Barre has been a trendy exercise that came onto the scene in the late 1950s and catapulted to its current popularity in the early 2010s, with studios like Pure Barre and Pop Physique targeting younger audiences that wanted to improve their core strength and tone their bodies. Barre has been lauded as an incredible workout, combining elements of ballet, yoga, and pilates to work on alignment, core strength, and different muscle groups.
Despite the benefits, it may be intimidating for some to get started with barre. The difficulty of the movements and exercises in barre can be intimidating enough on their own, let alone having to show your abilities - or, potentially, lack thereof - in a class full of other people. Not to mention fitting an exercise class into an already-packed schedule.
Emerging company Britsbarre may have the solution for you. Founded during the COVID-19 pandemic, Britsbarre aims to provide you with the support, tools, and classes you need to start (or continue) your barre journey from the comfort of your own home. What’s more, founder Brittany Shimansky has oriented these workouts to not only give you the benefits of barre, but to work for women with busy schedules or who are new to barre - whether you’re a new mom (like Brittany herself!) a young professional, or a barre newbie, Britsbarre is designed to work for you to help you build muscle, endurance, motivation, and confidence that is built on a foundation of inner strength and a genuine appreciation for what the human body is capable of.
Brit’s Background with Barre
Britsbarre founder and CEO, Brittany - or Brit - Shimansky, is a former professional ballerina from New York City who fell in love with barre while she was rehabbing a persistent ankle injury. As the old saying goes: “When one door closes, another one opens.” It was then that Brit decided to embark on a different fitness journey and began working at Flywheel Sports, quickly rising up in the ranks and eventually becoming one of the most highly-requested master barre instructors in all of New York City. When she earned the title of Northeast Regional Manager of Flybarre, Brit was tasked with training hundreds of barre instructors all across the United States.
In 2017, Brit left NYC for Austin, TX, where she became the Director of Training for Mod Fitness, a certified Equinox instructor, a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified personal trainer, and a pre- and postnatal certified trainer.
Britsbarre’s Beginnings
Obviously, 2020 left many of us faced with major life changes and shifts in our day-to-day, and Brit’s experience was no different. In fact, she also became a first-time mother in the middle of the pandemic.
In Brit’s case, doing barre carried her throughout her pregnancy, and it gave her the muscular endurance to physically push for three hours (unmedicated) so she could effectively deliver her daughter naturally and rehabilitate her core and body postpartum. She also began creating and sharing more short barre video clips on her Instagram account. Today, she has garnered a passionate fan base of over 12,000 followers who began requesting full-length videos.
This support and interest gave Brit the inspiration she needed to start Britsbarre. She was inspired to create an on-demand option for barre so that she could share not only her love of movement and ballet through music, but as a way to help other busy mothers, professionals, and fitness newbies get or stay in shape while being confined in their homes.
The ultimate goal of BritsBare is to leave you feeling uplifted and encouraged so you’ll look forward to pushing your limits and putting in the work to get the results you want — whatever they might be. The overall Britsbarre approach is to motivate and inspire you to put your heart and soul into becoming a healthier and stronger version of yourself and to engage in fitness from a place of joy, and to let you work out on your schedule and on your terms.
So...what is barre?
As we said earlier, barre is a form of physical exercise that combines ballet, yoga, and pilates - as well as a ballet barre (or back of a chair, stroller handle, etc.) - to create low-impact, high-intensity workout routines. Barre is designed to strengthen your muscles, improve flexibility, and help with your overall alignment and posture. In many barre classes, you will use a barre or barre equivalent as your primary equipment, but sometimes hand and ankle weights, resistance bands, free weights, sliders, and exercise balls can be incorporated into the workout to increase the difficulty and effectiveness.
What are the benefits of barre?
You don’t have to be a ballerina to reap the rewards of spending time at the barre. This low-impact, full-body workout is ideal for anyone wanting to improve their posture, flexibility, body alignment, core strength, and mind-body connection.
A good barre workout takes a holistic approach: the mindfulness of yoga, the core strength of pilates, and the strength, endurance, coordination, flexibility, and posture of ballet. Most barre classes are performed at a slow pace with high-reps, isometric holds like the relevé squat or plié, small range moves, and a warm-up and cool-down period to help prevent muscle soreness and injury.
Barre is a Complete Body Workout
Remember those isometric holds we mentioned earlier? The muscles required to pull off these moves remain contracted for an extended amount of time — which builds lean muscle. Not only that, but a good workout at the barre also demands the use of multiple muscle groups at once via engagement of your core. You’re literally using all the major muscles of the body, including the abs, glutes, arms, thighs, and posterior chain.
Barre also has the power to target smaller muscles like the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus — or, the lesser-known counterparts of the gluteus maximus muscle. While some positions and moves may look easy, looks can be - and often are - deceiving. In fact, you’ll most definitely feel muscle fatigue begin to rear its head the moment you tell yourself “this is much harder than it looked” right before the shakes kick in.
