lining up to the barre or "down an inch, up an inch!"

happy 1st day of spring! (though outside feels like its autumn now -two days of continuous  grey skies and rainy drizzle here in new york...)

we all want to look beautiful after long winter and may be bring in some sports and physical activity in our lives as we approach the warm seasons...

 and what girl would not dream about ballerina's body- lean legs, amazing posture, strong core and arms, graceful movements...  in the search of this shape we are lining up at the barre at ballet-based workout studios or classes in chain gyms (which are plenty in new york). 

Source: wabisabi-style.blogspot.com via Elvina on Pinterest

 i went to core fusion class yesterday  at exhale spa, an hour- long, intense class that "fuses" pilates,  Lotte Berk method, yoga, barre workout and orthopedic stretching and claims to produce "long, lean muscles and a strong, flexible, youthful body".  

getting ready...

the class overall focused on four body parts — arms, abdomen, gluteal muscles and thighs.  we started with a quick warm up and proceeded with arm exercises- push ups and light-weight lifts followed by arm stretches. then we were off to the barre. we did various exercises targeting thighs and butt- very precise and small movements (requiring proper alignment), that specifically tone the muscles without adding mass.  squats in a grand plié position with raised heels, were so intense that they  made my muscles shake and burn within minutes.  next we were working on core, which was also very intense and today i feel all my abdominal muscles.  we finished off with a great deal of stretching again. 

and music  during class was fantastic- high tempo soundtracks definitely kept us going. 

great class, not that sweaty, would be going there quite often, one minus- it is expensive :(