Its less than 15 minutes into my first ever Bar Method class and my legs are wobbling like Bambis you know, if Bambi had short legs and you were watching in fast forward. I marvel how my thighs transform from precarious wobble to aggressive shake, and try every Jedi mind trick in my repertoire to make them stop.
Its as much a mental game, says Carolyn Williams, owner of the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»chapter of the California-cool practice, when later we touch on the challenge of doing grand pliés on tip-toe and holding them for-bloody-ever. As an instructor Im always trying to figure out what to say to you to make you squat down one more inch without dropping your heels.
Can you promise me that my legs will look like Anna Kournikovas? That would keep me up there, I suggest.
But leaner, she replies, with what I swear is the glint of truth in her eye.
The clean little Bar Method studio blinks down on busy Beatty Street but walk in and you immediately encounter a feeling of tranquility. The change rooms rival those of lovely spas complete with towel service, and the room where you practise is bright and impeccably clean. Whoever cleans the floor-to-ceiling mirrors is fastidious. Ive heard people complain that wall-to-wall carpet isnt hygienic in a space that will see this much sweat but it looks, and more importantly smells, very fresh. I wish Id remembered to bring my Jogi yoga socks, which Id never use in the Bikrams class they were intended for but would be perfect to keep from slipping around here.
There isnt a single man in my class, though Im told there are a few confident sorts who do brave the experience. Originally I suspected that their absence had to do with the ballet reference inherent in the name Bar Method. (The Americans who started the practice didnt bless their cotton socks adhere to its correct spelling: barre.) Now Im convinced that guys come once and never come back because theyre not instantly awesome at it.
Guys work hard, though, because theyre so determined to get it, says Williams, a toned wisp of a thing herself. Ive been doing it since 2007 and I still shake like a leaf. I cant do more than four classes a week.
So its completely normal to feel like your legs are bleeding? I ask.
If youre actually going to spend an hour exercising, do something. Make it count, Williams counters. Words to remember as you move slowly through the core routine. Although no two Bar Method classes will ever be exactly the same, you can always count on a gruelling core workout.
Im not speaking in hyperbole. No matter your fitness level, Bar Method will be a grind, and heres why: Each class integrates interval training, isometrics, and dance conditioning into one non-stop hour of exertion.
Translated, this means that for one full hour youll be fat burning, aerobicising, stretching, and strength training, the latter using a method where your joint angle and muscle length do not change during contraction tiny, ridiculously effective moves. Commit to a program like this and your entire body will be up for physical reconsideration. It could be a life changer.
I get so excited for people to try it because its such a killer workout, Williams gushes, and also lets it slip that shes opening a second studio in West Vancouver. For $100 new clients can come as many times as they want for a month.
Two classes a week for $12.50 a class beats drop-in rates at even the most economical yoga studios around the city, and certainly would be enough time to see if Bar Method grabs you, which it will.
Stick with it and it will grab your upper legs and squeeze them two sizes smaller. It will latch onto your triceps and breathe fire through them. It will attach itself to your transversus abdomininis and take no prisoners.
Four days after my Bar Method class I was still feeling it. And it felt good.
