Connect
Ashley Hutchinson Shares Her Barre3 Story
Our stories connect us, and sharing our truths builds and strengthens our community. When Ashley Hutchinson wrote about her journey with barre3 on Instagram, and how the workout transformed her relationship with exercise, we were touched—and we needed to know more.
Below, Ashley shares her story, reflecting on the freedom she’s found in movement, the intentions she’s bringing into her life, and how all it took was her first class at our Brentwood, Tennessee studio two and a half years ago to make her a barre3 devotee.
BARRE3: Let’s start by hearing more about you! What are you up to when you’re not doing a super sweaty barre3 workout?
ASHLEY: I work as an event manager for a publishing company. Prior to COVID, I was traveling almost every other week to different conferences and events. Something that I love about barre3 is that you can take it with you anywhere. I’m much more present and energetic after I move my body, and with so much travel, just being able to keep a consistent movement routine helped me be ready to work anywhere, even if I was feeling jet-lagged or just exhausted.
BARRE3: What was your relationship with movement and fitness before trying barre3? Had you tried other workout programs before?
ASHLEY: Before barre3, I was only working out to see how many calories I could burn. I was going to cycling classes, interval group training classes and doing weights. It was all about trying to do the most, and though I was seeing results at the time, energy-wise and mentally, I felt terrible. I would leave class or finish a workout feeling depleted and exhausted because I was pushing myself to the limit without checking in with how I was feeling.
But I remember how good I felt leaving my first barre3 class: My legs were a little jiggly and my arms felt like Jell-O, but I also felt so energized. None of my joints hurt and I didn’t have any tightness in my body. I remember thinking, Wow, this is what it feels like to do things that make your body feel good while still challenging yourself.
BARRE3: What first brought you to barre3? How did you discover the workout?
ASHLEY: I had taken a couple of barre classes at a different studio when I was in college. I liked the consistent structure of classes and knowing that we would work every muscle, but I stopped doing barre for a while. After moving to a different state, I heard a co-worker talking about barre3, and I was excited to try it.
I went, and from the beginning of that first class, I had never felt like I was getting both a workout and a therapy session all in one. I love that the class is so mental and physical—barre3 not only moves your body, but it encourages you to check in with yourself mentally. I felt like I left that class with so much mental clarity that I had never experienced before.
That was about two and a half years ago. I had wanted a space where I could challenge my body and mind without the narrative that working out is meant to change who we are and what we look like. After that first barre3 class, I felt so okay with who I was in that moment and what my body looked like and how I felt. I had never experienced that before barre3.
BARRE3: What about the barre3 workout helps you feel that sense of empowerment and satisfaction with where you are at the present moment?
ASHLEY: From the start of class, it’s all about checking in with your body. Instead of focusing on how many calories you can burn in your workout, we focus on aligning with our bodies and checking in with how we’re feeling. That really sets the tone of class and encourages you to meet yourself exactly where you are.
BARRE3: You’ve written about your experience with body dysmorphia on social media. Can you share about your journey to coming to where you are now in your relationship with your body?
ASHLEY: I was a gymnast and a cheerleader growing up, so I’ve always been pretty active. I had toned thighs that now as a 26-year-old I know are healthy and meant that I was in shape. But from the time I was 11 years old, I thought because I wasn’t stick-thin that I wasn’t enough and that I wasn’t as good as other people. For a long time, working out was all about trying to make my body smaller and something that it wasn’t already.
But as I got older and did some personal work, it was so refreshing to go to a workout class where the instructor wasn’t bringing up those old negative thoughts. In barre3 classes, instructors guide you to love yourself and appreciate what your body is doing. I love in class when instructors encourage you to look away from the mirror and trust that your body knows what to do. It’s so refreshing to take a class where you’re there solely to honor your body instead of punishing it for what you ate the day before.
Why I love barre3 and why I think I keep coming back is because you’re challenged in the class, but you’re not being challenged to be someone or something that you’re not. Instead, barre3 is challenging you to lean into the strength that you already have and to build upon that. It’s so much deeper than trying to burn calories or gain muscle for appearance alone. It’s about connecting with this body that we live and exist in every day.
BARRE3: You’re pregnant—congratulations! How has your barre3 practice shifted throughout your pregnancy?
ASHLEY: Being pregnant in a pandemic is very interesting. I’m working from home, and so I’m home most of the time unless I’m going to doctors’ appointments or I’m out on a walk. To be able to have time to still move my body has made being pregnant in a lockdown feel so much more freeing than it would if I didn’t have barre3 for an outlet. I can take a class and feel like I’ve been flying around for 30 minutes rather than just in the same room where I take all of my Zoom calls.