Barre Workouts are Low-Impact and Safe for Pregnant Women
Barre, pilates, and yoga are all considered low-impact exercises, meaning less stress is put on your body and joints — thus reducing your chance of getting injured. To illustrate this point, when you’re at the barre, there isn’t any leaping, jumping, or pounding like there can be with jogging, HIIT, and other aerobic movements. Additionally, barre workouts are centered around a support object (bar, counter, chair, stool, stroller, etc.) that provides support and balance. Plus, the isometric holds we keep talking about allow you to strengthen your muscles without putting physical stress on your bones and joints; in fact, it’s so safe you can do it if you’re expecting.
The American College of Obestrecians and Gynecologists (ACOG) advises pregnant women to participate in low-impact classes that offer prenatal modifications to accommodate the change in weight and balance.
Barre Workouts Improve Coordination, Balance, and Posture
Improved balance and posture create better body awareness and encourage proper alignment from your head all the way down to your toes, thanks to the intense focus and attention that is paid to the positioning of your neck, spine, shoulders, and hips. If you engage in barre workouts regularly, this increased body awareness and improved posture and balance will continue to improve even after the workout. Learning and practicing most barre moves will train your muscles to remember how to correctly hold your body and to be more mindful of your actions and surroundings in your day-to-day life.
Barre Workouts Improve Flexibility and the Mind-Body Connection
Flexibility is one of the main components for living an active and healthy life, and is one of the main focuses of a quality barre regime. Flexibility, in general, is the reference to the range of motion your joints and ligaments have. Good flexibility allows you to participate in life and daily activities, and it helps you stay mobile into your old age and during bouts of illness or injury.
Barre workouts also help train your brain to block out distractions and help hone in and focus on your mind-body connection due to the dedicated attention of a good instructor that emphasizes the importance of technique. To properly execute many of these moves, you have to have proper technique — which takes time and effort to nail down. This helps you become more in tune with your body both mentally and physically because you’re taught to be more intentional with your movements. Holding the positions can be one of the most mentally and physically challenging parts of practicing barre, but it is definitely worth the mind-body connection in the end.
What’s included with a Britsbarre membership?
Britsbarre on-demand classes are structured to build lean muscle via low impact, high-repetition sets. Each class is paired with upbeat tunes designed to motivate and inspire you to safely push your limits with moves that can be modified for any fitness and experience level. You’ll receive clear communication and demonstration to ensure you learn the proper technique and are left feeling empowered and energized.
Britsbarre On-Demand
Britsbarre’s on-demand virtual studio offers first-rate fitness instruction from home or on-the-go that incorporates intelligently design choreography that is sequenced to be modified and suitable for all levels. You’ll be granted unlimited access to stream any of the musically driven barre classes on any device, anywhere, at any time — with a new 10-50 minute workout being added each week.
With a Britsbarre membership, you’ll have unlimited access to the full video library, which includes different collections of exercises including Britsbarre Basics, Prenatal Modifications, Britsbarre Signature, Upper Body Express, Lower Body Express, Upper and Lower Body Express, Core Express, and the Britsbarre Stretch.
Membership Options
Britsbarre currently offers two membership options you can choose from. Both include a free 7-day trial and unlimited access to the entire Britsbarre video library.
Monthly Subscription
Cost: $29.99 USD ($0.99 USD per day)
Includes:
Click here to sign-up for your monthly subscription!
Yearly Subscription
Cost: $299 USD ($0.82 USD per day)
With this subscription, you save $60, or the equivalent of two months free.
Includes:
Click here to sign-up for your yearly subscription!
Is Workout Equipment Included?
While equipment is not included with a Britsbarre subscription, one of the many benefits of Britsbarre is that you don’t need any equipment to get started.
If you’re interested in equipment, Brit recommends investing in a light pair of hand weights (1-3lbs), a heavier pair of hand weights (4-6lbs), a set of ankles weights (1-3 lbs), one medium to strong resistance band, one 9-inch exercise ball, and one long resistance band as you improve and need more of a challenge.
Conclusion
Wherever you are in the world and in your workout journey, joining the Britsbarre community will instill you with the knowledge, motivation, and tools to help you establish a new kind of fitness routine. What sets Britsbarre apart from other barre classes is not only that it is taught by a professionally trained ballerina with a long track record of training hundreds of other instructors - though that helps! - but that Brit founded this company with her clients in mind. Whether you’re a young professional, new to fitness, new to motherhood, or just want to find a new routine that works for you, Britsbarre may be the program for you.
To learn more about Britsbarre and Brit’s philosophy on health, check out her Instagram or the Britsbarre website.
Moli Mishra