I have just been starting to get into a few barre workouts and was interested to try this one, as it seems to be very well-liked here on VF. I had heard it was a little bit on the easier side, but after doing Booty Barre (ouch!), I didn't mind that at all.

Instructor Sadie Lincoln teaches live on a bright set that is typical of ExerciseTV; the music is upbeat and mostly unremarkable. She uses a chair (for the barre work), light weights, and a small Pilates-type ball for this workout. Sadie begins the 5-minute warm-up in a wide plie position, slowly performing plies and gentle stretches here and then concluding the warm-up with a series of stretches targeting the hip flexors, hamstrings, and neck.

Now Sadie states that you are ready for the leg work. The first sequence includes work in a wide leg plie position (coming up to the toes), a split leg lunge (also optional on the toes), and dips with the feet parallel; this series ends with a brief thigh stretch. The second series focuses on the back body. Starting in a slightly bent over position, Sadie raises one leg back on a diagonal for small pulses, eventually changing to a bent leg lift with the option of raising to the toes on the support leg. Following this, Sadie brings you to seated on the chair for a hip stretch, and that's it--you are done with legs (about 10 minutes total).

Sadie remains in front of the chair and picks up light weights (initially, you can see that her weights say 3 lbs., but later they are only 2 lbs.) for about 4 minutes of arms work. The arms series begins with a rear delt raise that adds in a hover squat a small pulses. Next comes a standing chest fly, also with the hover squat. Sadie returns to shoulder work with small overhead presses, then reverses direction for pulls. Keeping the elbows up, she performs rear delt presses, and she finishes with small tricep presses. Although the arms work felt somewhat easy, I think that the small movements and relatively fast pace would make it difficult to go much higher in the weights (I used 3 lbs.); instead, I did this segment twice.

For the next section of the workout, Sadie goes down to the mat for pelvic tilts (also called back dancing). Here she uses the ball in three positions: between her knees, between her ankles, and under her feet. This 4.5 minute section provides a bit more work for the legs before moving on to the core work.

The core segment is the most challenging section of this workout; including the plank work at the end, it is about 10.5 minutes long and would make a great mini-workout on its own. Sadie begins here with the ball placed under her tailbone. She starts slowly lowering one straight leg at a time towards the floor, transitioning to a scissors move and then more of a bicycle pattern. For the next series, she sits up with a straight spine, the ball placed behind the back. From this position, she flexes back (using the ball for support) and then comes forward, adding side twists and a back reach to this move. Keeping the ball in the same place, the final move with the ball is more of a back extension, rolling down over the ball (somewhat similar to a Pilates roll-up) and the back up. The last exercise to work the core is an elbow plank (option to do on the knees) which Sadie holds for a decent amount of time.

The workout concludes with an approximately 5-minute stretch segment. Sadie begins in child's pose, twisting to both sides, then comes to the knees for a mild upper back backbend. Additional stretches include wide lunge and one-legged seated forward bend (adding a twist), with Sadie concluding the workout standing. The total workout time is about 39 minutes.

I really enjoyed this workout! The barre work was tougher than I had expected--it is quite short, so it goes by quickly, but the moves themselves are definitely not easy. And I absolutely LOVED the core segment; Sadie does an amazing job of targeting this area without putting any strain at all on the lower back, thanks to the addition of the ball. I look forward to using this more in the future!

Instructor Comments:
This was my first experience with Sadie, and I really liked her. Not only does she cue well, but also I kept noticing that she was giving really great tips on form--a plus for me since I am still quite new to barre workouts (although an experienced exerciser overall).

Beth C (aka toaster)