If you’re shopping around for a new workout to sink your teeth into, you may have heard about – or even tried – barre workouts. Combining elements of Pilates, ballet, and yoga, barre blew up the fitness scene a few years ago, and it still seems to be going strong. But before you dish out a hefty amount of cash for a monthly subscription (it ain’t cheap!), you might want to listen up to the information we’ve gathered about the connection between barre and weight loss.
“Barre workouts do contribute to weight loss because you are breaking down muscle and building strength within every section of class.”
Although the main purpose of working out isn’t necessarily to lose weight, if you’re on a weight-loss journey, you want to opt in for workouts that will help you reach your goals in the most efficient way. POPSUGAR spoke to Adrienne Richmond, Pure Barre owner in San Francisco, CA, who said, “Barre workouts do contribute to weight loss because you are breaking down muscle and building strength within every section of class.”
The point in a barre class is to “work your muscle to fatigue,” and then that muscle “requires energy to rebuild.” In order to give your muscles the energy to build back up, Adrienne says your body has to “burn carbohydrates and break down fat stores,” which can contribute to weight loss. “The most important thing is not how many calories you burn in class, but about how you are setting your body up to work more efficiently.” However, there aren’t any studies out there (yet, anyway) showing that barre has this kind of effect on the body long after the class has ended.
Personal trainer Liz Letchford, MS, ATC, agrees that barre workouts certainly have their benefits. “Barre is programmed to maximize the strength of stabilizing muscles and emphasizing balance,” she told POPSUGAR. “Is it the quickest or most functional way to meet your body composition goals? Probably not.”
“I would not recommend barre as the main strategy to lose weight.”
If you’re only doing barre workouts, you won’t “increase your metabolic rate” in the same way that a strength training program is proven to provide, according to Liz. Barre is great, but she highly recommends mixing it up with other forms of fitness, like weight lifting and “a cardiovascular training program – cycling, running, swimming, rowing – to…
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