Exercise had never really been my thing. I went to the gym in college and in my 20s while living in the city. I went more because it was what young people did. You worked out here and there, and joked over beers or ice creams that you’d burned enough calories that week.
I tried yoga in my 30s, and while I enjoyed the relaxation, I much preferred being at home and unwinding when my kids went to bed. And then there was my brief running stint, which was cut short after the track was torn down across the street. I tried running throughout the neighborhood a few times, but it just wasn’t my thing.
I am proud to say that I finally found my thing. It is more than exercise. It is as much a mental challenge as it is physical. That thing, my thing, is barre.
Initially, when I won a package of barre classes at a school fundraiser, my friends (who are avid exercisers) were surprised I had even entered the raffle. They knew my track record. They told me, “It’s an amazing and hard workout.” I shrugged my shoulders, clueless about the format of barre, and made some joke about hoping to survive the classes.
When I first walked into the studio two summers ago, I was filled with nervous and excited energy. The instructor welcomed me and brought me over to a spot beside her, front and center. She demonstrated the first word in what would become part of a new language: how to “tuck.” Throughout that first 50-minute class, I watched and listened intently, trying my best to follow along with what the instructor and the room full of women were doing with their bodies. I left exhilarated, my body sore and ready to come back for more.
After my PTA winnings ran out, I signed up for a membership. I wanted to keep challenging myself. I wanted to invest in a fitness routine. I wanted to make time to feel my body come alive.
Barre is my thing because of how different it is from any other type of exercise I have tried. It involves movements that activate the entire body. From my inner thighs shaking to my core pulsing to my arm muscles burning, John Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good” has taken on a literal meaning.
The different class formats each have their own conditioning focus of cardio, strength training, and toning. There is a range of exercises we do with weights, sliders, resistance tubes and bands, platforms, balls, and, of course, the barre.
I enjoy looking at myself in the mirror and seeing my body stretch to its limits. I enjoy hearing the instructors say my name when I am doing something well, and I appreciate when the instructors reangle my body to correct what I am doing.
I am here to learn and continually improve. And I love that my kids can see my passion and persistence. One morning this summer, my son, clad in his baseball gear, said to me, clad in my barre gear, “Mom, you look stronger.”
