Lava Barre

I have found a sparkling silver lining to the fact that I can't run as much anymore.

My world has been opened up to so many other exercise options that I never knew existed. 

I used to think girls who went to the "girly" exercise classes weren't real athletes. I thought you weren't hard core unless you were a runner. 

Oh how wrong I was. 

These classes are crazy hard. I've tried various abs, lower body, and weights classes at my gym, along with yoga (my ultimate love), and pilates. 

The girls decked out in lululemon gear and make-up seriously kick my ass.

So I've decided there is more to life and more to being fit than just running. And I've really enjoyed trying all the different avenues and working muscles I never knew I had. 

The latest class I wanted to try is called a "barre" class. These classes are gaining popularity all over, and my pilates instructor friend from UVA, Lauren, works at a studio that has the class. I'd heard from great athletes that these classes were what ultimately changed their body so I was curious to check out what it was. 

My gym doesn't offer it because it involves a ballet barre and well, Gold's doesn't have one. So I went to Lauren's studio in Clarendon.

I didn't want to be the weirdo taking pictures in class so these are all I got. But it was a cute little studio with mats and a barre along the perimeter.

We started with pushups and planks in the middle of the room to "warm up" (really?) and quickly moved to the barre for the majority of the class. It was a very high-paced routine of lifting your legs at different angles in different motions a thousand times each to work every square centimeter of each muscle from your abs and down. We ended the class back in the middle with free weights for arms.

It was a great workout, I was beautifully sore for the next couple of days. It reminded me again that you  really don't need much equipment to get a good workout. All of this could be done with a chair.

Downfall? Expensive.

Maybe when I meet my rich husband...