Barefoot & On the Mat 2/9-15: Valentine's Day Edition!

[Paine]

Deep Stretch Yin Yoga (Legs & Hips practice)

Garrie, I can't wait to hear about your Barre Above training!

[Garrie A.]

Ok, here goes about the Barre training--part 1. (You might want to grab a cup of coffee and/or a bag of popcorn.)

My Barre Above training was part of a fitness convention on the Radford University campus. The training group was huge! As you might expect, I was the only male there. The women were of a wide age range--I'd say about 19 to 45 or 50. There were even a few who, for them, would be their first ever specialty certification (and/or have never taught a group exercise class before in their lives). A few women were from a center in Roanoke, and mostly taught Les Mills and spin classes. There were a few Zumba instructors, too. Some even drove 5 hours just to take this training.

The training was co-taught by two women, Riley and Tori. Riley began by introducing herself before moving into a 90-minute lecture section discussing an overview of barre (oddly, no mention of Lotte Berk--but the training manual talks about her), components of fitness, class set-up, cueing, and music. She also mentioned the creators of Barre Above: Leslee Bender, Tricia Murphy Madden, and Lauren George. After this, we took our shoes off to start a masterclass (first out of three). I bought some barre socks at the training, since for some odd reason I lost mine. They also had various shirts and tanks, Bender Balls, and Gliding Discs for sale. Speaking of the latter two, we had to get those plus a mat and one pair of hand weights. We were using portable ballet barres, since there were no wall-mounted ones in the studio. These barres were much nicer than the ones my local community center has. Due to our large group, we had to keep the barres out of the way (for the warm-up), then put our mats away and bring the barres out (then move them out of the way again for the core work).

Riley started her music, and right away the warm-up began. This warm-up was completely different from the usual Lotte-based warm-ups I'm used to (a minute of knee lifts before going to the floor for plank, etc.). Yes, there were knee lifts, but there were so many moves. Squats, pulses, curtsey lunges, a calf stretch series--all with flowing arm movements. It was VERY active, and reminded me of the warm-up in the Xtend Barre workout. Then, we did a sequence similar to a yoga vinyasa flow, except without the chaturanga/up dog/down dog. It was mostly going into runner's lunge and a standing balance pose and switching sides throughout. The warm-up concluded with plank with side toe taps before finishing with a short set of push-ups.

Then it was party time. Riley had us grab the Bender Ball and put it between our legs for a squat series. Facing the barre, feet flat on the floor, she had us do full range squats, half range squats, pulses, holds, and heel raises. Not the usual pulses you see in barre workouts. Then came a cardio burst--you either had the choice of doing fast squats, or squats touching the ball to the floor then reaching overhead (with or without a jump). It was only about 30 seconds or so, but my entire lower half was burning and my heart was racing! Then, we put the ball aside and grab one weight. In a lunge position, we do full-range, half range, pulses, holds, etc. We also added overhead presse variations with the outside arm holding the weight. After repeating the torture on the other side, we got rid of the weight and put those accursed Gliding Discs underneath our feet. There was only a brief stretch in between each block of choreography. Along with our usual rep changes, we also did pulses from plie to wide parallel squat. Burn, baby, burn. It was time for another cardio burst: speed skaters.

Then we move into curtsey lunges with lateral raises, again with the rep changes--adding a knee balance. No cardio burst, just repeat the series again on the other side. Back to the gliding discs. We did what Riley called "ski slope lunges", which reminded me of what Cathe would call a "warrior lunge". Except we were holding onto the barre for balance. There was one variation where you held the lunge then sweep the gliding leg side to side (crossing behind then out to the side). You should have seen the flames coming out of my butt!! Time for another cardio burst--reverse lunges with a knee raise (with or without a hop). A plie squat series is next. One thing I'm noticing is that there isn't much work done on the toes (unlike most barre workouts). And I love that--continuous barre work on the toes makes my knees shudder. Another cardio burst--plies with or without a hop at the top, fingertips touching the floor at the bottom (if you can). Riley then announces it's time to "cool down" before we go to the floor. So we did a more traditional barre exercise, foldover glute work. After doing a torturous series on both sides (including a sweeping variation similar to the gliding disc lunges, and even circles--ouch!), we concluded with 16 push-ups. Thank goodness it was time to put the barres away. Even though my legs and glutes were screaming for mercy, I was surprised at how fast the time flew (about 45 minutes or so; it felt like 30). Part of that had to do with Riley's instruction. She was very upbeat, gave excellent form and alignment cues (without interrrupting the flow of the workout), and had us laughing a few times (more on that in a second). Although you had to change props throughout, the class did not seem choppy to me. And I did have to take breaks throughout, which Riley would often encourage if needed.

We come back with our mats, balls, weights, and gliding discs. Core work began with plank work using the gliding discs. She didn't do very many reps of each exercise, but by golly did I ever feel them. She dod some crunches with the ball behind the shoulder blades, a series similar to C-Curve (but made more comfortable with the ball behind the tailbone), a lying series with the ball underneath the lower back (toe taps and leg circles), then a bridge series (ball between the knees). Riley pointed me out in class when she said "imagine you're in your favorite bathing suit. Or, for you Garrie, a speedo." I laughed, although I rolled my eyes back in my head a little bit (thankfully she didn't see that). It was time to stretch and cool down, and then lunch.

Part two to follow tomorrow...

[toaster]

Garrie, wow, that sounds like a lot, and it sounds TOUGH! How long was the class? You'll have to let us know if you are sore tomorrow.

cyana, when I clicked on your link, one of my own fave one-hit wonders came up below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFhFyvk0yS8
Hope you've gotten some time to relax this weekend!

Sandra, storytime sounds sweet.

Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day! Ours was pretty low-key; we did get takeout for dinner. Yesterday was my second Friday back in the main office, and it went well. Everyone is very complimentary of me being back, so I guess I do feel wanted, haha.

Today was a fun Mind Body & Brew class; my friend Sarah was teaching, and we had 21 people; it was nice b/c a few of our friends from YTT were there, so we had fun catching up. Tomorrow is the yin yoga and sound bath--I can't wait!!!

Have a good (rest of) Saturday and I will catch up with you all more tomorrow.

[cyana]

Garrie - I literally had a major LOL moment when I got to this: You should have seen the flames coming out of my butt!! I was already having concerns about spontaneous combustion and there your comment was. Holy cow - not so sure how you walked the following day - ready to hear part 2.

Beth - That was another good song. Good crowd for class today. Looking forward to hearing your review of sound bath.

No work-out today.....got early to go to the farmer's market (OMG, took my toes hours to thaw out! ), then DS popped in and surprised us. I'll get back in the work-out saddle tomorrow.

Hope everyone stays warm and has a good week-end.

[Paine]

Garrie, oh my goodness, that was a wonderfully thorough review of your Barre Above training! I bet you'll have DOMS tomorrow. I agree with Beth, that the class sounds like it was challenging!

Beth, I'm glad you had fun with your friends at the Mind Body & Brew class. I wish I could go to your yin yoga and sound bath class!

Hi Cyana!

[JustSandra]

Hello!

No workout yesterday as life got in the way. However, Princess Jasmine Storytime was very cute and the karate lesson went fine.

Paine: It really is a treat to now have my niece and grandniece so close! Once they have a more stable schedule I'll be able to be more consistent with my workouts.

Today's Workout: Margaret Richard Unplugged 1920, followed by Classical Stretch 906.

Garrie: Thank you for your description of the first part of the workshop. All I can say is !

Beth and Cyana: Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane!

Waving to all -- see you tomorrow at next week's check-in!