During the winter, I often go into hibernation. I don’t work out as much, when I do I want it to be hot, and I decrease my workout intensity. I decided to not do Crossfit for a couple months out of convenience. There is a pilates studio right by me, and figured why not? I’m always up for new things. I have all kinds of classes to choose from including barre, yoga and pilates. The first class I showed up for was a barre class. My preconceived notion of how it was going to work was:
We will stand at the ballerina bar and do poses.
That wasn’t exactly what happened. I happened to start at the end of a plank challenge for the ladies and they all gave me a smirk when the instructor announced it was my first day. We would be doing a 2 min. 45 sec plank. It’s not my first rodeo, so I was up for it. I made it the entire plank duration, and to be honest, everything I hate about planks was rampant in barre class. It’s lot of small movements without rests that make your muscles sort of quiver and your brain starts playing games with you. I’ve always been one for powerful bursts of speed or strength, the occasional bit of body weight endurance, and full of competition.
Competition is not a word at barre class. It’s you against your own brain here, ladies. No one else cares what you are doing and you certainly won’t be keeping score.
Despite some of the work being fatiguing to muscle groups, I did not come close to sweating during class. The instructor pointed out the section that counts for cardio, but I’m not sure I would consider it cardio compared to other types of exercise.
I will say that despite having prior strength on my side, my shoulder muscles were sore for 3 days after! So, just because it’s lower intensity, doesn’t mean you won’t feel the burn (for possibly days after!)
I am not the most coordinated person when it comes to classes, and I had no trouble following along. That was a positive. You do follow along, but it wasn’t anything overly complicated where you wish you were in the back of the room hiding from everyone because you are messing everything up.
All the women were very welcoming and my guess is that they are regulars every week at that time. ;) That’s part of what I love about Crossfit, so I’m sure they feel the same about their gym family.
Would I do it again? Sure. Did I love it as my main source of exercise? Not so much. I think it’s something that can be a great addition to Crossfit, if you are someone who loves crossfit like myself. It would help with core stability, mental toughness, and the isometric stabilization of the body.
Bottom line: I’ll do it again, but I probably won’t keep it as my main source of movement for longer than a couple months.