Friday’s Food and Fitness: Physique 57 & Barre Classes

Hello all! Happy Friday! How have you been!? I missed you yesterday! Recently I’ve done a lot of thinking about my blog and the direction I want it to take. Currently I do not have a real schedule or any reoccurring posts, I kind of just decide what I want to write about and make an editorial plan based on that. While there is something to be said for this method, I think a little more structure might actually be a good thing. So today, I’m proud to introduce a new reoccurring series called Food and Fitness Friday! In this post I’ll recap my meals and fitness for the week and maybe include some other fun food and fitness related topics (which will necessarily begin with the letter “F”. I kid.). So read on to find out what’s been tickling my palete and kicking my booty.

FOOD

Since I decided on this series approximately two days ago, I do not have a lot in the way of food to show you. That combined with the fact that we have houseguests, are flying out on Saturday and I have not been sleeping for more than a few hours a night (don’t get me started) leaves me with very little in the way of food this week. But here are a few of the stars of the week:

This quinoa dish with maple chicken sausage, apples, almonds and craisins I discovered on Iowa Girl Eats.

Another Iowa Girl Eats recipe is this awesome Autumn Salad full of apples and bacon and other goodness!

This omega-3 tartine from Le Pain Quotiden I had for lunch. It has avocado, hemp seed, chickpeas, toasted seeds, baby greens and organic cold-pressed colza oil. I think a home re-creation is in order.

And finally, this veggie and fruit plate I had at an event this week that I’ll tell you all about next week!

FITNESS

By complete coincidence, my introductory post for Friday Food and Fitness is all about the barre. If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know that I LOVE barre classes. And if you read my Target Practice on Tuesday, you’ll know that I was back at Physique 57 this week for some barre classes. This was a huge deal because 1.) I had to put a hold on barre classes while my elbow was healing; and 2.) I ranked Physique 57 as my favorite barre class in NYC (that’s a whole lotta love). This post is a spotlight on Physique 57 and barre classes in general.

What is a Barre Class?

So what is Physique 57 and what is a barre class? Well, a barre class is basically a full-body workout that focuses on toning, strengthening and lengthening your body.  While it is not focused on cardio, your heart rate will get up and there is a cardiovascular benefit.  In a barre class you can expect to work with lighter weights or no weights and perform a high number of reps.  It’s all about fatiguing the muscles into a tight, toned body!

Physique 57 Classes

My schedule this week looked like this:

Monday: Physique 57 Intermediate

Tuesday: Physique 57 Cardio

Wednesday: Physique 57 Intermediate

Thursday: Physique 57 Mat

Friday: Physique 57 Formula

The Intermediate class is a more challenging version of the traditional P57 class. You start with a light warm-up, move to weights and upper body, then on to thighs and seat, abs and core and then finally stretch. Intermediate is considered more challenging because you do more repetitions, combine upper and lower body movements and take more difficult movement options (for example, perform the same movement in releve or on your toes rather than on a flat foot).

Physique Cardio is the newest P57 addition. I did a full review here in case you are interested but basically it’s focused heavily on using your legs and your arms simultaneously to keep your heart rate up. You also do a lot of pushups and planks but you don’t use any weights. When I had originally reviewed it I had noted that it was not as difficult as an intermediate or advanced class. I take that back. This was one of my favorites all week! Major calories burned- 533 for the hour!

Physique Mat is similar to a Pilates class but with a Physique twist. Everything is done in the center of the room, as opposed to at the barre. Most of the exercises are performed while lying or kneeling, although you do stand in a few instances. There are some Pilates-inspired moves in addition to some traditional Physique moves. You do use weights to make the moves harder (think weighted ab moves or light weights in the crook of the knee while pulsing the leg, etc.).

Formula 57 is a kind of hybrid class. It’s more advanced than a traditional mixed level class and it fuses traditional Physique 57 with Physique Mat. What makes it so challenging is the fact that it is non-stop-no rest for those muscles!

How Can I Try This?

I know a lot of you are not in the NYC or Beverly Hills area, but don’t fret! There are plenty more ways to experience barre classes!

· Physique 57 has not one but TWO DVD sets for at-home use. Click here to buy on Amazon (affiliate link). And if Physique is not your thing, I’ve ranked the best of the best in at-home barre DVDs, check that out here!

· Physique 57 has online classes available for you to do in your own home!! Click here to check our my review.

· Want to try something other than Physique 57? Here is my list of the best barre fitness studios! (Hint: A lot of these studios have locations around the US and the World!).

· Not near any of these studios but still want to try barre classes? FusionFitness offers an online barre class, reviewed here, and Barre3 has the MOST online classes available. I’ll be reviewing Barre3 very soon if you are interested! 🙂

· And finally, for all you cheap people out there, I’ve uploaded several barre videos you can do for FREE! Check ’em out on my channel or see some below!

So you literally have NO EXCUSES not to give this a try! See you at the barre! 🙂

Readers, what do you think of this new reoccurring post series? Have you tried a barre class before? What did you eat this week?