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Summer Fitness -- Plan for It!

A little planning will go a long way toward helping you reach your fitness goals this summer. Start with incorporating Pilates into a fat burning workout program:

Healthy Habits
Pilates Spotlight10

Q: What About Barre Wokouts?

Tuesday May 21, 2013

Pure Barre WorkoutI enjoy fusion Pilates and hybrid workouts -- so long as they are clearly labeled as such. I know that not everyone wants to be, or can be, a full-on Pilates practitioner. Lately, the fusion workouts that have caught my attention, and seem to be making amicable inroads into Pilates studios, are the various types of barre workouts -- The Bar Method, Pure Barre, Booty Barre and so forth.

A "barre" is the bar ballet dancers hold onto when they do their warm up and indeed, most barre workouts are done to music and have a lot of dance influence in them. They use the barre for stability, and to stretch with. At home, a chair back takes the place of an official barre. Intense, strength and sculpt oriented, barre workouts do work the whole body, though they often focus a lot on butt lifting and thigh shaping exercises -- the promise of which accounts for a lot of the barre workout popularity.

My experience has been that barre workouts depend on a tremendous amount of leg lifting at various angles and directions to get that leg and butt sculpting effect. For me this is one of those differences with Pilates that is hard to get past, even though I studied ballet for years. I have only so much patience for the hydrant, or "batment" to carry on the ballet theme. I am reminded how much I appreciate that we do not have do a lot of repetitions of any one exercise in Pilates in order to get good effects.

Nevertheless, as Carrie Dorr, founder of Pure Barre, said to me: As we get older, we tend to spread east to west like a pancake. And that does put me in mind to do some focused butt and thigh work! Even Joseph Pilates recommended extra attention to areas that need it. Like other barre workouts, Dorr, who has over 10 barre DVDs, says Pure Barre works from the core and strives for mindfulness, like Pilates.

Barre workouts actually aren't all that new. The first "barre workouts" were developed by Lotte Berk who combined a rehabilitative approach to movement with ballet and opened a studio in London to teach her method in 1959. Her students brought the Lotte Berk Method to the United States. One of them, Burr Leonard, went on to develop the work into one of the most well known of the barre workout styles, The Bar Method (History of the Bar Method).

Now it seems there are barre workouts in every major city, and lots of DVDs to choose from. There are many barre workout franchises as well. Pure Barre for example, has over 100 locations. Each style has a slightly different spin, so if you are interested in trying them out, one barre workout isn't necessarily the same as the next. Experiment and find what you like.

A barre workout that has been noticeable in the Pilates world lately is Booty Barre. Founder Tracey Mallett is a fitness expert and Pilates instructor who even brought Booty Barre to the 2012 PMA conference as a pre-conference workshop. As part of my experiential research, I tried a Booty Barre class online at Pilates Anytime and I can vouch that in addition to it being a yes on sculpting, Tracey's enthusiasm will have you thinking doing a leg lift on the other side is a new adventure.

I did a short interview with Tracey Mallett about the Booty Barre so you could get a better sense of what that particular barre workout is like. Of course my first question had to be: Is it all booty?
Please see: What is Booty Barre?

Have you tried a barre workout? Tell us about your experience. Comments are welcome.

Related Reading:

Why Few Repetitions Work in Pilates

Get in Shape with Pilates

Exercise of the Week: Shoulder Bridge with the Medicine Ball

Wednesday May 15, 2013

medicine ball exerciseThe medicine ball is definitely not a traditional piece of Pilates equipment. However, exercise balls in general have been embraced by much of the Pilates community as fun, adjunct ways to add challenge to exercises -- in keeping with the Pilates focus on stability and balance.

Here we take the Pilates shoulder bridge mat exercise and add a little extra work for the legs and powerhouse by putting the feet up on a medicine ball. If you don't have a medicine ball, you might also use weighted toning balls.

Do Shoulder Bridge with Medicine Ball

Or Do Shoulder Bridge on the Mat,  a very effective classic Pilates exercise.

Have the Exercise of the Week along with more great Pilates info sent directly to you each week in the Free Pilates Newsletter.

Photo courtesy of Simon Trangmar

Pilates Conference Listing: Call for Submissions

Monday May 13, 2013

Not long ago I wrote a blog titled Why a Pilates Conference Should Be on Your Horizon. In it I talked about the pleasures and benefits of attending a Pilates conference. I also listed several of the conferences that had made their way onto my radar this year.

But what became obvious immediately after I published my "short list" was that there were many other fabulous Pilates conferences coming up that I either hadn't remembered, heard about, or had room for. Also, the international community chimed in, and rightfully so, asking for leads on conferences in Australia and Europe, and I'm sure there was interest in other places as well.

In response, I've created a free submission form that will result in an ongoing, international, reference list for Pilates conferences. The listings will include the vital info such as date, time, and place as well as details such as the theme of the conference and who will be teaching.

So, if you are marketing a Pilates conference, please list your conference. If you know someone or a Pilates company that should hear about this opportunity, please forward this blog or the link to the submission form along to them.  Keep in mind the listing is for conferences, not workshops. You can see the criteria on the submission form.

Thank you for participating and I hope to have the beginnings of the listing resource available to all soon!

Related Listings and Forms:

Pilates Instructor Training Program Published Listings
Pilates Instructor Training Program Submission Form

Online Pilates Studio Published Listings
Online Pilates Studio Tour Submission Form

Exercise of the Week: Workout On the Pilates Ball

Wednesday May 8, 2013

exercise ball exerciseI like this intermediate level Pilates ball sequence. I like it because for a short workout, it is very well balanced. It keeps the core working as it moves from exercises emphasizing the front body to the back and on to the arms and shoulders, hips and legs. This is a great ball workout to call on as part of your Summer body shape up.

Do a Pilates Workout on the Ball

Have the Exercise of the Week along with more great Pilates info sent directly to you each week in the Free Pilates Newsletter.

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