A New Series! + A Review of “Booty Barre”

Hi!

I’m excited to be starting a new series here on FFF! I realize that we eat A LOT of food, but we don’t talk enough about the other “Fs” – Faith and Fitness.

And, after the reader survey, I know that you guys want to talk about them more! So, now that I have a lot more time, we are going to do that!

Today, I am starting a series about some of the hot, new fitness classes out there! If you’re like me, I find one kind of exercise that I enjoy (weight lifting)…aaaand then don’t do anything else because I’m scared I will hate every moment of my life while doing it.

So, I am going to push myself to try some new things…and potentially die of agony and suffering due to using new muscles that I didn’t even know that I HAD, in the process.

How-ev-er, maybe it will save you from trying out something new and then realizing it wasn’t for you, and going through agony for nothing.

Don’t say that I don’t look out for you.

I joined forces with CORE5 studio here in Brandon, FL to try out these classes. If you live in the area, you HAVE TO GO HERE. They offer 14 days for free, and the gym is incredible! There is a personal trainer working out with you ALWAYS. I love that, since I am a stickler for doing thing correctly – and they make sure that you are.

They also make you take a fitness test before starting anything to make sure that you can safely take the classes. The fitness test gives you all your body fat %’s and muscle mass and all this cool stuff that was really neat to find out! They also keep monitoring you every month to make SURE you are progressing. No point wasting money if you’re not!

First up in this brand spankin’ new series is: Booty Barre (you might know it as just “barre,” but the gym I went to called added “booty.” It’s more fun to say that way me thinks.)

PLUS, it totally kicked MY booty you guys.

I honestly went into the class thinking that it was going to be SO easy. I mean, I lift weights….this is just ballet. This is what sissies do for “exercise,” right?

We all started in the middle of the classroom and “warmed up.” Read: We started in the middle of the classroom…and died. Or at least I died.

We did eleventy billion body weight squats, lunges, yoga pose things, warrior stances, squats on our tippy toes (who invented those? Kill them. I kid. Sort of)

It was probably a few less than eleventy billion. But, I lost track after 1 million.

Then, we took it to the barre.

The whole 45 minutes was basically the same as the warm up (squats on tippy toes, kicks, lunges, running mans) BUT they added resistance bands that we tied around the barre, and then tied around our wrists so we had ALL THE RESTIANCE while we did such horrible moves.

OK, truly, it wasn’t horrible at all. It was REALLY FUN…in a “my legs are going to fall off my body RIGHT NOW” kind of way.

You understand.

After we did our barre work, we did some upper body work on the floor, also using resistance bands and some balls.

I totally did not expect to get a full body workout from this class, and one that I actually FELT. So, I was pretty happy about that.

Again, in a why-do-I-have-to-have-legs-I-wish-I-didn’t-have-them-right-now-so-they-wouldn’t-hurt kind of way.

After leaving the class, my legs, booty, arms..E’RYTHANG was on fire.

And, today (the day after) I am SO SORE (in a good way!)  I thought I had strong legs.

Clearly, booty barre is not just for wussies.

And, It’s SO FUN.

Would I go back and do it again?

In a HEARTBEAT! I actually think I liked it much better than a “leg day” at the gym.

I think I might wear a tutu next time though.

Because, why not.