In the beginning of my pregnancy, I was wary about all the changes my body would go through as it grows a human. And while it’s a miracle, what’s been fascinating and grounding for me is that when I’m working out now, I’m not thinking about whether I can do those 30 extra seconds in Plank or if I’m going to do a class tomorrow only to hit a 7-day workout streak. Instead of that, when I’m working out now, I get excited thinking about how my daughter is going to see me work out as she grows up and see me having fun and dancing around doing Step Taps. She’ll look at movement as something that’s freeing instead of something that we do to make ourselves small.
I get really emotional now when I work out because I feel my daughter with me taking class. Sometimes, when I don’t want to work out, I think about how moving is going to help me breathe deeper and feel stronger and better. And because she’s inside of me, she’s feeling those endorphins too, and it’s fostering a whole new level of connecting between us.
BARRE3: The past several months have been full of so much uncertainty and hardship. What’s been helping you find calm during this time? \
ASHLEY: I found out that I was pregnant in April, and of course that was when we were knee-deep in the unknown of COVID and being hormonal can make your mind spin into a million different places. But keeping a routine has provided me with some much-needed consistency. I like to get up and journal instead of reaching for my phone first-thing, and being outside has been key. In addition to that, setting boundaries for myself has been really important. I make a point of talking to my work about when I’m going to start my day so that I have time to do the things that help me feel grounded and mentally ready for the day.
This year has been devastating with all the loss we’ve experienced, but I think that I’ve found ways to grow into who I am and into who I want to be. You can’t really do that in a season without struggle. I’ve always wanted to be a mom, and so to experience that this year is a reminder that there are silver linings and beautiful moments in everything.
BARRE3: What are you looking forward to or looking to invite into your life this year?
ASHLEY: I’m a creature of habit—I go to bed at the same time every night and I wake up at the same time. And though that brings me comfort, I know that there’s growth in changing things up. So I’m actually excited to be on someone else’s schedule and to have this tiny human to take care of.
I’m also hoping that, with all the challenges our world has seen, in the new year we really embrace any of the goodness that comes our way. My intention for the new year is to send more cards and write more letters to people as a way to spread some of that goodness. I also just want to enjoy every hour of every day. Something that my husband and I have spoken about is, with a newborn, our schedules will be changing, and instead of focusing on how tired or exhausted we are, we want to reframe that and remind ourselves that we spent quality time with our daughter. There are many people who would give everything just to be exhausted with a family member. I want to remember that and take that intention of gratitude with me into the new year.
Ready to experience the life-changing magic of barre3? Find your local studio or sign up for barre3 online and get your first 15 days free.
Our stories connect us, and sharing our truths builds and strengthens our community. When Ashley Hutchinson wrote about her journey with barre3 on Instagram, and how the workout transformed her relationship with exercise, we were touched—and we needed to know more.
Below, Ashley shares her story, reflecting on the freedom she’s found in movement, the intentions she’s bringing into her life, and how all it took was her first class at our Brentwood, Tennessee studio two and a half years ago to make her a barre3 devotee.
BARRE3: Let’s start by hearing more about you! What are you up to when you’re not doing a super sweaty barre3 workout?
ASHLEY: I work as an event manager for a publishing company. Prior to COVID, I was traveling almost every other week to different conferences and events. Something that I love about barre3 is that you can take it with you anywhere. I’m much more present and energetic after I move my body, and with so much travel, just being able to keep a consistent movement routine helped me be ready to work anywhere, even if I was feeling jet-lagged or just exhausted.
BARRE3: What was your relationship with movement and fitness before trying barre3? Had you tried other workout programs before?
ASHLEY: Before barre3, I was only working out to see how many calories I could burn. I was going to cycling classes, interval group training classes and doing weights. It was all about trying to do the most, and though I was seeing results at the time, energy-wise and mentally, I felt terrible. I would leave class or finish a workout feeling depleted and exhausted because I was pushing myself to the limit without checking in with how I was feeling.
But I remember how good I felt leaving my first barre3 class: My legs were a little jiggly and my arms felt like Jell-O, but I also felt so energized. None of my joints hurt and I didn’t have any tightness in my body. I remember thinking, Wow, this is what it feels like to do things that make your body feel good while still challenging yourself.
BARRE3: What first brought you to barre3? How did you discover the workout?
ASHLEY: I had taken a couple of barre classes at a different studio when I was in college. I liked the consistent structure of classes and knowing that we would work every muscle, but I stopped doing barre for a while. After moving to a different state, I heard a co-worker talking about barre3, and I was excited to try it.
I went, and from the beginning of that first class, I had never felt like I was getting both a workout and a therapy session all in one. I love that the class is so mental and physical—barre3 not only moves your body, but it encourages you to check in with yourself mentally. I felt like I left that class with so much mental clarity that I had never experienced before.
That was about two and a half years ago. I had wanted a space where I could challenge my body and mind without the narrative that working out is meant to change who we are and what we look like. After that first barre3 class, I felt so okay with who I was in that moment and what my body looked like and how I felt. I had never experienced that before barre3.
