The Costco Connection - January 2014

By Star Lawrence

BALLET DANCERS COMBINE suppleness with strength and agility. Yoga focuses on flexibility. Pilates works core and balance.

Perhaps this is one reason that more people are looking into barre classes, which blend ballet with yoga and Pilates, and have seen a surge of popularity in the past few years.

“I think the image of the ballerina is inspirational,” says Meredith Poppler, a Costco member and spokesperson for the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association in Boston. The trend toward barre classes, she adds, also signals the return to popularity of group fitness, which dropped off a decade ago in favor of individual exercise.

Barre classes (the name comes from the stationary rail used in ballet) can be done by almost anyone at any age, practitioners say. Despite the subtle movements and absence of beefy machines, barre puts the “work” in workout. Participants delight in saying how they were drenched with sweat and gasping, just like a professional dancer.

Costco member Marirose Weyand and

Barre offers a graceful approach to fitness

Weyand says. “There is not that much [heavy]
weightlifting involved.”
Results can be seen fast, she insists—the
most coveted of which is the lifting of one’s
backside. Some people lose weight, but this
depends on how dainty one’s lunch
is afterward.

If you have limitations, you can work around them. Sore shoulder? Use a lighter weight. Do fewer reps if you need to.

Teachers are trained by individual companies, and expertise can vary. Matthews recommends that students ask if the instructors are certified in group fitness in addition to specialized barre techniques, which are taught by the franchise groups. ACE certification takes three to six months to complete.

To keep muscles warm and limber, students wear yoga pants and socks with nonslip soles (no tutus). The cost varies, but think in terms of $175 a month for unlimited classes.

Will barre give you a long, graceful neck and a toed-out walk? Probably just a firmer tush and long, toned muscles. But are you complaining? C

Star Lawrence is a medical reporter in the Phoenix area.

for your health: BARRE CLASSES

The Costco Connection

Costco and Costco.com carry a variety of exercise clothing, such as Kirkland Signature™ active wear, as well as exercise equipment.

her sister Veronica started their Pure Barre franchise in 2005 and have three locations in the Phoenix area. “Aerobics is a lot of jumping around,” she says. “This is small, isometric movements—no bouncing or jumping and no grinding of joints.” It’s upbeat, done to all different kinds of music (although, surprisingly, nothing from Swan Lake) and uses few pieces of equipment: just the barre, 3-pound weights and medicine balls. Each session lasts an hour at Pure Barre. “Some people do it six or seven days a week,” Weyand says, although three to four times is ideal.

Jessica Matthews, a Costco member and exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise (ACE) in San Diego, took a Pure Barre class and says it was taxing. “They emphasize core strengthening and proper alignment,” she says.

She adds that the class moved her body in a different way, and her body was sore in places she didn’t even know she had.

Weyand has both male and female students; the oldest is 74. The techniques do not stress joints, but they do work muscles to the point of shakiness. “You don’t bulk up,”