30-Minute Barre Workout At Home
This dynamic barre workout at home blends strength training, classic barre moves and high-intensity intervals in one effective fusion-style workout. Strengthen your core, sculpt your glutes and legs and improve flexibility through low-impact, ballet-inspired movements. Perfect for all fitness levels, including beginners, busy moms and anyone craving a studio-quality barre class without leaving home.
You may know me as a strength-training instructor now, but I spent years teaching barre classes at local boutique studios here in Minnesota.
Barre, or ballet barre, is a spin on traditional ballet-inspired exercises. Barre fitness typically pulls from strength training, HIIT cardio, yoga and pilates workouts as well. I personally fell in love with barre when I was pregnant and postpartum because it was such a great low-impact way to build strength and sweat without causing joint pain.
Traditionally, barre is performed in a boutique studio with a literal ballet bar. However, you don’t need any specialized equipment for my at-home barre workouts. A light set of dumbbells will assist in sculpting every muscle in your body, but you can always perform these barre exercises with just your bodyweight if you don’t have equipment available or you’re a beginner.
My HIIT barre workouts combine traditional aspects of barre (small, targeted movements to strengthen stabilizing muscles) with dynamic exercises (large, total body exercises to increase intensity and heart rate). This fusion-style type of workout is an excellent way to get the benefits of multiple different types of training within one workout without leaving your home.
Although barre is commonly marketed as a way to “tone” muscles, its benefits are much more functional:
- Improved Joint Health: Small, controlled isometric exercises target the stabilizing muscles around your hips, core and shoulders. This helps protect your joints and supports better alignment in everyday movement.
- Core Strength and Stability: Barre workouts deeply engage your core muscles to build strength and stability. Over time, this can improve your posture, balance and overall body control.
- Increased Flexibility and Mobility: Each exercise guides your muscles and joints through a full range of motion, enhancing flexibility and mobility while reducing your risk of injury.
Workout Details
Skip the boutique barre studio membership – this guided full-body barre workout brings the Pure Barre and Physique 57 experience straight to your living room.
A full body sculpt, strength, cardio and abs workout targeting every muscle group in the body: the lower body (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, and thighs), upper body (biceps, triceps, back, shoulders, and chest) and core.
I recommend adding barre cardio workouts like this one to your home workout plan 1-2 times per week to build and maintain strength. Alternatively, follow along with this 2-Week Barre Workout Program.
Workout Equipment
Yoga mat and optional light weights. I suggest 2-15 lb weights. I’m using 5-15 lb hand weights in this workout video.
If you don’t have light weights, you can substitute filled water bottles or soup cans. Alternatively, you can perform this barre burn with just your bodyweight/no equipment.
Workout Instructions
Follow along with the guided full-length Power Barre Workout on my YouTube Channel, led by me — your personal trainer and certified barre instructor, Lindsey Bomgren.
Your Workout Looks Like This:
- Structured Barre Class At Home (including a warm-up, multiple series of barre sequences and guided cool-down)
- 9 Power Barre Exercises (targeting the entire body)
- Natural Flow (moving from one move to the next in a guided cardio barre sequence)
Note: Today’s workout is an updated version of one of my original barre workouts. I re-filmed this workout to improve the audio and video quality and share some new moves and beginner modifications. If you try both, I’d love to know which version is your favorite!
Workout Outline
Screenshot or Pin This Workout:
1. Down Dog Leg Lift
Targets: Shoulders, triceps, glutes, hamstrings, abs and core.
How to Do a Down Dog Leg Lift
- Start in a tabletop position (quadruped) on all fours; shoulders stacked over wrists and hips stacked over knees.
- As you exhale, lift your knees off the mat and straighten your legs as you press your hips up towards the ceiling to find downward-facing dog pose. Press evenly through your fingers, pushing your chest towards your thighs.
- Hold this down dog position, then squeeze your right glutes to lift your right leg, aiming to keep your right leg straight and toes pointed.
- Slowly and with control, lower your right toes to tap the ground, returning to the starting position.
2. Low Lunge Step-In
Targets: Quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves and core.
How to Do a Low Lunge Step-In
- Start standing in a staggered stance, feet hip-width apart, with your left foot slightly in front of your right foot. Option to prop your dumbbells up and lightly place your fingertips on them for additional balance support.
- Hinge your torso forward, then step your right leg back into a low lunge, lowering your hips until both knees are bent at approximately 90-degree angles.
- While maintaining this hinged-forward lunge position, bring your back (right) foot forward to tap the front foot, keeping the front knee bent and engaging your core.
Modification: If lunges hurt your knees, substitute one of these lunge/squat alternatives.
3. Rear Leg Lift
Targets: Glutes (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus) and core.
How to Do a Rear Leg Lift (Arabesque)
- Start standing on your left leg. With a soft bend in your left knee, hinge forward. Option to prop your dumbbells up and lightly place your fingertips on them for additional balance support.
- Extend your right leg behind you, leg straight and toes pointed. Keep both hips square to the ground.
