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GREATEST HITS WEEK: WHY BARRE3 IS SO MUCH MORE THAN SQUATS, LUNGES, AND PLANKS
This week, we’re sharing our most popular articles of all time. Read on for one of your favorites, in which Director of Instructor Training Sara Catherine Wheatley dives into the magic that makes our workout so much more than the sum of its parts. And we’d love to know: What else would you love to learn about from barre3? More about the class? Quick and healthy recipes? Feature stories about people in the barre3 community? Let us know in the comments below—no subject is off limits!
People ask me all the time what it is that makes barre3 special. I quickly tout our low-impact moves and the high-muscle burn they deliver; our signature hold/move small/move big sequence, which strengthens and balances the body; and, of course, the sweat factor. But as powerful as those physical benefits are, they’re not what keep me (and tens of thousands of others) coming back—after all, lots of workouts include squats, lunges, and planks. The magic behind barre3—the ‘I-can’t-put-my-finger-on-it’ factor—is a feeling I’ve never experienced with any other workout.
That feeling is empowerment. But—and this is a key distinction—at barre3, we’re not empowering you. We’re giving you the tools so that you can feel empowered from within.
Let’s dig deeper. The current fitness climate has convinced us that in order to get a good workout, we need to shock our bodies with hard and fast movement—and that if we aren’t working ourselves to the point where we feel depleted, then we aren’t working hard enough. We have been fed lies telling us that even if we do push our bodies to the brink but still don’t occupy a small, thin, toned body, then we’re not good enough. The fitness industry leads us to believe that in order to be sexy, beautiful, acceptable, and ultimately loved, we need to achieve the fitness ideal—and that the only way to do this is to be constantly at war with our bodies, operating from a passive follow-the-leader approach. At barre3, our mission is to break this vicious cycle.
In this world, where we are taught to seek answers, approval, and validation from external forces, it can be difficult to trust that we actually hold all the answers we need inside ourselves. But within the four walls of a barre3 studio (or, if you practice barre3 Online, the virtual studio), the stage is set for you to explore your individual truth, to stand up for yourself, and to build confidence in your unique strengths and wisdom.
As you move through the sequences of postures and movements in a barre3 class, these opportunities for self-exploration pop up again and again. What happens if I drop a little lower in Power Leg today? What happens if I close my eyes and dial into the sensations I am creating in my body? What happens if I surrender to the moment and let my instructor guide me to a deeper connection through hands-on? What happens if I really heed my body’s call and take a break? What happens if I take a modification that I’ve never taken? These opportunities aren’t there by accident. Not at all. We train our Instructors to teach in a way that allows for exploration and growth. They, too, are empowered from within while teaching. They lean into their intuition about what is happening in the room, and seek to give every client exactly what they need.
By surrounding yourself with a community that lifts you up and helps to foster this sort of exploration, you create the space to become empowered from within. Like Glinda the Good Witch told Dorothy before she leaves Oz, “You’ve always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself.”
Ready to feel the magic? Book a studio class or press play on an online workout today!
This week, we’re sharing our most popular articles of all time. Read on for one of your favorites, in which Director of Instructor Training Sara Catherine Wheatley dives into the magic that makes our workout so much more than the sum of its parts. And we’d love to know: What else would you love to learn about from barre3? More about the class? Quick and healthy recipes? Feature stories about people in the barre3 community? Let us know in the comments below—no subject is off limits!
People ask me all the time what it is that makes barre3 special. I quickly tout our low-impact moves and the high-muscle burn they deliver; our signature hold/move small/move big sequence, which strengthens and balances the body; and, of course, the sweat factor. But as powerful as those physical benefits are, they’re not what keep me (and tens of thousands of others) coming back—after all, lots of workouts include squats, lunges, and planks. The magic behind barre3—the ‘I-can’t-put-my-finger-on-it’ factor—is a feeling I’ve never experienced with any other workout.
That feeling is empowerment. But—and this is a key distinction—at barre3, we’re not empowering you. We’re giving you the tools so that you can feel empowered from within.
Let’s dig deeper. The current fitness climate has convinced us that in order to get a good workout, we need to shock our bodies with hard and fast movement—and that if we aren’t working ourselves to the point where we feel depleted, then we aren’t working hard enough. We have been fed lies telling us that even if we do push our bodies to the brink but still don’t occupy a small, thin, toned body, then we’re not good enough. The fitness industry leads us to believe that in order to be sexy, beautiful, acceptable, and ultimately loved, we need to achieve the fitness ideal—and that the only way to do this is to be constantly at war with our bodies, operating from a passive follow-the-leader approach. At barre3, our mission is to break this vicious cycle.
In this world, where we are taught to seek answers, approval, and validation from external forces, it can be difficult to trust that we actually hold all the answers we need inside ourselves. But within the four walls of a barre3 studio (or, if you practice barre3 Online, the virtual studio), the stage is set for you to explore your individual truth, to stand up for yourself, and to build confidence in your unique strengths and wisdom.
As you move through the sequences of postures and movements in a barre3 class, these opportunities for self-exploration pop up again and again. What happens if I drop a little lower in Power Leg today? What happens if I close my eyes and dial into the sensations I am creating in my body? What happens if I surrender to the moment and let my instructor guide me to a deeper connection through hands-on? What happens if I really heed my body’s call and take a break? What happens if I take a modification that I’ve never taken? These opportunities aren’t there by accident. Not at all. We train our Instructors to teach in a way that allows for exploration and growth. They, too, are empowered from within while teaching. They lean into their intuition about what is happening in the room, and seek to give every client exactly what they need.
By surrounding yourself with a community that lifts you up and helps to foster this sort of exploration, you create the space to become empowered from within. Like Glinda the Good Witch told Dorothy before she leaves Oz, “You’ve always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself.”
Ready to feel the magic? Book a studio class or press play on an online workout today!
