UPDATE: I made it into the Pure Barre 100 Club! Here’s a blog post I wrote up with tips. Hope they’re helpful! Tips from a Pure Barre 100 Club Member
[Editor’s Note: I started writing this post on October 17, right after I finished my month package at Pure Barre. Then life, hurricanes,and laziness happened and I didn’t get back to it until today. The date written is noted.]
Oct. 17 – So last month, I talked a bit about a workout that I’ve gotten into over the past year called Pure Barre. I had bought an unlimited month pass and decided to challenge myself by going to three classes a week for the entire month. I began my month on September 10 and managed to keep up my goal despite long hours at work, a visit from my parents, a visit from my college roommates, and a visit back home to New York. I must say I felt a huge sense of accomplishment doing this. There were days when I had less than no time to work out but still managed to sneak a class in there. There was a day when I didn’t have time to shower after class before going into work and had to wait until my lunch break when I could get home to shower. There were days when I went 5 times in 7 days and almost had a mini-breakdown from being so exhausted and sore, but I somehow managed to do it.
So how do I feel? Did I manage to beat my inevitable battle of the bulge that I start fighting every September? I think so. I definitely give mad props to those women who do the actual “Pure Barre Challenge” – 20 classes in 30 days. When I took my last class in the package on October 10, my grand total was 15 classes & my body was tired. My results can best be summed up in two words: White jeans. My ass, love handles, and thighs responded really well to my month at Pure Barre. In fact, I will probably only ever be able to wear those jeans after a month of Pure Barre. I did start to see abs, but my eating & drinking habits during those weeks of company and work events (sooo basically every week except Week 2, lol) didn’t do me any favors. But they also didn’t hurt thanks to this workout. I totally recommend Pure Barre to anyone looking for a new work out. My only complaint is that my arms got bulky, but that has always been my problem. They may look really good and cut in person, but I was very unhappy and upset with how big they look in pictures from the past month. Oh well. If I had had more time, I would’ve been able to control some of that by doing more cardio. I know for the future.
Nov. 5 – So here I am, 3 weeks since my last Pure Barre class and my body has started to lose it’s toned look. I’ve been walking a lot over the last three weeks to take advantage of the final after-work daylight hours of the year and catch up on podcasts. I love walking. This has managed to keep my butt under control, but my hips, love handles, and stomach depress me to the point where I’ve started wearing my baggy go-to winter clothing to hide them. I can still fit into my tighter pants, but the muffin top and stomach rolls are back and they don’t look right with anything not long or loose fitting to hide it. I’ll be starting up Pure Barre classes again on Wednesday and continuing through the end of December, so I can look nice for my friend Ian’s wedding. I know that I tend to go overboard when I work out, so I’m only aiming to go twice a week this time around. Since working out is all about finding what exercise your body best reacts to, I just have to find the combination of workouts that works best for me. I’m glad that I made it through my unlimited month and am looking forward to getting back in shape over the next 7 weeks. I don’t like talking about my body insecurities publicly, but I’m going to try to do more fitness posts from here on out.
