Workout Post: barre3 Raleigh

Occasionally, it is time for change. There are some fixtures, however, that dont change. Monday- Friday, barring a plague, I go to work. SL usually goes to bed by 7:30/7:45. In the morning I have oatmeal, then I kiss my baby and head off into the amazing world of librarianship and education. And in the afternoons I go for a run or head to the gym.
Until lunch one day, when I heard a co-worker talking about the new barre3 studio that had just opened nearby. Actually, I think talking is not the appropriate word. I think raving better suits it. She was loving it. She is a runner, too, so my ears perked up a bit as I listened to her explain that barre3 truly was the best of ballet, pilates and yoga. And my former ballet dancer and current yoga loving self listened up.
I will be the first to say that I was already aware that barre3 was coming to Raleigh. Early on, I had liked the Facebook page, and followed some of the health posts. But I had done nothing beyond that. Then, one morning a post from barre3 popped up on my feed, about a new instructor offering Instructor-in-Training classes. I opened up the schedule casually and saw that there was one happening that night at 8 p.m. Thats when my heart picked up a little bit.
As a mom, especially a working mom, going to gym classes are complicated. Most of the time they are not scheduled around things like your childs meal or bedtime. Therefore you dont go because you are handling mealtime or bedtime. But 8 p.m.? 8 p.m. meant I could do meal and bedtime and STILL get to class. So I did it, maybe rushing SL through bathtime a little more than usual but getting her down and getting out the door and there with a few minutes to spare. Which was kind of a miracle in and of itself.
On to the actual studio. In Raleigh, it is tucked away in one of my favorite neighborhoods- Five Points. Its clean and simple. You walk into a lobby, there is a childcare area located to your left (yes, FREE CHILDCARE is a perk for those of you with cooperative babies), cubbies for your things, and then the studio. The studio is gorgeous- cork (anti-bacterial!) flooring, barres lining the entire room, mirrors on two walls. And rows of very tiny weights, as well as bright orange balls. It reminded me a lot of dance studios I had grown up going to.
You take a barre3 class barefoot, another good reason to have cork flooring down. Basically, you select a set of weights (I chose 2 pounds, there isnt anything over 3), a ball, and head to a spot on the barre. Standing in front of the mirror, I realized that I should have been wearing clothing that fit a little better- definitely not a class you want to do in shorts and a loose t-shirt. As with any ballet or yoga class, you want to wear something that is fitted so you can see your alignment. Dont feel like you have to head back down pink tights/black leotard lane, but capris and a more fitted shirt will work out well for you.
Once our sweet, delightful instructor got started I had this thought. Oh, this is easy. This is so much easier than I thought it was going to be. That thought lasted precisely two minutes into the class when I found myself trying to focus on keeping up with thewarm-up. You know, the part of class where you get your heart rate up just a bit so you dont die? Then we moved into the actual exercises. And that is where my heart began to sing, and my legs began to shake. Because the actual exercises are intense. You are barely moving, like making inch movements, and you feel like your limbs may abandon your body, leaving you like the knight in Monty Python. The instructor walks around, demonstrating some, correcting a posture or adapting a pose for someone, explaining various modifications, while you focus on not dying. And then you do that for about the next hour.

                          barre3 class being taught by Tori Fox, photo from The News & Observer
It sounds torturous, except it becomes the best hour of your life. It goes so fast, and everything kind of moves more quickly than you can process as you move from barre to center to barre and then floor. When you finish, you feel.delightful. You are, in fact, glowing, not sweating, and you feel longer and leaner. And this is after your first time. Really and truly. So at 9 p.m. on a random night I felt great, as if it were possible for me to go for a jog, or fold fifty baskets of laundry. I felt energized and relaxed, and when I went home and crawled into bed, it was with a smile.
So a couple of days later, I went back. And then again after that. And it felt great, and still does. I found myself breathing a little deeper, standing a little taller, feeling leaner for sure, and amazed at how much damage one can do with a small ball and a couple of 2 pound weights.