Get the boutique barre class experience at home with this 15-Minute Barre Workout! Six traditional barre exercises with a high intensity cardio kick to tone, strengthen and raise your heart rate.
This barre workout was created to bring the boutique Physique 57 and Pure Barre class experience to your home. You don’t even need a ballet barre (although you can always add a countertop or a chair to assist with balance if needed)!
Traditional barre workouts are done in a barre studio with a ballet barre for stability and focus on small, deliberate muscle movements. When I create my online barre workouts, I adapt them to bring this boutique studio experience to your home without a barre (barre-less barre).
I also add my own personal style of mixing in large, compound movements to raise your heart rate while building strength. Think barre meets pilates, yoga sculpt and strength training all in one full body workout.
What type of workout is barre?
Barre is inspired by traditional ballet moves; but also pulls from yoga and pilates exercises.
Barre focuses on low-impact, high-intensity movements designed to strengthen the core and tone common “trouble areas” like the thighs, glutes, arms and triceps. Ultimately, building tone, lean muscles.
It’s relatively low-impact workout, kind on joints and accessible to all fitness levels.
Is barre a good workout?
Barre might be out of your comfort zone, especially if you’re more used to our heavy strength training and HIIT workouts. But don’t let that deter you from giving it a try!
Barre workouts are challenging for our bodies in a different way than traditional strength training. Fatiguing each muscle group through small, targeted movements (hello plié pulses), high repetitions, and lighter weights (or just bodyweight).
Bonus: the small, targeted movements found in barre workouts are great for building deep core strength and strengthening the stabilizing muscles around our joints.
Benefits of Barre Workouts:
Build Muscle Endurance. Using bodyweight or lighter weights and higher repetitions is great for building muscle endurance, which will assist you in your other workouts (SELF Magazine).
Increase Balance, Flexibility, Posture and Range of Motion. Barre is known to strengthen and lengthen your muscles. This increases flexibility and range of motion, which will also carry over into other exercises and is essential to injury prevention.
Target the Abs, Core and Pelvic Floor. Barre workouts require constant core engagement. I always suggest barre workouts as a great pregnancy workout, as well as postpartum workout.
Tone Your Entire Body with a Low Impact Workout. Barre is kind on joints and great cross training for runners.
Avoid Fitness Plateaus. Mixing up your fitness routine with barre at home is a great way to avoid fitness and weight loss plateaus.
15-Minute Barre Workout (Full Body Strength + Toning)
A quick and effective barre workout that hits the legs, thighs, glutes, arms, shoulders, back, triceps, core and abs — all in JUST 15 minutes!
Combining traditional barre moves with low impact cardio for a full body burn.
Workout Equipment:
Optional light to medium dumbbells, wrist weights or hand weights. I suggest 2-5 lbs.
Or you can do this barre workout with just your bodyweight.
I’ll be your barre instructor for the day, coaching you through the entire barre fitness class and providing form cues.
Alternatively, work through the six barre exercises below at your own pace.
The Workout Looks Like This:
6 Full Body Barre Exercises
~60 Seconds Per Exercise, flowing from one move to the next in a natural sequence (around 10-12 reps per exercise).
Repeat x2 Sets (alternating sides as needed)
15-Minute Barre Workout (Full Body Burn)
Flow from one move to the next, performing each exercise for approximately one minute (or 12 reps per exercise). Then repeat, performing each move on the opposite side as needed.
How to a Narrow Squat, Bicep Curl and Front Leg Lift:
Start in a narrow staggered squat position. Feet are under hips, with 80% of your weight in your left foot, 20% in your right toes. Hold your dumbbells at your sides, palms facing out away from your body.
Lower your hips down into a squat, curling your dumbbells up towards your shoulders as you sit back.
Press through your heels to stand tall, lowering your dumbbells back to your sides.
Brace your core, and lift your right foot in front of you, keeping a generous bend in your right knee. Aim to get your thigh parallel to the mat.
Then, return your right toes to the mat and repeat.
2. Balance Wide Back Row and Rear Leg Lift
Target Muscles: Glutes, hamstrings, upper back, shoulders, abs and core.
How to do a Balance Wide Back Row and Rear Leg Lift:
Start in a staggered position, left foot in front of right. Think about having your feet on “two railroad tracks” rather than stacked in one line.
Hinge at your hips to bring your torso to a 45 degree angle to the mat. Hold your dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in towards your body.
Squeeze your right glutes to lift your left heel up behind you. At the same time, squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull the dumbbells towards your chest, elbows out at 90 degree angles, performing a back row.
With control, lower the dumbbells and your right leg back to starting position.
Start in a staggered stance, feet under hips, 80% of your weight in your left foot and 20% in your right toes. Hold your dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in towards your body.
Step your right foot back into a reverse lunge, aiming for a 90 degree angle in both knees. As you lunge, lift your dumbbells out in front of you, raising the dumbbells to shoulder height (front raise).
Press through your left heel to return to standing position, lowering the dumbbells as you raise.
Then, raise your left foot in front of you, keeping a generous bend in your left knee.
With control, return to starting position.
4. First Position Squat and Single Arm Overhead Tricep Extension
Target Muscles: Outer glutes, inner thighs, top of thighs (quads), back of the arms (triceps), shoulders and core.
How to do a First Position Squat and Single Arm Overhead Tricep Extension:
Start standing in first position, heels together, toes out in a “V” shape.
Hold your left dumbbell straight overhead and your right dumbbell at your chest.
Softly bend your knees, pressing your knees out towards your toes to lower into a shallow first position squat.
As you lower into a squat, bend your left elbow to “hide” the dumbbell behind your head, performing a single arm overhead tricep extension.
Then, pull your thighs together to stand tall, extending your left arm overhead at the same time.
5. Weighted Plié + Toe Stand Jumps (Second Position to First Position)
Start in second position. Step wide, heels in, toes facing out towards the corners of the room. Imagine your back is pressed against a wall. Slide your back down the wall, lowering into a wide “squat” position. Hold both dumbbells at your chest.
Pull your thighs together as you jump in to the center of your mat, landing softly in first position (heels together).
Then, hop back out to second position.
Modification: Option to step from second position to first position instead of jump.
6. Push Up and Balance Side Plank
Target Mucsles: Chest, shoulders, triceps, obliques, abs and core.
How to do a Push Up and Balance Side Plank:
Start in a high plank position – shoulders over wrists, core engaged, one long line from your head through your heels.
Lower through a push up, elbows falling back towards your body (if you’re looking at yourself from an overhead angle, your elbows should form an “A” shape rather than a “T” shape away from your body”
Press back up to high plank position.
Then, pull your right arm up and over your body, opening up to your right as your arms expand in a “T” shape.
Return the dumbbell to the mat, ending in a high plank position.
Modification: Option to perform push ups from an incline (placing hands on a chair or counter top to bring the ground closer). Or perform push ups on knees and rotate to knee-down side plank.
