Pure Barre Is The Best Thing Ever — But Nearly Impossible To Explain

Okay, fellow Pure Barre addicts: Can you relate to the following scenario?

You fall in love with Pure Barre. It becomes this strange, unexpected addiction, but one you’re totally okay with because, well, it’s healthy and makes your body look awesome. Plus, your studio’s great and the instructors and other clients are super nice. So initially you buy the new client special and then follow up with the regularly priced unlimited membership. (Yikes! It’s expensive, but you love it so much you just can’t say no.)

At this point, you’re 100% a Pure Barre convert. You live in yoga pants, you know what “LTB” means, and your day doesn’t feel quite right until you’ve had your 55-minute PB fix. If you have a significant other, he’s probably a little baffled by the whole thing, but is supportive because he sees how much you’re digging it. (And, again, your body’s looking awesome. Which he’s very okay with.)

Now comes the hard part: describing this workout to your friends who haven’t tried Pure Barre for themselves. Seriously — how exactly do you put this into words?

In the past, I’ve said that it’s kind of like “a combination of yoga, ballet, and Pilates.” But that doesn’t feel quite right. Your heart rate is up the whole time, but you don’t get especially sweaty. You work on a barre (like ballet) for a portion of the class, but I don’t think having done ballet would really prepare you for Pure Barre at all. You focus on making the tiniest movements possible, and yet it’s crazy hard. There aren’t levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) so everyone’s in the same class together regardless of how long they’ve been taking Pure Barre, and yet somehow instead of getting easier the workouts get HARDER. (They do! I swear. It’s the weirdest thing.)

None of these statements make sense to someone who’s not part of the Pure Barre inner circle.

When I think about it, though, that’s part of what makes Pure Barre great: it’s completely its own thing. You honestly have to try it to fully get it. Samantha from Forever Twenty-Somethings published a post recently about “100 Thoughts I Have During Pure Barre.” I laughed the whole way through the post, because I can absolutely relate to just about everything she listed. (Honestly, it was refreshing to learn that I’m not alone in some of those thoughts. Thanks for that, Samantha!) But for someone who had never taken a Pure Barre class? Completely irrelevant. They wouldn’t have enjoyed the post a bit. It’s just for us Pure Barrians (?).

What I’m saying, basically, is that if you haven’t tried Pure Barre yet, you probably should, just so you know what it’s all about. (Come on — you know you’re intrigued, right?) It might not be for you, but more often than not the opposite is true. You’re likely to get hooked quickly (like I did and like and so many other girls did) and before you know it Pure Barre will be your favorite workout. Part of your lifestyle. Part of your social circle. Perhaps part of your identity, in a way. (What girl doesn’t want to work to develop a long, lean, dancer-like body, after all? I never took ballet but sure do want to look as much like a ballerina as possible. Pure Barre helps me achieve that, and so I’m a big advocate for the Pure Barre brand and all it stands for.)

Any gals in Winston-Salem who are interested in trying a class, please let me know and we can coordinate a time to go together. Things like this are always so much easier when you have a buddy, and I’d love to show you the Pure Barre ropes. (Note: There are no ropes involved, but there are weights, balls, mats, and single and double tubes. Oh, the double tubes!)