New Trend: Sculpt Your Body With the Bar Method

A new workout class is a little ballet, a little yoga, and a lot of burning muscles.

May 11, 2015

Natalie Schack,

Photo: Courtesy of The Bar Method

The latest workout to hit Honolulu incorporates elements of yoga, ballet and dance conditioning to sculpt your body into that of a lithe dancer. We gave it a twirl.

Incorporating the ballet “barre” (the handrail ballerinas use during practices) into fitness routines is part of a new dance-obsessed trend. At the forefront of that trend is The Bar Method, a California-based studio with high design and certification standards that emphasizes muscle sculpting, targeting the muscles that play the biggest role in overall body shape. (Psst: Drew Barrymore and Kristen Bell are fans.) The routines incorporate weights and props in a series of high-speed interval training and stretching.

We took ballet when we were 6, so this would be no biggie, right? How wrong we were. At our first session, there was a lot of sweat, for sure, but there was even more shaking. That’s right, while the spurts of cardio gave our stamina time to recover, our muscles weren’t so lucky. The instructors aren’t kidding when they say there’s a lot of strength training and, if you’ve been neglecting your calves, they’ll be burning within minutes. The tiniest movements—think tiptoeing over and over—turn on the fire when you add weights, repetition and speed.

This isn’t Swan Lake. While the class incorporates dance conditioning, the focus is making a work of art out of your body—not out of the moves. Repetition of simple, challenging movements is the name of this game, so if you have visions of pirouetting across the room, ditch those at the door.

Get ready to be sore. We’re not sure if we burned as many calories as we would have bopping to tunes at a Zumba class, but our muscles definitely ached the next day.

The Bar Method is at 2758 S. King St., and offers classes seven days a week. Call 798-8449 for info.