Question about lower body - barre/pilates/mat/pulsing

[NorthernStar]

I have never really done many workouts that use small movements/pulsing and I have a question for that that do and like these workouts. I'm talking barre, pilates, mat/floor work, really any workout that focuses mainly on small pulsing movements. After doing Cathe's new To The Mat, I think I know why I haven't liked these workouts.

During the workout, the moves were hard. My muscles burned with those tiny movements. But overall at the end, I had barely broken a sweat and I didn't feel like I got much of a true workout at all.

Do you feel worked out when you do these types of workouts? Has this type of work given you good results?

I'm thinking I need to get past my need to feel wiped out to feel worked out and give these a try. I'd really like to see some good results in my legs more than anywhere else.

[bfit]

There are different kinds of workouts, and you don't have to sweat to get a good workout. I don't sweat or get my heart rate up when I do some workouts (especially floor work), but I do feel like I worked my muscles which was the point of the workout. If your muscles were burning during the workout chances are you're toning and getting results whether it feels the same as other workouts or not.

[ebianco]

I don't sweat much at all while doing barre or pilates mat work but it definitely tones your muscles. With barre work especially my legs will visibly shake but I'm not sweating. This kind of toning gives the muscles that "pulled in" tightening look. FWIW my legs respond a lot better to barre and mat work than to lunges/squats with heavier weights, where I might be sweating a lot more.

[Lilypad]

Northern Star I could have written this post myself. For the whole month of December I did only pilates and a little cardio here and there and although I didn't see any physical results I just felt better. I also come from the heavy weight and intense cardio regime like you so IMO I already have my results. I'm just looking to maintain what I have.

[Pat58]

I've been doing Barre3 which incorporates large, full range of motion movements with the periods of small pulses and it gets my heart rate up there. We were freezing in New England last week and I was breaking a sweat in my workout room.

[Pratima]

Originally Posted by NorthernStar

Do you feel worked out when you do these types of workouts? Has this type of work given you good results?

I'm thinking I need to get past my need to feel wiped out to feel worked out and give these a try. I'd really like to see some good results in my legs more than anywhere else.

My answer to both questions above is "sometimes." I often feel heavy weight work more--muscle failure during, and soreness afterward. Barre workouts, unweighted work, etc. I may experience muscle failure, but I'm rarely sore. That said, when I was doing barre regularly, I could SEE that it was working.

For me, those types of workouts hit different areas and in different ways than others. I've been running a lot this year, training for various events. I did V-Core this morning and ohmygosh did I feel it. And tomorrow, I probably won't feel it, but I know that type of work is different and that I do need it.

[PrairieGem]

For me, the difference is between gaining strength (how much you can lift once) and gaining endurance (what you can lift many times). They're different, and they're both good for you. When I did a long barre rotation with no traditional strength training, my endurance went through the roof--I could squat for hours, shovel snow alongside my DH and not feel it the next day, hop on one foot like nobody's business*--but I felt like my overall strength diminished (it was harder to lug a bag of dog food into the house). Strength training with heavier weights is also the only thing that really seems to keep aging- and lifestyle-related aches & pains at bay for me. (One of the reasons I had turned to barre was as therapy for a chronic trapezius muscle spasm. Didn't help that one bit!)

I will say that for me, though, barre feels hard (and pilates is physically impossible). I think it's the focus, the concentration, the need to stand in one place and make tiny precise motions where there is NO help from momentum and NO break or rest from the movement--even when you pulse you're still holding the pose. I honestly think there's an emotional component to the big ROM movements of traditional strength or cardio, where you FEEL like you're getting a rest that never comes in barre. I EXPECT weights or running to be hard; but here, just dip your knees this teeny little bit? Nah, anyone can do that--ow.

...So perhaps you feel the opposite? For you there's NOT a sense of relief in getting to jump or lift your arm a whole lot higher or bend all the way over (not just an inch)? I don't know--just tossing it out there as a wild random possibility!

Also, the better you get at barre, the harder it actually gets. So there's that, too.

Lastly, in traditional strength WOs I have where they do pulses (like in KCM's Cardio Pump and Amy Dixon's Women's Health Ultimate Fat Burn; both have pulsing plie squats with weights), I have noticed that the instructors add the pulses at the end of a set, when you're already fatigued, and they usually make some kind of comment about it. (KCM: "Are they smiling? They love this. ")


*Ok, that's a weird one, but it was a big signal for me of what barre had done. One of my favorite circuit videos has you hop for a full minute, and I could never, ever do it--no matter how many times I had done that workout, and I mean *years.* But when I tried it once after several months of barre, that minute of hopping was (hee) no sweat! I was AMAZED.

[NorthernStar]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I will need to give these types of workouts a more thorough try!

[cherimac]

Originally Posted by ebianco

I don't sweat much at all while doing barre or pilates mat work but it definitely tones your muscles. With barre work especially my legs will visibly shake but I'm not sweating. This kind of toning gives the muscles that "pulled in" tightening look. FWIW my legs respond a lot better to barre and mat work than to lunges/squats with heavier weights, where I might be sweating a lot more.

This. Although, the better I get at perfecting my form, the more my heart rate goes up and the more I sweat.