Does Pure Barre Work? Getting Fit with Barre Classes
In this episode of undercover-fit guy, I once again dig out my fake nose and moustache to infiltrate the workout craze known as Pure Barre. My goal: to find out what Pure Barre is, how it works, and whether or not it is a good way to get fit.
Brock Armstrong
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Does Pure Barre Work? Getting Fit with Barre Classes
According to their website, Pure Barre is a “total body workout that uses the ballet barre to perform small, isometric movements, which burn fat, sculpt muscles and create long, lean physiques.” We’ll get into my experience with the classes and my overall fitness impressions, but first a little background.
After I went undercover at Orangetheory, Crossfit, and BODYPUMP, I received a few emails asking my opinion of Pure Barre and I apologize for it taking me this long to get to it. I finally signed up for two Pure Barre classes: the Classic class and the Empower class. Both of which left me shaky and sweaty.
What Is a Barre?
First things first, for those of you who didn’t grow up doing some sort of dance class or other and also managed to escape watching TV shows like “Fame” or “Bunheads,” let’s clarify what exactly a barre (not a bar) is.
It’s pretty simple actually. The barre is a horizontal pole (usually wooden, like a staircase banister) that runs at waist level on which ballet dancers rest a hand (or a foot) for support during exercises. The barre usually runs along a wall (often a mirrored wall) but can also be free standing in the middle of the room. Got it? Good.
Signing Up to Pure Barre
Right off the bat, I have to hand it to Pure Barre for having an easy to use website and a reasonable introductory offer. Unlike Orangetheory though, which offered a free trial that easily got turned into two free trials, I did have to pay for my classes. But $21 for a full week of unlimited sessions isn’t bad and honestly, during my first class, I was so busy making sure that I was doing the exercises correctly that I didn’t have time to form a solid opinion.
I was happy that I took some time the night before my first class to do some reading up on Pure Barre etiquette. The fact that you can’t wear shorts to the classes threw me for a bit of a loop. I run hot. And that means I sweat a lot. Which means, I like to workout in shorts and a tank top. I do own some running pants that I wear in the winter (occasionally) but for my first class I actually ended up wearing some woollen longjohns that I usually wear under my snow pants while skiing or snowshoeing. So yeah, I was a sweaty mess. Sorry ladies.
Are Men Allowed at Pure Barre?
Which leads me to a quick point that I would like to make. I was the only dude in the class and although the website’s FAQ section makes it clear that men are absolutely welcome, the Our Story page on the same website actually states “At Pure Barre, women share a sense of community in which they are inspired and empowered by each others’ fitness and lifestyle goals.” Which I am 100 percent in favor of—the empowerment of women is something we need more of, inside and outside of the gym—but I may have felt a little more sheepish about intruding on their space had I read that before I attended class. Again, sorry ladies.
In any case, I arrived in my longjohns and socks (they also insist that you wear socks) ready to rock. Our instructor was a friendly young woman who quickly got our waivers signed, the basics covered (where the cubbies and bathrooms were), and for my first class called the Classic Workout, equipped us with a medium-sized ball, a double resistance tube, and some comedically small dumbbells (two, three, or five pounds). I opted for the fives and did not regret it. For my second class, the Empower Workout, we skipped the tube and ball and instead picked up some small risers and ankle/wrist weights.
Similar to the beginning of a yoga class we were told to find a spot on the (oddly carpeted) floor with enough room to swing our arms out to the sides. The music was switched on and we began the workout.
The Pure Barre Workout
I won’t bore you (and potentially violate some non-disclosure agreement) by taking you through each workout blow-by-blow, but I will sum them up.
- A brief but effective full-body warm-up.
- Some upper body isometrics, with and without the tiny weights.
- Some upper body exercises, with and without the weights done in small muscle pulses.
- Some core work (planks, side bends, and crunches).
- Some lower body isometrics in the middle of the room and at the barre.
- Some lower body exercises in the middle of the room and at the barre again, done in pulses.
- Some short stretching (mostly the legs).
- Finishing with some ab work (mostly crunches).
Despite the fact that the movements were small, I was using muscles that haven’t been awakened in years! Or perhaps ever.
My first comment is that for a workout program that has the word “barre” in the title, we spent less than half of the workout at the actual barre. My second comment is that I am glad we didn’t spend more time at the barre! Despite the fact that the movements were small and mostly of the isometric or small pulsing variety, I was using muscles that haven’t been awakened in years! Or perhaps ever.
If you want to be humbled in a hurry, try putting your leg behind you and then draw imaginary circles in the air with your toes, rotating your leg from your hip, for 60 seconds or so. Now tie your legs together with a resistance band or strap on an ankle weight and try it again! Right?
So yes, suffice to say that although I wasn’t all that challenged by the upper body work (the “Sculpt the Arms” section) or the core exercises (the “Flatten the Abs” sections), the hip and glute work (called “Lift Seat”) was over-the-top for me.
During my second class, I was able to glance around the room occasionally to get an idea of how things were going for other attendees and not surprisingly, everyone had a strength and a weakness. Where cranking out the pushup section of the Classic Workout class was a piece of cake for me, many people struggled with that part. Where I fell apart doing (seemingly endless) reps of “seat lifts,” others were completely rocking it, with little to no effort required.
