Troy Hurst holds a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Carroll University. He is a physical therapist specializing in both athletic and vestibular rehabilitation with an emphasis on performance running.
Are you mesmerized by ballet dancers? Flexible and strong, they can perform any move without much effort. Your inner desire to perform exquisite moves just like those dancers is no longer a fantasy since barre Pilates arrived.
Barre Pilates is a combination of ballet, yoga, and Pilates. It is a super energizing, whole-body workout that involves high-repetition bodyweight exercises that hold the muscles in the legs, arms, and glutes under tension for an extended period.
Each barre class helps you build alignment, strengthen your core, tone, and elongate muscles.
“Barre” references the prop that is used to help you balance and focus on holding your body still while you contract a specific set of muscles or perform a specific movement. Despite the use of small movements, you’ll most likely feel a real burn and reap numerous health benefits when you perform it consistently.
Today we’ll explore 7 reasons to start barre Pilates today, discuss the differences and similarities of barre vs. Pilates, and disclose beginner-friendly movements you can perform at home.
Barre Pilates is a workout that combines ballet-inspired moves, yoga, and Pilates. This activity involves low-impact training that focuses primarily on the lower body.
Usually, barre Pilates classes start with a short warm-up to prepare the body for the physical demands of the upcoming activity.
This type of training helps strengthen the muscles that are required to maintain posture, stability through the joints, and balance.
Barre is a low-impact strength-building workout, but it differs from traditional strength training due to its emphasis on small, controlled movements using body weight and light resistance, as opposed to the standard free weights and machines you typically think of. Barre also incorporates more isometric holds than most traditional strength training programs. In addition, some poses also include small range of motion pulses.
Barre Pilates equipment can involve resistance bands, light hand weights, or weighted exercise balls to enhance the intensity of the exercises. You perform the movements by either standing at a ballet bar, sitting, or lying on a yoga mat.
Let’s discuss the 7 reasons to integrate this type of training into your fitness routine.
Benefits of Barre Workout or barre Pilates are interchangeable as both of them focus on posture, core strength, and body alignment. They’re also low-impact forms of exercise, which makes them approachable for beginners, seniors, or anyone who is looking to supplement their current workout routine.
Some of the benefits of barre include:
Barre Pilates is a full-body form of exercise that can be performed by almost anyone. The variety of movement patterns incorporated in the practice will provide functional strength gains for most participants, assuming regular practice occurs. The muscle groups that receive the greatest benefits are typically the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and feet.
A barre workout strengthens your core and also enhances overall body balance. In most Pilates barre classes, you’ll practice balancing on one leg while externally rotating from the hips. These multidirectional movements engage muscles from various angles, fostering functional stability. As a result, you’ll likely feel more confident and capable of performing challenging tasks in your day-to-day life.
Barre Pilates poses enhance flexibility and promote passive stretching of your muscles, ligaments, and tendons. As these structures move through their full range of motion, everyday activities such as bending over to pick up an item from the floor become easier (2).
As most people know, prolonged sitting, or nearly any prolonged posture associated with a sedentary lifestyle, can make your back ache. As we’ve discussed in previous articles, traditional and wall Pilates have great potential for improving awareness of your posture throughout the day and breaking the negative cycle of prolonged sitting (3). Barre Pilates has the same benefits. It demands precise alignment from head to toes, emphasizing the hips, spine, neck, and shoulders.
In addition, barre Pilates helps improve core strength, which further contributes to postural control. Get ready for less slouching and a more confident stride!
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Barre involves holding your body in different positions on a yoga mat or at a barre in a studio. They are isometric exercises, in which muscles contract without movement (4). If you’re working with a barre instructor, they may even ask you to add pulses — repeated tiny motions of a body part — to your isometric holds.
As barre movements are small, they build serious muscular endurance, which is the ability to produce and maintain force for a prolonged period. Improved muscular endurance can lead to improved postural control and functional capacity.
Even though there is a lack of research on the impact barre has on mental health, detailed research on yoga and Pilates demonstrate positive results. According to one study, both Pilates and yoga can improve mental clarity and help you think more positively (5).
