Barre Question

[Tugger31]

I've been thinking about doing a barre rotation soon, mostly dvds. I have Cathe's Turbo Barre and a few Suzanne Bowen dvds. I'm looking for workouts that don't emphasize the "tuck" as that tends to bother my lower back (have a mild bulging disc there)

I'm basically looking for a low weight/higher rep type of workout due to my physical limitations after herniating a cervical disc it doesn't necessarily have to be barre but that's what came to mind. I gave Jari a try but didn't click with her. I'm not allowed to do any deadlift type of moves or any crunches. I looked at some pilates workouts but too many crunch/core exercises I need to avoid so that's what led me to consider barre.

[alisoncooks]

A lot of Barre workouts do include c-curve or Pilates-type ab work. I've actually been looking at prenatal workouts because I'd assume they'd have less "on-the-back" ab moves.

I'm interested to see what's suggested for you! (I'm thinking of a Suzanne Bowen/walking rotation for this month.)

[txhsmom]

Originally Posted by alisoncooks

A lot of Barre workouts do include c-curve or Pilates-type ab work. I've actually been looking at prenatal workouts because I'd assume they'd have less "on-the-back" ab moves.

I'm interested to see what's suggested for you! (I'm thinking of a Suzanne Bowen/walking rotation for this month.)

Would you share your Suzanne Bowen/walking rotation if you design one? That sounds good right now!

Carol

[Tugger31]

I'm not opposed to purchasing a dvd with ab work, but it's got to be short. I don't want to pay for something I've got to modify the entire workout!

Suzanne Bowen has a rotation for her Barre Amped workouts you could alternate with walking.

[bubbles76]

I don't believe that Barre 3 has you tuck, and they always show modifications. At one point you could get their dvds pretty cheap, not sure about right now. Since Sadie Lincoln is the creator of Barre 3, I would assume any other barre type workouts that she's done also do not require tucking, such as the ones she's done for Prevention or Element.

[alisoncooks]

Originally Posted by txhsmom

Would you share your Suzanne Bowen/walking rotation if you design one? That sounds good right now!

Carol

Well, my rotations are never more than: "Hey, let's alternate walking and XYZ videos." LOL. In this case, I have:
Suzanne's Weight watcher DVD
BarreAmped (original -- it's free on Prime!)
a couple of her 10 Min Solution DVDs
a couple prenatal DVDs

I'll probably aim for 40 minutes of barre (including stretch) on every other day. The walking: I'm going to aim for 3 miles 3x/week. Easy peasy, right? (let's see if I can stick to it.)

[fanofladyvols]

Originally Posted by alisoncooks

I'll probably aim for 40 minutes of barre (including stretch) on every other day. The walking: I'm going to aim for 3 miles 3x/week. Easy peasy, right? (let's see if I can stick to it.)

Sometimes I can unnecessarily complicate rotations...I think your goal sounds wonderfully streamlined

[Tugger31]

Part of the reason I asked about barre was I was also interested in doing some high rep/low weight rotations and barre naturally came to mind.


So a thought popped into my head, do you think there is a difference in doing barre and just other non-barre high rep/low weight workout rotations as far as seeing results. I know results are different for different people but I'm saying for the same person would the results (whatever they are) be similar or is there something more "magical" about barre?

[summer breeze]

I think Margaret Richard is great for high rep/low weight. She's gentle on the joints, no lunges or squats, or not too often. She uses floor work for lower body most of the time. Some of her moves are barre-ish feeling to me. I think the results would be similar using MR or barre workouts.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by Tugger31

I'm looking for workouts that don't emphasize the "tuck" as that tends to bother my lower back (have a mild bulging disc there

i believe you can use neutral spine in the workouts that mention you to do it. in my recollection, the ones that do, it's a passing reference. and if it comes up, you can do the following:

1) use neutral spine
2) if they're doing repetitions of actual tucks, like during plies or squats, just contract your abs and keep a neutral spine
3) do a kegel contraction with a neutral spine
4) if it's during a pretzel move, you can do it with a neutral spine
5) you're avoiding crunches, but if it comes up, just lift enough to feel a contraction in your abs, or, you can put your legs up on a chair to take the burden off of your back.

some instructors have even changed their use of a C-curve - correct me if i am wrong, but i believe Burr Leonard was one who would say it a lot in her early videos, and then after a time, stopped.