BARRE3: What about the barre3 workout helps you feel that sense of empowerment and satisfaction with where you are at the present moment?
ASHLEY: From the start of class, it’s all about checking in with your body. Instead of focusing on how many calories you can burn in your workout, we focus on aligning with our bodies and checking in with how we’re feeling. That really sets the tone of class and encourages you to meet yourself exactly where you are.
BARRE3: You’ve written about your experience with body dysmorphia on social media. Can you share about your journey to coming to where you are now in your relationship with your body?
ASHLEY: I was a gymnast and a cheerleader growing up, so I’ve always been pretty active. I had toned thighs that now as a 26-year-old I know are healthy and meant that I was in shape. But from the time I was 11 years old, I thought because I wasn’t stick-thin that I wasn’t enough and that I wasn’t as good as other people. For a long time, working out was all about trying to make my body smaller and something that it wasn’t already.
But as I got older and did some personal work, it was so refreshing to go to a workout class where the instructor wasn’t bringing up those old negative thoughts. In barre3 classes, instructors guide you to love yourself and appreciate what your body is doing. I love in class when instructors encourage you to look away from the mirror and trust that your body knows what to do. It’s so refreshing to take a class where you’re there solely to honor your body instead of punishing it for what you ate the day before.
Why I love barre3 and why I think I keep coming back is because you’re challenged in the class, but you’re not being challenged to be someone or something that you’re not. Instead, barre3 is challenging you to lean into the strength that you already have and to build upon that. It’s so much deeper than trying to burn calories or gain muscle for appearance alone. It’s about connecting with this body that we live and exist in every day.
BARRE3: You’re pregnant—congratulations! How has your barre3 practice shifted throughout your pregnancy?
ASHLEY: Being pregnant in a pandemic is very interesting. I’m working from home, and so I’m home most of the time unless I’m going to doctors’ appointments or I’m out on a walk. To be able to have time to still move my body has made being pregnant in a lockdown feel so much more freeing than it would if I didn’t have barre3 for an outlet. I can take a class and feel like I’ve been flying around for 30 minutes rather than just in the same room where I take all of my Zoom calls.
In the beginning of my pregnancy, I was wary about all the changes my body would go through as it grows a human. And while it’s a miracle, what’s been fascinating and grounding for me is that when I’m working out now, I’m not thinking about whether I can do those 30 extra seconds in Plank or if I’m going to do a class tomorrow only to hit a 7-day workout streak. Instead of that, when I’m working out now, I get excited thinking about how my daughter is going to see me work out as she grows up and see me having fun and dancing around doing Step Taps. She’ll look at movement as something that’s freeing instead of something that we do to make ourselves small.
I get really emotional now when I work out because I feel my daughter with me taking class. Sometimes, when I don’t want to work out, I think about how moving is going to help me breathe deeper and feel stronger and better. And because she’s inside of me, she’s feeling those endorphins too, and it’s fostering a whole new level of connecting between us.
BARRE3: The past several months have been full of so much uncertainty and hardship. What’s been helping you find calm during this time? \
ASHLEY: I found out that I was pregnant in April, and of course that was when we were knee-deep in the unknown of COVID and being hormonal can make your mind spin into a million different places. But keeping a routine has provided me with some much-needed consistency. I like to get up and journal instead of reaching for my phone first-thing, and being outside has been key. In addition to that, setting boundaries for myself has been really important. I make a point of talking to my work about when I’m going to start my day so that I have time to do the things that help me feel grounded and mentally ready for the day.
This year has been devastating with all the loss we’ve experienced, but I think that I’ve found ways to grow into who I am and into who I want to be. You can’t really do that in a season without struggle. I’ve always wanted to be a mom, and so to experience that this year is a reminder that there are silver linings and beautiful moments in everything.
BARRE3: What are you looking forward to or looking to invite into your life this year?
ASHLEY: I’m a creature of habit—I go to bed at the same time every night and I wake up at the same time. And though that brings me comfort, I know that there’s growth in changing things up. So I’m actually excited to be on someone else’s schedule and to have this tiny human to take care of.
I’m also hoping that, with all the challenges our world has seen, in the new year we really embrace any of the goodness that comes our way. My intention for the new year is to send more cards and write more letters to people as a way to spread some of that goodness. I also just want to enjoy every hour of every day. Something that my husband and I have spoken about is, with a newborn, our schedules will be changing, and instead of focusing on how tired or exhausted we are, we want to reframe that and remind ourselves that we spent quality time with our daughter. There are many people who would give everything just to be exhausted with a family member. I want to remember that and take that intention of gratitude with me into the new year.
Ready to experience the life-changing magic of barre3? Find your local studio or sign up for barre3 online and get your first 15 days free.