Critique #1: Diminishing Returns
One thing I did notice was that there were a few people, clearly regulars, who moved through the class with extreme ease. While I was sweating all over the carpeted floor (gross, but it is their fault for having carpet) they hardly had to even glance at the instructor to know what was coming next. And this is the first thing that concerns me about Pure Barre workouts.
In a nutshell: as you become fitter, the amount of improvement drops as you approach your genetic limits.
When an unfit individual begins a training program, their fitness level improves quite rapidly. But as they continue to do that workout and become fitter, the returns they get from that workout diminish. In a nutshell: as you become fitter, the amount of improvement drops as you approach your genetic limits.
You can think of it like this: as your fitness levels increase, you need to do more work to continue to make gains. When I am designing a training program for someone I coach, I keep in mind that my client’s fitness levels will not continue to improve at the same rate as they become fitter and fitter. I need to continually challenge them by increasing the length of the workout, the intensity of the workout, the speed, the resistance, the distance, or any number of other variables.
The reason I bring this up is that the Pure Barre classes are a set length (45-50 minutes), the weights only go so high (five pounds for the dumbbells and two for the ankle/wrist weights), and there was only one choice of resistance band available. So although the class kicked my butt (and I do mean my butt) this time, I could see myself plateauing in the not-too-distant future. To continue to improve I would need to sneak in heavier weights, tougher resistance bands, or do back to back classes.
Critique #2: Functional Movement
My other concern with Pure Barre workouts is their lack of functional movement. For the same reason that I am not a fan of increasing your flexibility beyond the range that is necessary to move and keep moving through this world, I am not a fan of perfecting movements that are so out of the norm that they serve no practical purpose.
Doing a full squat movement is something that I encourage everyone to do on a daily basis. This is due to the fact that we humans will always want to be able to pick objects up off the ground, get down to the eye level with a child or animal, or simply get ourselves on and off the floor. On the other hand, the squatting that we were practicing in these Pure Barre classes were aesthetically pleasing but functionally incompatible with everyday life. How many times per day do you squat halfway down, stop and pulse twice, pop your heels off the ground, and come back again?
The squatting that we were practicing in the Pure Barre classes were aesthetically pleasing but functionally incompatible with everyday life.
Now, as someone who has been seen doing bicep curls—speaking of not particularly functional movements—I get the idea that sometimes we do an exercise simply for vanity’s sake. I know that a pull-up works my biceps pretty darn well at the same time as maintaining the important ability to lift my own body mass up and out of danger, but damn if I don’t appreciate the way my arms look when I am done with a bicep curl complex. So, I won’t harp on this point too much. I will just encourage anyone who is doing Pure Barre more than once a week to ensure they are getting some good functional movement outside of the class. The same way that I make sure to do a few pull-ups every time I pass under the bar in my office doorway.
Too Much Sitting
After my first class, I had the opportunity to pick the instructor’s brain and I brought up the fact that we spent a lot more time working the legs, hips, and glutes than any other body parts. She explained to me that each instructor has a slightly different variation of the basic Pure Barre exercises that they put together on their own. She went on to say that she has moved her focus to the lower body due to popular demand. I found this of particular interest and I am torn as to why.
Part of me thinks that this demand was likely due the notion that 99% of Pure Barre attendees are women who generally shy away from upper body exercises (apologies to those of you who don’t), whether because it’s human instinct to avoid things we aren’t immediately good at or if it is because of the irrational fear of “bulking up” that many women seem to have.
The other part of me hopes that this demand is because of the growing body of knowledge around the fact that we spend far too much time sitting these days, which is leading to an epidemic or weak hips, glutes, and legs. Giving that part of the body some serious attention at least a couple times per week, for 30-40 minutes, is certainly a move in the right direction.
In the end, I guess it doesn’t matter which reason spurred the change, the end result is that Pure Barre workouts, at least at this location, are helping to keep the good people of Kitsilano’s lower bodies mobile and strong.
My Pure Barre Conclusion
I enjoyed the workout, got pretty stiff and sore, and was forced out of my comfort zone—so I consider that to be a huge win. Unlike some of the other gym fads out there that seem a little repetitious and simple (Orangetheory and BODYPUMP, I am looking at you), Pure Barre engaged new muscle groups, challenged my coordination, my balance, my memory, my listening skills, and poked at some neuromuscular connections that had been on vacation since that Zumba class I took in 2011.
While I wouldn’t suggest that anyone rely solely on Pure Barre for all their exercise needs (for the reasons I listed and more), I believe in the value of throwing your body a curve ball every once in a while and for a guy who primarily lifts, runs, swims, and cycles, this was certainly a curveball. One that opened my mind and my hips!
For more barre info, glute tips, and to join the pure conversation, head over to Facebook.com/GetFitGuy or twitter.com/getfitguy. Also don’t forget to subscribe to the Get-Fit Guy podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play or via RSSopens XML file .
About the Author
Brock Armstrong was the host of the Get-Fit Guy podcast between 2017 and 2021. He is a certified AFLCA Group Fitness Leader with a designation in Portable Equipment, NCCP and CAC Triathlon Coach, and a TnT certified run coach. He is also on the board of advisors for the Primal Health Coach Institute and a guest faculty member of the Human Potential Institute.