Barre3

I recently received the Barre3 Total Body Lift Workout DVD.

You can see a one minute sneak peak here.

Or check out the 3 minute video on their site

The Barre3 style of workout combines three disciplines: ballet barre work, yoga, and Pilates.

The promised results include long lean muscles, postural benefits, and an overall shaping and lifting of the entire body.

My overall verdict: I liked it a lot!

After being a yoga teacher for a decade, being a student in many Pilates classes, as well as trying so many different types of workouts and fitness regimes over the years, it’s always fun to try something new and unique.

The pros: nice music, the ease of working out at home when it’s convenient for you, and the method focuses on slower-paced movements which really made me focus on what I was doing.  I could really “feel the burn” as my muscles were being worked more slowly and controlled, rather than just plowing through things with poor form, too rapidly, or on autopilot.

And of course, yoga is and has been a huge part of my life and life path and so anything that incorporates yoga is a winner for me.

The cons: Obviously this workout was fine and fun, but of course, I need to do other things, too.  We all need to mix it up, right! So it’s not really a con specific to Barre3, but I would never box myself into just one style of workout, or one type of DVD, forever.

I need to mix up my workouts.   Plus, I love the feeling of just running.

I will always love running, simply for the sake of running, while being outside in the fresh air.

Where I can run past flowers on the way to festivals.

And I can observe all of nature’s glory on my path.

Where ever that running path may be.

I will always prefer fresh air workouts to indoor workouts.

Hot, humid, freezing cold, snowing, raining, I don’t care.  I would still rather run outside than be inside!  But that’s just me.  Call me crazy. And some have when I used to run in freezing cold midwest winters!  Or scorching heat.  I just love working out outside.

Switching gears a bit…I want to thank everyone, again, who wished me a happy birthday over the past few days.  Either on my last post, on my personal Facebook page, my blog Facebook Page, on Twitter,  in text messages, in voicemails, and on email.  Whew.  I was blown away by the love, support, and friendship I felt. You all made my day.  Not kidding!  And thank you!

And thank you for your concern for me being sick.  On my birthday no less. Ugh. The razor blades in my throat and fever continue but there is not time to just lay around.   I have work to do, Skylar to watch, and Vegan Fudge to eat.

It’s no-bake, vegan, gluten free, does not taste “healthy”, and in 10 mintues, you can get your fudge on.

Questions:

1. Best thing you ate or did over the weekend?

I had a fun day at the farmer’s market taking pictures!  Thanks for the compliments on the images I posted so far, but I have tons more I am going to post.

And eating No Bake Nutella & Peanut Butter Graham Bars with Chocolate Frosting was the best thing I ate, hands down.

2. Have you tried any workout DVD’s or new-to-you style of workouts lately?  Thoughts on them?  Or have you changed what kind of workouts you’ve been doing?

I recently reviewed 3 Yoga DVD’s here

And have posted about how I Quit The Gym

I’ve mentioned that I’ve streamlined my daily workouts to be 20 minutes of Cardio + 20 minutes of at home yoga/Pilates/weightlifting moves = 40 mins daily

I also posted about Fitness Experiments – What I’ve Tried, What’s Worked, What Next which details my fitness show/competition, yoga, running, weightlifting, core work, and how I balance what I do.

3. Would you like to try the Barre3 workout?  Or have you?  Any other workouts that pique your interest?

I never jumped on the Insanity, TurboFire, P90X, or Zumba bandwagons.  But I’ve been tempted!

Have a great start to your week and if you’re just catching up on posts, here are mine since Friday:

• Birthday Girl
• Nutella & Peanut Butter Graham Bars with Chocolate Frosting
• Aruba Vacation Highlights
• Health & Beauty Mall Trip
• A First Time For Everything
• Rising Food & Grocery Prices
• Eating the Rainbow Recipes