Here you are, standing at the barre, barely moving a muscle yet your muscles are SCREAMING at you and you can’t wait for that 4, 3, 2, 1 RELEASE…..followed by a huge sigh of relief and quickly shaking it out…right? We have all been there! But why the heck does it burn so good? (see what I did there….burns so good, not burns so bad!)
Barre is a beast on its own level. You can take the top crossfitter, a marathon runner, even a NFL or NBA player, or anyone who is extremely fit, and they too will shake at the barre. We have a saying, “if you aren’t shaking, you aren’t changing!” So shaking is good….but why are we shaking and burning?
In Barre we are doing many tiny isometrics contractions working different muscles than your typical movements and workouts in a HIIT or Boot Camp class. In Barre we work the muscle to exhaustion, which is creating the burn….and we always want to “embrace the burn!”
Not only are we defining our muscles in barre, but we are also improving our posture, stability and muscle endurance. Standing on one leg while doing tiny bend and extends with the other leg is helping with your stability, your core strength and your mental strength! Bringing that muscle to complete exhaustion and to the point where it is shaking uncontrollably, is a sign of muscle change! Pushing through the shake or tremble is a good thing, but not an easy thing. As your instructor is (so extremely slowly) counting down from 8, close your eyes, take a deep breath and know that a change is happening soon. Check in with yourself, are your hips tucked under, shoulders back and down, back is straight, knees over ankles, etc. Doing all of these checks when you start to get tired will help pass the time and it will make sure that you are doing the exercises properly and avoid any injuries.
I will leave you with this….stay consistent…don’t stop coming to barre because you are shaking too hard, because you are sore a day later or because you think you look silly in the mirrors. If you consistently show up, and work at your highest potential, you will notice that you are getting stronger, you are able to get deeper in your stance, lift that leg 1″ higher and the shake will come later in the count reps. But most of all, I want you to know how stinkin’ proud I am of you for showing up every week and making this time for yourself!
So, look at the schedule, and come and join me at the barre so we can shake and change together!