Brea Getting Fit

I absolutely LOVE barre workouts, if you haven’t noticed. I was blessed enough to get to try Carrie’s new Pure Barre workout these past few weeks, and decided that it’s time to write my first review. I have done Pershing Square 1 about 5 times now, and my legs WILL NOT stop shaking!! I am SO very thankful that I’ve been doing her first workout, Pure Barre: Ballet, Dance & Pilates Fusion, prior to attempting her second. Just when I thought that my legs were getting stronger, Carrie proves me wrong. I really enjoyed the total-body warm-up in this workout, which incorporated knee lifts, push ups, tricep dips and even some ab work. Then it’s on to a KILLER thigh segment. I am SO not kidding about that. It’s torture, but in a good way. And Carrie is sweet enough to remind us that “if your legs are shaking, that means that they’re changing their shape”. RIGHT. It just hurts. Carrie leads you through 3 separate thigh sequences, 1 using her playground ball, one in 2nd position and one in 1st. All three of the segments are painful, well executed and just long enough (or short enough, depending on your mood). From thighs, you move to seat work, which also starts with the ball (necessary for this workout), and is AGAIN KILLER! My toosh was SO VERY SORE!! You start at the barre and move to the floor…the barre was similar to Bar Method…the floor made Squeeze Stronger look kind. My legs were shaking so bad that the neighbor probably thought there was an earthquake. The DVD ends with ab work, which is pretty similar to the previous DVD, with the exception of the ball. I enjoyed this workout for something different, and I (not surprisingly) really enjoyed the work with the ball. If I could change two things, one would be more upper body work. I did some bicep and shoulder work from Stronger and Bar Method to finish off my workout. The other change I would make is to have a designated modifier. While Carrie verbally tells you how to modify, there is no actual demonstration. I did enjoy the long stretch at the end. My poor muscles REALLY needed it. This is a great workout, but definitely not for those that are faint of heart. If you are worried about production quality, the girls are all wearing black pants, but the studio is bright and white, which makes for easy identification of the movements. The DVD also has a section on form, which is definitely worth checking out if you’re new to the method. The workout is definitely a keeper, but you may want to build some strength by doing Carries first workout, Pure Barre: Ballet, Dance & Pilates Fusion a bit.