- Squeeze your glute to lift your right leg, performing a leg lift. Keep a soft bend in your standing knee.
- Slowly and with control, lower your right toes to the ground.
4. Chair Squat and Bicep Curl
Targets: Legs, glutes, quads, inner thighs, biceps, abs and core muscles.
How to Do a Chair Squat and Bicep Curl
- Start in a narrow squat position, feet slightly more narrow than hip-width apart. Hold your dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in towards your body (narrow grip).
- Bend your knees to lower your hips into a chair squat. As you sit your hips back, curl the dumbbells towards your shoulders, rotating your hands so your palms are facing in towards your body at the top of the curl.
- Press through your heels to stand tall, lowering the dumbbells back to your sides and returning to the starting position.
5. Side Leg Lift
Targets: Gluteus maximus (the largest glute muscles), gluteus medius (side butt muscles or outer glute muscles), inner thighs, outer thighs, obliques and core.
How to Do a Side Leg Lift
- Start standing, feet hip-distance apart. Shift your weight into your right foot, slightly bending your right knee. Option to hold dumbbells at your chest.
- Brace your core, then squeeze your outer glute to lift your left leg out towards the left. Left toes are pointed. Range of motion is less important than core stability and muscle engagement.
- Then, with control, lower back down, tapping your left toes on the mat to return to starting position.
6. Squat and Tricep Kickback
Targets: Legs (quads, glutes and hamstrings) and triceps brachii.
How to Do a Squat and Tricep Kickback
- Start standing, feet shoulder-width apart, slight bend in both knees. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing in towards your body (narrow grip), elbows bent at a 90-degree angle.
- Bend your knees and press your hips back, performing a squat. As you sit back, straighten your elbows, squeezing the back of your arm to extend the dumbbells away from your body.
- With control, reverse the motion, bending your elbows to return dumbbells to your sides as you stand tall.
7. First Position and Overhead Tricep Extension
Targets: The long head of the triceps and all the stabilizing muscles in the shoulders, core, glutes and lower back muscles.
How to Do a First Position and Overhead Tricep Extension
- Start standing in first position, heels together, toes out in a “V” shape.
- Hold one dumbbell or two light dumbbells vertically overhead and activate your core by squeezing your glutes and abs to protect your lower back.
- Bend your elbows to a 90-degree angle, bringing the dumbbell(s) behind your head. Think ‘hide the dumbbell, show the dumbbell’ if you were watching yourself in a mirror. Keep your elbows close to your ears throughout the entire movement.
8. Pliè Squat and Lateral Shoulder Raise
Targets: Glutes, quads, hamstrings, inner thighs (adductor muscles), shoulders, upper back and core.
How to Do a Pliè Squat and Lateral Shoulder Raise
- Find second position by stepping 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. Tuck your tailbone (anterior pelvic tilt) to engage your core.
- Hold a pair of light weights in your hands in front of your hips, palms facing in towards your body.
- Engage your core as you lift the dumbbell in your right hand out towards your right side, keeping a slight bend in the elbow. Lift the dumbbell just to shoulder height. As you raise the dumbbell, pop your right heel off the ground, performing a calf raise on the right.
9. Pilates 100s
Targets: Deep core muscles (transverse abdominis), lower abdominal muscles and rectus abdominis muscles.
How to Do a Pilates Hundred Exercise
- Start sitting on the floor with your legs bent at 90 degrees. Lean back slightly, sitting on your sit bones (two sitting bones and tailbone), keeping a nice long spine, shoulders down and back.
- Place your hands behind your knees and lift your feet off the ground. Option to bend knees (beginner) or straighten legs (advanced).
- Then straighten your arms, extending them out at shoulder height, palms facing down. Pulse your arms up and down 2-3 inches, while holding this position (pilates hundreds or boat pose).
FREE 2-WEEK PROGRAM
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Combine strength training, barre pilates, and daily step goals in a well-rounded 2-week workout plan. Download the FREE challenge here.
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FAQs
Is 30 minutes of barre enough?
Yes, a well-designed barre class will build strength and endurance, burn calories and improve confidence in just 30 minutes. Shorter workouts are often easier to stick to and fit into a busy schedule, which leads to greater consistency and lasting results.
What are the six basic exercises performed in barre?
Although each barre instructor will have their own preferences, the six basic barre exercises are plié, leg extension, passé, relevé, arabesque and attitude. These movements are often derived from ballet but adapted for fitness, and target every muscle in the body.
Is barre a good workout for losing weight?
Barre exercises burn calories and build strength in a variety of different muscle groups, such as the legs, core and back. If your goal is weight loss, I recommend combining barre exercises with strength training, cardio (such as in the viral 3-2-8 workout routine) and a high-protein meal plan.
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4 comments
I love your workouts thanks for posting them!
Hi Jody! So glad you’re loving the workouts! Thanks for giving them a try! -Lindsey
What a great workout! This had me sweating after the warmup.
Tracy! I’m so glad you loved this workout, thanks for giving it a try! -Lindsey