Barre3, Total Body Lift Workout

This 40 minute "fitness fusion" workout combines ballet, pilates and yoga. Sadie Lincoln places equal emphasis on balance, strength and flexibility during the workout making it super effective! You'll quickly tighten and tone the body all while improving on the other two qualities.

The set is open and nice. The music was fitting for the workout. The production was provided by ExerciseTV.

Beginning with a few deep breaths to warm you up, you'll then move into wide plie. Sadie then adds arm movements to further increase the heart rate. A few gentle stretches for the lower body prepare it for the main workout that follows. A few more plies with side stretch arms. Sadie concludes with a few head rolls before moving into leg work. You'll start with plies performed on your toes in small ranges of motion using tiny pulses. Next you'll sink the left heel down, turn to that side into a lunge position (carousel horse is what Sadie calls this position). You will perform these lunges, also on your toes, slow & controlled for reps before repeating to the right side. Tough stuff! Walk heels together, then move toes out and drop knees over toes. Then you'll press your heels tight and drop down and up in this different variation of a plie. Next bring feet together, parallel, lift up onto toes, bend knees, drop down then go 3/4 the way back up--keep repeating this sequence. Chair pose and hold. Sadie then performs a standing quad stretch to both sides. Working the back of legs (hamstrings) in standing is next. The left leg will angle out to the diagonal and you'll perform tiny lifts. Now bending the knee of both legs, you'll bend and lengthen the working leg. (the non working leg is also working hard as you are supporting yourself on that one leg during the exercises) This sequence is great for balance, a great two-for-one move! Sadie then has you take a seat to perform an effective hip stretch. Upper body is next so grab your hand weights if you are using them. You'll begin with a rear fly bent over and then add on, eventually finishing standing pulsing the arms back. A chest fly follows. Small pulsing shoulder presses are next. A neat variation follows where you a pretending to be pulling the weights down instead of pushing them up. Sadie always gives great technique tips, such as "pretend you are pulling on a cable" or "pretend two people are behind you and you are nudging them back" (this is another exercise to work the rear delts). The next move works the biceps and instead of traditional curls you'll extend the arm out long to perform the curl. The last move works the triceps. You will reach both arms long behind you and then bend/straighten the arms. You'll then finish with a few upper body stretches before moving on. Mat work with the ball is next. Placing the ball between your knees, you'll slowly lower back to the floor. Feet will be in the V-shape on the floor. Hamstrings/glutes will be worked with glutes tucks/squeezes. (you'll squeeze the ball with every lift) Put ball between ankles, feet still on floor. Glute lifts again. You'll perform these movements in various ranges. To take it up a notch, Sadie places her feet on top of the ball. You'll then again perform the glute lift sequence. Bring feet to either side of the ball to hold it and bring knees to chest to release. Core work is next. Placing ball underneath lower back area, you'll lift both legs up in air and then while keeping abs engaged alternate lowering one leg then the other. Next you'll do this same move but with a bent knee into chest (like a bicycle), again performed slowly. Come to sitting and lean back against the ball, extending legs. You'll then drop back and lift up. The move is very small but you will feel it! Sadie performs various reps and then adds a twist to this to work the obliques (side of the waist). Quick recovery, hugging knees to chest. Next you will perform a pilates rollup, still ball at small of back. Next you will get rid of the ball and perform a plank. Child's pose with a stretch follows. Next, on your knees, you'll perform a modified back bend. Lunge to stretch legs, adding a side bend to stretch the side body. Staff pose into one legged forward fold. Repeat other side. Come to balls of feet and roll into a standing forward fold. Rise to standing to complete the class.

This was a thorough, well thought out workout. You get lower body, upper body and core conditioning and flexibility/balance training all in one workout. For those that like Barre/Pilates workouts, this one is a keeper!

Instructor Comments:
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DeniseR

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)

I have taken the class twice. Basically my usual workout is "away" for the next 2 weeks. I am totally impressed with this teacher. First off, the movements are slow with many reps so I can keep up unlike some videos that are way too fast for me. Next, Sadie is a great personality. She seems like yogi, ballet dancer, pilates instructor and girl next door all rolled into one. You rock Sadie! The moves are so subtle that they can be done without stress and strain. No kidding though, my legs did shake, as did hers during a particular hold. I like the sit-ups with lower back support using a towel or ball. Instead of worrying about my back, the support let me concentrate on the actual exercise. Sophisticated stuff, Sadie! I LOVE the free weight section. It seems like every muscle is activated. Worth noting, she gives lots of time for stretching and recovery. It is the perfect wake-up session for me. Which is great because she does say at the end to "enjoy your day" as if this should done be the first thing in the morning. I can't say enough great things about this class. Namaste!

lavon