It's hard to know what to rate when I'm choosing these stars for something other than a food…read moreestablishment. For Pure Barre, I tried it for the first time today and have to say that I was very impressed with the studio. It's clean, and the shop in the front has a lot of fun headbands, hair ties, and workout wear. I didn't shop around to check out the prices, as I'm not in the market for anything, but there were definitely a lot of option.
The owner and staff are so friendly and helpful. I had made a reservation for the noon class, arrived a few minutes early, filled out my form, and it was time to step inside. The warmup is intense! One of my friends told me that the warmup is pretty serious, and she wasn't joking. It was the only time we really worked on arms or with the hand weights, though. All of the other parts of the 55 minutes were spent targeting tummy, seat (butt), and thighs. And that whole lift. tone. burn. motto? Yup! You do all of the above. I could feel the burn the entire time, and even with the teensy movements we were supposed to make it was amazing the amount I felt it in every part I was supposed to.
The instructor knew what she was doing. She demonstrated every activity and made herself visible to everyone in the room. There was only one time in the class where I didn't understand what we were doing, but it wasn't because she wasn't showing us. Some of the movements on the ab section are so small when sitting against the wall that I just couldn't tell what I was supposed to be doing. I did learn after the class that there is an intro class offered to newbies to learn about the different terminology. To be honest though I'd rather just come to a few of these and pick it up as you go. My thighs and hips are already sore and I love it!
I wore an HRM, and in one 55 minute class I burned 290 calories. That's not to take away from what it did for my muscles and starting the journey to being more lean. I definitely will continue to go back, and I can see myself becoming addicted. It isn't a cardio workout, though there were a few times where my heart rate did elevate to a medium difficulty cardio level.
The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because of the cost, but it's something that I'll just have to swallow. It's so hard for me to pay $20 for an individual class of anything. There are packages offered for introductory members and for group packages, but it doesn't go much lower than $15-$16/class. It's a little more expensive than going to yoga, but the benefits will also be greater I believe. If it weren't so much, I could see myself going on a much more regular basis. Boutique workout classes, though, tend to be costly. You do get what you pay for with individual attention and well educated instructors.
I did learn too that every class each day will be the same, but that different days follow different formats and exercises. It makes me excited to continue seeing the different exercises that are options in Pure Barre!