hey, babes!

there is so much bullshit in my industry. yeah, i said it. i have long been uncomfortable with the tendency in the fitness world towards telling people how they should look, what they should want, and what their health and wellness goals should be. and too many instructors make holy grail claims that they know how to make everyone and their mother sleek, lean and cookie cutter perfect.

but true fitness is not about weight loss and dieting, intensity to the point of pain, or attaining someone else's idea of perfect.

it's about connecting to your body and feeling capable, strong, and beautiful in your own skin, which is so much more than fat vs. thin, old vs. young, pretty vs. not.

i know that bodies large and small, delicate and sturdy, round and angular can all be capable, strong and beautiful, and i know that my class can help them get there.

to that end, here are three mainstream misassumptions and how we challenge them in barrebabe world:

no pain no gain workouts are the only way

this approach comes from a worldview that assumes that life is hard and has to suck. rather, intensity should be an adjustable feature of anyone's exercise regimen based on where they're at, what they want, and how they feel that day. discomfort and challenge, like spicy peppers, are the exciting part of a workout, but they're definitely not the meat and potatoes.

imagine the difference in physiques of your average linebacker with, say, an olympic swimmer. both are athletes, both train hard and can do amazing things with speed and power. now think of what you are training for - is it explosive speed or marathon endurance? lifted, toned and smooth muscles or un-pinchable leanness? or do you train so you can feel healthy, confident, and hot in your favorite jeans? if it's the last one and it's not happening with your current exercise program, you might be going too hard for your unique body chemistry. chill out, be nice to yourself, and for chrissake respect your rest days and enjoy your uninflamed, balanced, strong & beautiful body.

its all about calories in vs. calories out

whatever. i believe in science, but i also believe that science is more complicated than this oft-repeated little equation. i don't know how many calories we burn in 45 minutes of barre, but i know that whole body workouts with relentless attention to form will burn more calories throughout the day, at rest and over time. and i don't have to measure exactly how many in order to feel the difference.

to each their own, but for me, i don't want to spend my life weighing my portions and foregoing the occasional frozen margarita to stick to the super-prescriptive diet program of some internet famous fitness model/body builder/chiropractor in order to bulk up my booty or trim down my waist.

every body is different and will respond differently to adjustments in quality, quantity and timing of food and exercise. while it's true that moving a little more and eating a little less will dramatically improve the health of many people in our country, when you are already at a healthy weight and not a total couch potato, this approach can cause unnecessary restrictions, unhealthy eating habits, ocd tendencies and other unproductive uses of your precious time and brain power.

fitness and wellness are about so much more than weight loss or gain, and i have long been a proponent of measuring what the internet calls nsv, or "non-scale victories." this means i keep my scale in a dusty corner somewhere and instead celebrate my ability to finish a set, the quality of my posture in my reflection in the screen, how i feel walking down the street in my leggings and how distracted my husband is when i wear booty shorts. these are all victories that don't require qualification of how much we should weigh or what size jeans we wear or how many carbs we eat or pounds we lift, and they certainly don't require inputting data into an app.

again, more power to you if counting and tracking and macros and supplements are your thing, but in my experience, i've been at my most sleek when i'm not thinking very hard about it and instead taking a gentler and more general approach of eating real food that i like and doing movement that i love every day.

fat is bad and unfit and unhealthy and we must not ever be fat

the fear of fat in the fitness industry has become itself a menace. yes, there is an obesity epidemic that is threatening many aspects of public health, but that doesn't mean that softer, rounder, larger bodies are necessarily any less capable, strong, beautiful or HEALTHY than small, lean, thin ones and it certainly doesn't make your average fitness trainer an expert on knowing who is healthy just by looking at them. i believe barre can help anyone reach their best body - it will help your body function as a beautiful unit and create muscles with a smooth and lifted look, no matter their size or shape.

variety is the spice of life, my dears, and training for thinness is SO 20th century. all bodies can be barrebabe bodies, amen.

anyway, babes, i love you how you are, and can't wait to move with you again.

with love & planks,

annie