Yesterday morning, thanks to Daylight Savings, I woke up fairly early and took an AM class at the Equinox at Columbus Circle, Barre Burn taught by James Darling.
The class is described as:
“A total body workout that slims your hips, tightens your thighs, lifts your seat, & mobilizes your metabolism. Utilizing ballet movements, intelligent isometrics, changes in rhythm, range of motion & progressive core training, your body heals, tightens, strengthens so you look, feel and move better.”
The class was a challenge, it is an hour made up of tiny movements done many times (sometimes with light weights) until you feel a serious burn. When entering the class you may laugh at picking up a set of 1 or 3 pound weights, but once you start doing the moves it makes sense why you should only use very light weights. The ballet-inspired moves were a bit tough for me (I quit ballet in the first grade) and I certainly wasn’t flexible for portions of the class, but perhaps if I pick up yoga and do this class a few more times I would get through more of the movements.
The instructor James Darling was great, he kept the class laughing and made the hour fly by. I’m not surprised to see that he has a background in dance- when he showed us how to do the movements, it looked like he was in a performance of Swan Lake, whereas when I tried to replicate it I looked more like a toddler at Gymboree.
Either way, interesting class and very different from the cardio-sculpts I’ve taken in the past. Check it out and let me know what you think!
(image via: http://purebarre.com/)