Any physical activity can be a great mood booster as any exercise helps your body release endorphins to keep your mind sharp and your mood happier.
Barre Pilates is an all-encompassing form of exercise that requires muscle activation and control throughout the body. An advantage of barre Pilates over many other forms of exercise is its focus on the smaller, stabilizer muscle groups, which often get neglected in favor of a sole focus on the larger muscle groups.
While the larger muscle groups are certainly crucial, focusing on the stability muscles offers a more well-rounded approach to function and fitness.
The final essential reason to start barre Pilates is the ability it has to help improve your balance and coordination. Barre Pilates is among the most accessible ways to improve body awareness and coordination as it requires a strong focus on your body’s alignment from head to toe.
Some barre classes involve moving in rhythm with music, which has been shown to improve coordination and balance (1).
The importance of balance and coordination increases as we age and become more prone to falls. So whether you’re starting young or old, you’ll be investing in your long-term health.
Minimal research has been conducted on Barre Pilates, particularly in comparison to traditional Pilates. The differences mainly come down to philosophies and principles. When you look more deeply into the design of each form of exercise, you’ll see their relationships are more like cousins than siblings.
Barre Pilates and traditional Pilates can both provide excellent full-body workouts. However, barre combines aspects of dance, strength training, Pilates, and yoga, while Pilates tends to emphasize the core in most of its movement patterns.
Barre tends to isolate smaller muscle groups using repetitive movements and pulses, while the movements in Pilates typically go through a wider range of motion. In addition, as the name implies, barre workouts typically feature a ballet barre, while Pilates can incorporate a reformer, wall, or no equipment at all.
Read more: Wall Pilates for Butt: A Quick Guide for Beginners
Barre is a fantastic activity for just about everyone. As it’s low-impact, it’s modifiable to all fitness levels. If you have any issues with your ankles, knees, or hips, make sure to let the instructor know ahead of time.
A professional instructor can help you modify the movements to place less stress on those areas. However, those who aren’t ready for private or group barre Pilates sessions can try this activity at home.
It’s no problem if you don’t have a barre – a sturdy chair will work perfectly fine.
Jump into these 5 easy movements. Remember to perform a warm-up before and a cool-down after the session.
How to perform the move:
How to perform the move:
How to perform the move:
How to perform the move:
How to perform the move:
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Barre and Pilates workouts can be beneficial for weight loss. Both forms of exercise offer high- and low-intensity options. High-intensity sessions will burn more calories in less time, but that doesn’t mean you also can’t get great results with low-intensity sessions. You may just need to increase the time of the session or the frequency per week to achieve the same calorie burn.
Finally, the most essential factor for losing weight is your diet: eating healthier meals at a calorie deficiency will speed up the process.
Barre includes principles from both of these forms of exercise, but it is generally closer to Pilates than yoga. Therefore, if you’re looking for low-impact physical activity for better posture, flexibility, and core strength, barre is the one for you.
Barre is a great form of training that helps promote muscular strength and endurance. However, it’s still likely not enough to help you gain significant strength or muscle mass. If these goals are important to you, make sure to incorporate a dedicated strength training program.
Barre classes incorporate prolonged muscle activity from many muscle groups throughout the body. In addition, some barre classes are designed at a higher intensity that may be challenging cardiovascularly. As with any form of exercise, it’s important to stick with it if you want to see prolonged results. As your body adapts to the activity you’re asking it to perform, the barre exercises that were once so difficult for you will become less difficult.
Barre Pilates is a workout that combines ballet-inspired moves, yoga, and Pilates. This activity involves traditional elements of a classical ballet barre workout, Pilates, and contemporary leg exercises and offers low-impact training that is focused on the lower body, but incorporates the whole body.
We have discussed 7 reasons to start barre Pilates today, including better posture, enhanced muscular endurance, increased overall strength, improved flexibility, possible mental health boost, and better coordination and balance. This full-body activity can be easily modified to suit different fitness levels.
Barre routines can be performed either at home or at a studio under the supervision of a trainer. Start with the 5 barre Pilates moves that are presented in this article or try your own program.
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