Feeling the Burn at Life Barre

Good afternoon! It’s a chilly one up here in Michigan. We slept with the windows cracked open last night and I felt an immediate chill in the air when I awoke this morning.

Today started differently at the gym. I haven’t been to the gym in the morning in… I don’t know… months? I have been more of the lunch time or evening visitor up until today’s Life Barre class.

As most of you know, I’m no stranger to barre classes. In Orlando, I taught 5-6 days a week at a studio and I absolutely loved it!

I am currently scoping out gyms and studios in our area to potentially teach classes at after I get my CPT. I would love to mix it up and also train to teach other types of group fitness classes too. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on anything moving in that direction!

For now, I am popping into whatever I can and let’s just say I found the barre burn again at Life Barre.

Holy cow, I don’t remember it being that intense. Oh wait, yes I do. Barre is one of those workouts I love to hate during certain exercises, but don’t hate to love in general. It’s amazing how painful even just a few minutes of working the same body part with little movements can be!

I always used to joke with my students that if your legs aren’t burning, you probably aren’t going as low or hard as you can. As weird as it sounds, shaky legs and heels in relevé are a good sign! It just means you are getting stronger.

The biggest difference in the class I took today was the absence of a ballet barre. Instead, the class is given in the center of the room and you spend a lot of time doing isometric and balancing exercises with small weights, a Pilates ball, gliders, a body bar, and down on the floor on a yoga mat.

It was NOT easy, friends. The first fifteen minutes consisted of strictly cardio and strength exercises and my arms were on fire. Half way through our push-up series, I realized my arm (and especially shoulder) strength officially stinks. It’s time to get back to lifting more weights!

Another difference in this version of barre was the time allotted in-between exercises to stretch. There wasn’t any, which I actually missed quite a bit. After working on each main area (arms, core, thighs, seat, etc.) I am used to at least a minute or so to stretch out the muscles I just tired out with repetitive exercises. I never fully recovered and felt out of steam during a lot of the class. I love my active recovery!

I pushed through, however, and realized I need to get my booty back to the barre a lot more frequently if I have any business applying to teach it again. I plan to visit a few barre studios in the next couple of weeks to see what different styles are out there and what I am most comfortable with. I’ll be sure to report back on how my search is going!

Breakfast

I originally planned to knock out today’s easy pace training run right after class, but my legs were jello. Listening to my body, I packed up and headed towards the cafe downstairs to treat myself with breakfast instead.

I sure was hungry after that sweat sesh!

I walked in to a sign displaying “Pesto Egg Breakfast Sandwich” and that is exactly what I ordered alongside a hazelnut cappuccino with almond milk.

OH. MY. GOODNESS you guys, this sandwich was incredible!

I MUST try and re-create it at home.

Pesto, eggs, Parmesan cheese, and tomato on whole wheat toast.

I saved the small side of yogurt with chia seeds for later and was on my way home shortly after I finished my meal.

After about an hour or so on the computer, my food settled enough for me to grab Roadie and knock out those three miles that were still lingering over my head. I couldn’t believe it was cold enough for me to comfortably wear a sweatshirt the entire time!

Roadie and I took our time and only went on the trails for a hot minute. He has been getting super distracted by smells lately, and I wasn’t really in the mood to stop every two seconds to investigate with him. We still enjoyed the street views!

I also can’t believe how quickly leaves are falling. Fall is certainly around the corner!

As soon as we returned, I rinsed off and was thankful to already have lunch ready to heat up, thanks to leftovers from last night’s dinner.

Gluten-free spaghetti noodles in marinara sauce with sweet Italian turkey sausage, mushrooms, and yellow and green peppers.

It was the perfect morning! Now I’m off to work and study a bit before a dance rehearsal at church tonight. Yup, I said dance rehearsal. I am performing a fun little diddy with a few friends at all of the services this weekend. It should be interesting!

I hope you have a great rest of your Thursday, and I will see you back in the morning with Friday Favorites!

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I can’t sign off without acknowledging the anniversary of 9/11 today.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the tragedies that took place thirteen years ago. #neverforget

“What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we’ve never met.” <3 — David Levithan