Barre workouts, beginner to advanced (?)

ElisaB · 04-14-09, 07:55 AM

I own several barre-inspired workouts, but haven't tried mot of them. I am getting back into exercise and I was wondering if someone could help me put them in order, so to speak, so that I start from the easier ones first.

This is what I have:
LBM, High Round Assets
LBM, Muscle Eats Fat (tried)
Bar Method, fat Free
Element Ballet Conditioning
Squeeze
Cardio Barre (tried, found hard)
iBallet 1 and 3

How would you rate each of these?

ETA: This discussion has now developed into creating a recommended sequence of barre-inspired workouts based on difficulty, to help barre beginners. You find the latest version here. Please feel free to repost the sequence with your edits/additions

sbh · 04-14-09, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElisaB

I own several barre-inspired workouts, but haven't tried mot of them. I am getting back into exercise and I was wondering if someone could help me put them in order, so to speak, so that I start from the easier ones first.

This is what I have:
LBM, High Round Assets
LBM, Muscle Eats Fat (tried)
Bar Method, fat Free
Element Ballet Conditioning
Squeeze
Cardio Barre (tried, found hard)
iBallet 1 and 3

How would you rate each of these?

(From Beginner to Advanced)

I would start with the Lotte Berks first, then the Bar Method, then Squeeze and/or Element Ballet, then the I-ballets. I didn't care for Cardio Barre, too hard on my back. That's the order I would do them. HTH!

ElisaB · 04-14-09, 10:18 AM

Thank you Sherry! That helps a lot! I was wondering about the iBallet, because I tried to start with them and I thought it was kind of hard.

sbh · 04-14-09, 10:23 AM

Yes, the i-ballets definately require being familiar with form. It took me a while before I could do them without a visual. The Lotte Berk's helped with that. The Exhale Core Fusions are good and Collage considers them to be intermediate.

kellyslims · 04-14-09, 10:46 AM

I agree wholeheartedly with Sherri, LB first, then bar method, then squeeze, etc.
The element ballet conditioning and squeezes are difficult to do effectively unless you are capable of getting into and maintaining proper form.
It's good to have a sense of order and progression because otherwise you start with the most difficult, find them near impossible and frustrating and give up on the whole genre!
I tried element ballet first and was shocked, I was 4 weeks postpartum at that time and thought "hmm a nice gentle ballet workout"-not!
I then started at the begining with Lotte and Burr and felt much more optimistic about being able to incoporate barre type workouts into my routine-which is great because I enjoy them

alikruegs · 04-14-09, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbh

(From Beginner to Advanced)

I would start with the Lotte Berks first, then the Bar Method, then Squeeze and/or Element Ballet, then the I-ballets. I didn't care for Cardio Barre, too hard on my back. That's the order I would do them. HTH!

I agree, although I think Element Ballet is harder than Iballet -- I definitely get more DOMS from Element Ballet. I only have Cardio Barre Ultimate Advanced. That one is the toughest, but too tough... I can't bring myself to do it again.

ElisaB · 04-14-09, 01:19 PM

That's interesting. Do you think I can do iBallet before? Is the instruction good enough to do it without visual?

alikruegs · 04-14-09, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElisaB

That's interesting. Do you think I can do iBallet before? Is the instruction good enough to do it without visual?

hm... if you are doing the other ones (Lotte Berk, Bar Method, and Squeeze) and understand how these workouts are designed, I don't think you'll have a problem with the Iballets. I'm not sure if whether Iballet would be easy to follow if you started with it first, though; it might be, but since it wasn't my first in the barre genre, I can't speak to that one way or another.

ElisaB · 10-05-09, 02:59 PM

Ok, so the order would be: (from Beginner to Advanced)

Lotte Berk
Bar Method
Squeeze
Element Ballet/iBallet

Where in this list would you put Pure Barre and Physique57?

leslie w · 10-05-09, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElisaB

Ok, so the order would be: (from Beginner to Advanced)

Lotte Berk
Bar Method
Squeeze
Element Ballet/iBallet

Where in this list would you put Pure Barre and Physique57?

I don't have Element Ballet/iBallet, but I'd put the original Pure Barre and Physique 57 in the advanced category. Right after Squeeze.

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04-14-09, 07:55 AM
ElisaB Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Zurich, Switzerland	Barre workouts, beginner to advanced (?) I own several barre-inspired workouts, but haven't tried mot of them. I am getting back into exercise and I was wondering if someone could help me put them in order, so to speak, so that I start from the easier ones first. This is what I have: LBM, High Round Assets LBM, Muscle Eats Fat (tried) Bar Method, fat Free Element Ballet Conditioning Squeeze Cardio Barre (tried, found hard) iBallet 1 and 3 How would you rate each of these? ETA: This discussion has now developed into creating a recommended sequence of barre-inspired workouts based on difficulty, to help barre beginners. You find the latest version here. Please feel free to repost the sequence with your edits/additions __________________ Elisa “You don't have to be perfect to be AMAZING” Last edited by ElisaB; 01-20-16 at 01:43 AM. Reason: Clarification

04-14-09, 10:18 AM
ElisaB Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Zurich, Switzerland	Thank you Sherry! That helps a lot! I was wondering about the iBallet, because I tried to start with them and I thought it was kind of hard. __________________ Elisa “You don't have to be perfect to be AMAZING”

04-14-09, 10:23 AM
sbh Join Date: Feb 2006	Yes, the i-ballets definately require being familiar with form. It took me a while before I could do them without a visual. The Lotte Berk's helped with that. The Exhale Core Fusions are good and Collage considers them to be intermediate.

04-14-09, 10:46 AM
kellyslims Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Canada	I agree wholeheartedly with Sherri, LB first, then bar method, then squeeze, etc. The element ballet conditioning and squeezes are difficult to do effectively unless you are capable of getting into and maintaining proper form. It's good to have a sense of order and progression because otherwise you start with the most difficult, find them near impossible and frustrating and give up on the whole genre! I tried element ballet first and was shocked, I was 4 weeks postpartum at that time and thought "hmm a nice gentle ballet workout"-not! I then started at the begining with Lotte and Burr and felt much more optimistic about being able to incoporate barre type workouts into my routine-which is great because I enjoy them

04-14-09, 01:19 PM
ElisaB Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Zurich, Switzerland	That's interesting. Do you think I can do iBallet before? Is the instruction good enough to do it without visual? __________________ Elisa “You don't have to be perfect to be AMAZING”

10-05-09, 02:59 PM
ElisaB Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Zurich, Switzerland	Ok, so the order would be: (from Beginner to Advanced) Lotte Berk Bar Method Squeeze Element Ballet/iBallet Where in this list would you put Pure Barre and Physique57? __________________ Elisa “You don't have to be perfect to be AMAZING”