Barre3 in Oklahoma City

Last week Barre3 Oklahoma City hosted Kathleen, Bridget and I for a class. Kathleen has taken classes a few times and Bridget is a regular. This was my first time. I was the newbie….and you could tell! I wore my Engage OKC shirt to represent and give a nod of thanks to my partner Susan and our brain child (Engage OKC) for the opportunity. In hindsight, a tank would have been a better choice. I think I was the only frumpster in a plane tee. Oh well.

The studio is beautiful. Clean lines, natural light, friendly staff – really welcoming in all aspects. Debbie taught our class and was adorable. She was knowledgeable and friendly. The thing I think she did the best was to simultaneously maintain a clam and relaxing environment while still rocking some fun music and being an encouraging cheerleader. She walked through the room gently correcting students who needed adjustment (um…me for sure) and knew many people by name and was able to directly encourage and complement them.

You guys know I love a good work out. I also really love slow, purposeful movements. I think that building core strength is the most important thing. Barre3 is made up of all slow, purposeful movements. Most of the time you are either holding a pose or doing slow pulses of no more than an inch of movement. Don’t let that fool you…holding a squat and then pulsing up and down an inch is killer. It takes a lot of control and strength. I love the idea of yoga but was never able to get into it. I’m not flexible and my mind runs to fast for it. Barre3 had a lot of the yoga like qualities, it was slower in pace than my usual work out and very controlled, but it was more movement than yoga and had louder music. When we spoke to the owner Andrea after class, she said that Barre3 “combines the grace of the ballet barre with the wisdom of yoga and the strength of Pilates.” I love that. It did feel graceful. Well, I didn’t…but I can see that if I did it more I would feel that. The strength aspect was there for sure. My legs were shaking during and after. The “barre3 quakes” they call them.

My dilemma now is finding the time to incorporate this into my work out. I think that Barre3 would help my core strength and my posture. Andrea told us that she has grown over an inch by doing these classes. Just changing your posture, how you carry yourself and your core strength can help lengthen you. I beat my body up pretty good with my other work outs. High intensity with bumps and bruises. My old lady body gets pretty out of whack from it. I think adding a slower paced, strength based work out would round out my routine. They have tons of classes on the schedule to chose from and even offer childcare…so I have no excuses!

Thank you Kathleen for the beautiful pictures!

This is a sponsored post; Barre3  provided the class to me as a member of Engage OKC, but all words and opinions are my own.