Reshape by stretching.

Sculpted arms, flat abs, a lifted tush, elongated thighs and better posture?  Seriously, is it possible to get all that and more from your workout?  Celeb beauties Anna Paquin, Ginnifer Goodwin, Drew Barrymore and Kelly Osbourne think so.

Everything is beautiful at the ballet barre

A workout at the ballet barre is more than a fitness trend.  While it employs the principles of dance conditioning and the science of physical therapy, The Bar Method’s total body workout will make your body more efficient at burning calories and give you a leaner look…as long as you keep eating healthy.

Die-hard Bar Method fans are saying that the one-hour, non-impact workout is truly reshaping their bodies.  If you are thinking it is time for a significant change, it will be well worth your dollars and sense to try a class at The Bar Method.  The program focuses on strengthening, stretching, and aligning all major muscle groups through fat-burning, interval training and muscle-shaping isometics.  The results? Power, physical grace and stamina.

“The Bar Method is great for people with limited time to work out. It is a highly efficient focused exercise. Regular attendance could definitely make you feel more confident in your bathing suit!” said first-timer Joy Kelly.

The class starts with a warm-up, free-weight exercises and push-ups, followed by intense leg, seat and abdominal work at the bar, and on mats.  You will alternate between exercises that demand intense bursts of energy and deep stretches.  Don’t worry when your muscles start to shake, it is part of the intense muscle work.

According to Burr Leonard, The Bar Method founder and creator, “This format produces both high caloric burn and firmer muscle mass.”

 

There is a method to their “madness”

At The Bar Method active stretching is very much a part of the workout.  Unlike conventional interval training classes that lead stretching at the end of class, The Bar Method workout has a very different approach.  Stretching is vital to the success of the program and it feels so good too.

Designed under the guidance of physical therapists to ensure joint safety, stretching throughout the workout has numerous lifelong benefits:

  • Elongates and narrows muscles
  • Increases safe range of motion across your joints, thereby lessening the chance of tendon strains
  • Enhances grace and coordination
  • Strengthens bones by gently but firmly pulling on them during stretches and enables the opposing muscles (those on the other side of the ones being stretched) to work deeper and more intensely by allowing them to contract more fully
  • Relaxes and re-energizes the body

In The Bar Method workout, you will perform stretches only after you fully warm up the muscles being stretched.  Their philosophy is to “actively” stretch the muscles throughout class by continually switching the focus from one side of the body to the other.  That way, the muscles just worked are being stretched by those on the other side.  First you will do exercises that work the quadriceps (your thighs), second the hamstrings (the muscles behind the front of your thighs) and then the seat (your tush), which actually stretches the thighs.

Many Thanks 2 ~The Examiner~

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