Questions for those over 50 using barre

[TinaT]

I know we've had a number of threads involving those of us 50 and over, along with menopause issues. That being said, I'm curious about those of you who use barre workouts as your primary form of exercise.

I have noticed a good amount of muscle loss since and the whole peri-menopause phase has kicked in. Will barre help regain and maintain muscle?

Would love to hear more. I'm using my FIRMS for now, but would love to add in other methods of exercise for variety. I have a good amount of Classical Stretch as well.

I'm primarily looking at Suzanne Bowen and Tracey Mallett. Love their personalities and what I see of their clips.

TIA ~

[momofcha]

I'm not quite 50, but I am in peri. I'm recently doing a barre challenge for the month of November. I've done mostly barre for my workouts so far this month - with one kettlebell workout. I was noticing my back muscles this morning and I'm getting some nice definition. My daughter also commented the other day on my leg definition so I am definitely seeing some nice changes.

I'm going to keep pressing on my challenge (20 barre workouts in 30 days) and so far I'm at #12!

I'm using a combination of: pure barre results, pure barre flex, Hilliard Studio Method (these are HARD), a few barlates and a few others.

hth

Unfortunately I have zero experience with Tracy Mallett and minimal with Suzanne Bowen.

[TinaT]

Your experience is encouraging.. thank you for sharing momofcha.

[54sneakers]

I'm 61 and have been doing barre for the last few years 2-3 times a week and then I do a weight workout the other days. This combination of workouts has slimmed me down and given me definition like never before. I think everyone is different, so what might work for me may not work for you. I think you'll have to experiment to see what works.

I also recently discovered Suzanne Bowen and just love her workouts.

[bzar]

tracey and suzanne make up good % of my barre collection.

tracey has several light weight workouts (quick blast) that have a balance of cardio, light weights, and pilates. it's not barre per se, but it fits with a regimen that includes barre.
her booty barre series, of course, is all barre, and she has many choices from it. she's tough! i own almost everything tracey has released except a couple that came out in the past 2 years.

suzanne.... what can i say? have loved everything from her from her Lotte Berk days. i have all of her 10MS ones too, including her UK one. i bought her 2 pregnancy workouts - far from being pregnant, but she has some solid workouts even for the long-gone post partum crowd.

tracey and suzanne use a mix of barre and the other disciplines, and i have never traded any of them.

i never clicked with CS, although i can manage to do Sahra.

[TinaT]

I might have gone from being encouraged to ENABLED! I really do want to have more in my routine in the aspect of variety. This might be a good start.

[Sara1000]

I am skeptical about what Barre workouts will do for upper body, although I know some swear by them.

What I have found is that nothing lifts my posterior like barre. Did squats and lunges for years and kept a pretty flat butt, but barre suddenly made the difference in a surprisingly short time.

I use Jessica Smith, Core Fusion, Cathe's one barre workout. I usually only do the lower body portions. I've tried most of the other instructors but found too much dread factor.

[TinaT]

I surely could use a lifted butt! I need to be cautious with how much tall box, lunge/dip, and squats I do. My knees aren't what they used to be.

[momofcha]

Originally Posted by Sara1000

I am skeptical about what Barre workouts will do for upper body, although I know some swear by them.

What I have found is that nothing lifts my posterior like barre. Did squats and lunges for years and kept a pretty flat butt, but barre suddenly made the difference in a surprisingly short time.

Agree - barre with kettlebells got me in the best shape of my life. (and I was 38 at the time)

[Sara1000]

Originally Posted by momofcha

Agree - barre with kettlebells got me in the best shape of my life. (and I was 38 at the time)

I have not used kettlebells myself.

I was in my late 60's when I started doing barre and experienced miraculous results. But if I lay off for a while the improvements disappear. You have to keep it up.