant and that you’re not coming up and down in this position.
Do: Make sure your knees are in line with your toes and not in front of them.
Don’t: Let your hips go behind you. You want to make sure your pelvis is underneath your shoulders.
2- Side Leg Lift:
- Place one forearm on the barre with your elbow under your shoulder and come to a straight side-body position. Your top arm can be behind your head or on your hip.
- Lift the leg away from the barre to hip height (or as close to hip height as possible) with your foot flexed.
- Without changing the upper body, bring your leg forward and then back in line with your body. Once you’ve repeated this step for your desired number of repetitions, add small pulses up and down one inch to work your hips and glutes even more.
Do: Keep your abdominals engaged so that you can maintain the position of your upper body.
Don’t: Lock your bottom leg. You want the leg to be strong without being overextended.
3- Lunge with Knee Pull:
- Stand with one hand on the barre with the leg further from the barre stretched behind you.
- Bend the standing leg until you are in a lunge and tilt your upper body forward slightly, so you are in a straight line from your head to your foot.
- The free arm can reach overhead. Keeping the standing leg in the same position, bring the back leg into your chest and at the same time, bring your free arm down to the knee.
- Return to the starting position and repeat the same movement.
Do: Keep your abdominals engaged so you can maintain your neutral pelvis and upper body position.
Don’t: Bend and straighten your standing leg. You want to keep the same height for each repetition.
Generally, in a ballet class, oneis supposed to hold onto a barre as the movements are performed.Some work is done in the center of the room, without holding onto anything.
If you don’t have a barre at home, you can substitute it with a sturdy chair or countertop.
Note:
Props like balls, 2-3lb weights, or resistance bands can be used to increase the intensity, but if you are a beginner use just your body weight to get a great workout.
Disclaimer
The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
