Barre classes are a new phenomenon that have people all over the world intrigued. But what is barre exactly? Well, barre classes are best described as a combination of low impact moves from ballet, yoga and pilates. While the origins of barre are from dance, everyone — and not just dancers — has the ability to excel from the benefits of taking barre classes.

We wanted to start by confronting a large misconception that’s out there: that barre workouts are only for women. This is far from truth. In reality, the benefits of barre are important for both genders. A combination of a wide variety of exercises and classes are best for overall fitness, so let’s take a look at the specific benefits of barre for your body (whether you're male or female).

1. Improved Posture: Keeping a straight spine is essential for many of the exercises during the barre classes, and this improves back strength and posture quickly. Many men and women suffer from back pain, and whether an individual is active or not, back issues can cause a big disturbance in everyday life. The barre method stretches muscles in the back and legs, and this assists with the back pain, improves body mechanics, and enhances your overall posture. After a couple of barre classes, you’ll be standing taller and even more aware of correct body alignments.

2. A Full Body Workout: Unlike many forms of cardio, barre classes incorporate structured movements that tone-up muscles all over the body, not just the legs specifically. For intense runners and cyclists, barre gives you an arm workout to increase upper body strength. Striving for a six pack? Barre incorporates isometric movements that target tiny muscle around the core. The build up of these smaller muscles gives you the ability to hold positions longer, and strengthening your core will assist you in other forms of physical activity.

3. Low Impact: Unlike many forms of intense exercise, barre puts less strain on your muscles and joints making it a low injury risk. You can even do barre while pregnant with proper modifications and your physician's approval, depending on how far along you are. The classes exhaust your muscles, but because it is low-impact you won't be struggling to catch your breath. So what are you waiting for?! Give your joints a new form of strength training in a barre class.

4. Improved Flexibility: Many individuals, particularly men, have tight and stiff bodies, and everyone can always do more stretching. Stretching is extremely important for injury prevention, and barre classes are filled with both active and passive stretches to lengthen out the muscles. This makes it the perfect workout to squeeze in between the high intense cardio days and RIDEs.

5. No Experience Required: One of the best aspects of barre is its openness to individuals of all ages, genders and experience levels. You don’t need to be a professional ballerina to be a fantastic barre student. In fact, you don’t need to be graceful or extremely flexible either. During the classes, the instructors offer modifications to the moves for those who aren’t as experienced, and this makes it suited for both beginners and barre enthusiasts. It is applicable for anyone and everyone, so get started with this new fun workout class!

Want to test the waters from the comfort of your home first? Well dip that barre toe in, and try out this 20 min barre workout video with BECYCLE's very own, Vic.

Article written by Maddie Giesen

Benefits of Barre