A few months ago, I was chatting to a friend and discussing what type of workouts we were doing. She told me that she had started going to The Bar Method quite a lot, and that she loved it. “Alice, it burns but it’s awesome and you’ll fall in love with it.” – umm, with a statement like that, who wouldn’t give it a try! When I lived in San Francisco, I had heard about The Bar Method but never got to do a workout there. I did some research and found that there was a Bar Method studio in Salt Lake City, lucky me!
The Bar Method Salt Lake City
The Bar Method Salt Lake City is located in Sugarhouse with it’s own parking lot, which is really convenient given how busy Sugarhouse can get. The main class offered at The Bar Method is called ‘Mixed Methods’ and is offered at a variety of different times during the day. I went along to one of Braden’s Mixed Methods class at 6pm; I was so excited, I would finally get to see what all the hype was about and experience it for myself!
What the workout is like
Before starting class, you are encouraged to hang onto this wall (can’t remember the exact name) as it helps to Class starts with a warmup (which feels more like the actual workout lol) and then moves straight into some arm work, leg work and some ab work to finish off. In order to ensure that you are doing the movements with the correct form, the instructor will call on you and make adjustments. Braden was a fantastic teacher and all of his modifications made a huge difference to how the exercise felt. The movements that you do are all slow and controlled, which makes it a low intensity class that is easy on your joints, but they really make your muscles burn. You repeat the movements for a high amount of repetitions before taking a much needed short rest. I have to say that I found the leg work the hardest, with many of the moves making my whole body shake. The workout was unlike anything I had done before, and did a fantastic job of tightening everything up. The next day, my abs felt amazing; so tight and sucked in.
Honestly Fitness Approved!
Although I typically involve a higher intensity and circuit style workout, I loved this class. It challenged me in a new way and engaged my muscles in a new way (along with some I had not truly challenged before). I think The Bar Method is a wonderful complement to any fitness regimen and is a great way to give your joints a break (especially if you’re an avid runner).
I ‘m so happy I finally got to experience The Bar Method, and now I know that going to a class is absolutely worth it. They have a great new client special where you get 30 days of unlimited workouts for only $99, so I would recommend you get that for the best results (The Bar Method recommends going 3-5 times a week for best results). Have any of you tried The Bar Method?
Honestly yours,
Alice
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Disclaimer: I was given the opportunity for a 30 day free trial at The Bar Method but was not financially compensated.
4 Comments
I’ve tried a bunch of bar and barre-based workouts. The Bar Method is one of the better ones. Most bar workouts suffer from a few bad instructions that actually encourage kinetic disfunction (e.g. “tuck, tuck, tuck!”). Since the vast majority of people today sit during the day, we have tendencies to (1) flatten or reverse the lumbar curve; (2) have tight hips due to shortened hip flexor muscles (they are in contraction all day); and (3) round through the shoulders/upper back (from looking at computers, phones, and reading all day). It’s unfortunate that some bar programs exacerbate these problems by encouraging more lumbar flattening (which supports keeping tight hips, and so on down the line).
The Bar Method instructors in Berkeley are super nice, and give great pointers and alignment tips. The only exercises I strongly question are those on the mat/wall that flatten the lumbar curve. There are other ways to work the abs and core muscles that don’t reinforce poor postural habits.
Interesting insight, Bain, and thank you for sharing! I think it’s really important for people to be aware of, and especially those who would not realise how detrimental it is to flatten the lumbar curve.
It is great to hear that the instructors in Berkeley are nice; the ones in Salt Lake City are great as well.
I’ve never tried barre before! It looks great!
It was really fun and challenging! x