how do they compare?

[samanthaeve]

H Folks,
So.. after along hiatus I have ventured back into my fitness journey. I was a die hard Catheite,/Firm (the originals)/Jari Love kind of gal. Powerstrikes and other assorted cardio, etc.

But.. now that I am back I looove BARRE type stuff. Loving Tracy Anderson (I have Omni Meta) P57, Ballet Beautiful (I have both Classic and Blasts)and Tonique. Been messin with this stuff for a few weeks now and I feel great, my body dosent ache, and I don't have major DOMS every damn day like I did before. I look forward to exercise every day as I have very little dread factor as I did when I was lifting.
Anyway, my question to those of you here is- how would most of you compare one to the other in terms of intensity? I am on the fence about purchasing Cathes Turbo Barre and after reading all the mixed reviews here I want to know where it would place in terms of difficulty, intensity, etc.

Scales of 1-10 would be appreciated (1 being the easiest, 10 being the hardest!)

I am aware that it may be a broad range question/request as all of us here have different fitness levels and such, but would be curious as to what you folks think.

Currently I start the day with Tonique premiere (I use it as cardio) followed by a Tracy MS from Omni. Loving the aesthetic results and the fact that I can "zone out" on these due to the high reps. Also love the fact that I am not ravenously hungry as I used to be doing all that Cathe. I was hungry for years, and got discouraged, and stopped all together.

By the way- its been two weeks of consistent workouts and my scale has gone up a few pounds but I know not to freak out just yet.

All comments and suggestions and opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[Elise7]

I love TurboBarre. It is tough for me. I do other cathe workouts regularly and often lift almost as much as cathe. However, TurboBarre is almost tougher in my opinion b/c it works the leg muscles differently than I'm used to. It also has a nice, short and sweet, to the point upper body section, and a tough ab segment and nice stretch. I'd definitely recommend it. It is very tough and moves at a nice but not frantic pace.

All you need is a chair 5-8 lb dbs, mat, and firewalker loop (or you can tie a regular resistance loop but that would be a little less convenient.)

[PhyllisG]

I also love Turbo Barre. My other favorite is P57 to give some perspective. TB is long--even the premixes are long. I don't often get DOMs but I do from this one. It is definitely a favorite.

[Lucky Star]

Originally Posted by samanthaeve

Currently I start the day with Tonique premiere (I use it as cardio) followed by a Tracy MS from Omni.

Hi Samantha, I'm just curious. Do you do the entire Premiere workout followed by a Meta Omni? You must be in terrific shape if you're able to do all that after a long hiatus!

I have Turbo Barre but have so far only done it in sections. I'd say it's well worth getting.

[Nuggie's Auntie]

Originally Posted by Lucky Star

Hi Samantha, I'm just curious. Do you do the entire Premiere workout followed by a Meta Omni? You must be in terrific shape if you're able to do all that after a long hiatus!

Yeah, that!

Personally, I didn't love Turbobarre. I thought it was boring, but, as everyone knows, I'm a P57 junkie. That's my kind of barre.

I also really like the Ballet Physique DVDs. They're not quite as energetic as P57, but have some nice, creative moves.

I'm totally with you on how nice barre feels on your body after doing other stuff. I mean, in the moment it hurts, but you feel great afterwards! lalalala!

[Tugger31]

I like Cathe's TurboBarre as well, and it's chaptered well.

I also like Tracey Mallett's Booty Barre Plus Abs&Arms

I'm eyeing Suzanne Bowen's BarreAmped and BarreAmped Bootcamp (any reviews on these??)

[samanthaeve]

I do meta Omni after Tonique premier.- TP is leg intensive (as I mentioned, I use it as cardio). If time allows, I do a Tracey as most of her stuff is on the floor, which is where any normal person would want to be after doing Tonique!
That Sylwia is a machine. Not human. Same goes for Tracy Anderson. How in Sam Hill do they make it all look so effortless? I did attempt the Tracy Cardio Dance on more than one occasion by the way. Not my thing.

I also want to add that when I am not using Tonique Premeir as cardio, the cardio portion from Jari Loves get Ripped 1000 works. Its mostly low impact and I don't hate it.- By the way, back in my high intensity days, I would never have considered that for cardio. - Goodness how time changes things!

Other days, its Tonique premiere, followed by the Swan Arms segment from Ballet Beautiful Body Blast which is 15 grueling minutes- but doable.

I am neither out of shape, nor in great shape.- but I do hope to get better at all of these new moves for my body. At 48, my knees and back and shoulders just weren't loving the high impact/heavy weight training. I am happy to have the endurance to complete anything, and thankful for the gift of movement.

I have been reading other threads about P57 and am relieved that others find their heart rate is up as well while doing it. I cant imagine doing Ton Pre then P57 but half hour of floor work and funky arm work with TA afterwards is doable given the time. The hour P57 is def a stand alone workout for me as of now. I have attempted their express workouts which got rave reviews here, so perhaps next week I will focus on those a bit more.

Its all so new to me, and I am loving all this discovery! I am sure at some point I may venture back to weight training, but I cant imagine its anytime soon. Figure if I can bang out a few pushups with P57 is a fair indicator regarding strength capabilities so I am not going to over analyze and sweat it for now.

Reckon I will order Turbo Barre.-and the firewalker thingy. Geez. One of the reasons I always loved Cathe is it was only a set of dumb bells and a step and you were good to go. The STS thing changed all that and it got so overwhelming that I had to pause and ask myself if I should just join a gym if all that equipment was necessary to have in order to reach the next level of fitness? and what would happen to my body if I didn't get STS? Would all the hard work doing all her other weight training tapes over the years just be rendered pointless? I was crazed. I didn't bite on STS for that reason. Oh- and I didn't want to HUNGRY ALL THE TIME.

Regarding P57- Its a killer for me! I have done it 3x so far, and each time it gets harder. WTH? I suppose it will get better over the course of time, but hats off to all of you here that can tackle it. The "standing on toes" hurts like hell. Anyone do P57 in sneakers? Is the "standing on toes" thing something one can work up to? Their studio is close by, so I reckon I can pop in for a live class one day.

Back to my original post-- where do all of these Barre type worouts rank with you folks? Is P57 the hardest? Tonique? TA stuff? Ballet Beautiful Body blast slays me. Which of these do you consider "lighter" than the others? If someone would have told me years ago that I would find Barre/high rep no weight workouts challenging I would have laughed and laughed . I was such an intensity junkie that I would equivocate that with endorphin output. I am so happy to discover that I was wrong!!

Glad to be back in the game and most of all glad to have a place to come to discuss all this.

[samanthaeve]

I also like Tracey Mallett's Booty Barre Plus Abs&Arms

I'm eyeing Suzanne Bowen's BarreAmped and BarreAmped Bootcamp (any reviews on these??)

Going to check these out later today ( will see if clips are available somewhere) and perhaps order. I have seen Tracey Mallets name mentioned aplenty around here.

Once a vidiot... I sense a buying binge coming on. I should have known it was a matter of time....

[samanthaeve]

Hi Samantha, I'm just curious. Do you do the entire Premiere workout followed by a Meta Omni?

Sorry for the multiple posts ... getting the hang of this again.. but want to clarify.
I do NOT do the cardio drills at the beginning of Tonique. Too much impact and even if I modify it still hurts. However, the standing squats, lunges, etc has a cardio effect for me without slaying me all together. The mat work at the end of tonique seems to sail by in a flash in comparison to Tracys.
I would one day like to do the cardio drills at the beginning of Premier, but I feel that day is way ahead in the future as my cardio capacity has dropped significantly. I did attempt it, but quickly abandoned! That's precisely why I try to workout longer than the 45-1 hr. range when possible. The calorie burn with high impact isn't an option for me at this time.
Also, as far as Meta Omni- I eliminate the abs stuff so I can get everything in in little under an hour and a half on my long days. I don't feel the least bit guilty about it as all that plank work on all fours has to be enough. - for now.

[Yvette69]

Turbobarre is a study in bad form and boredom. Avoid.

I know I sound like a broken record, but the live Core Fusion classes with Fred on Yogavibes are great. If they still have a free trial, definitely get on it.

TA and Tonique aren't barre, but I've done them all, so here are my personal rankings from easiest to hardest:

TA Meta
Ballet Beautiful
P57
Tonique