A 15-Minute Beginner Barre Workout to Improve Posture and Build Core Strength

First, let's clear up one common misconception about barre: It's ‌not‌ a dance workout.

Yes, it includes ballet-based strength exercises (as well as elements of Pilates and yoga). You will hear words like "plié" and "relevé." And it was developed by Lotte Berk, a dancer who sought to rehabilitate her body after struggling with a spinal injury.

But despite barre's connections to dance, it's not about performing. You don't need a dance background or a sense of rhythm to try it. In fact, anyone who wants to build muscle, strengthen their core, improve their posture or switch up their current resistance training program can benefit from barre workouts — even if they have two left feet.

Programmed by Lauren George‌,‌ CPT, fitness instructor, educator and founder of Lauren George Fitness, the following barre workout contains six movements that, when performed together, deliver a low-impact, full-body workout. Set aside about 15 minutes to cycle through the series twice, resting for 30 seconds after each exercise.

You'll need a chair and enough space to move your arms and legs. Wear comfortable clothes and kick off your shoes, but keep your socks on.

There's more than one reason barre appeals to strength-training newbies who find the weight room intimidating ‌and‌ seasoned gym-goers seeking a change of pace: It's fun, challenging and offers a ton of health and fitness-related benefits.

Barre is a muscular endurance workout, according to George. "That means it's typically a higher rep, lower weight workout. We're using the principle of increasing time under tension [the amount of time a muscle is under strain] to help the muscles get to the point of fatigue where they break down and build back stronger," she says.

This makes barre an ideal workout for someone who wants to gain strength and enough muscle mass to create visible definition but not necessarily maximize hypertrophy (muscle growth), like traditional weightlifting and bodybuilding.

Proper barre form emphasizes good posture, and many common barre exercises target the muscles that allow you to stand up straight and maintain alignment as you move.

"You work a ton of muscles that are really important for good posture, like your upper back, your middle back and your core," George says.

With barre, you don't need to lift ‌and‌ do additional core exercises — they're built right into the workout.

"Barre is a great way to improve your core strength. Not only do you do core exercises on the ground in barre, but also the movements that you do standing in the middle of the room and at the barre all require dynamic stabilization of the core. That's because so many of [the movements] require balance work," George says.

After your first few barre classes, you may be sore in places you didn't know you could be sore, George warns. "You work so many of those small stabilizer muscles we don't use a lot in our everyday life," she says.

By targeting these muscles and creating more stability in your body, you can move more efficiently and potentially reduce your risk of injury.

Most barre exercises are low-impact, which means they're well-suited for people who don't want to place a lot of stress on their joints. "But that doesn't mean they're easy," George says. "They can be high-intensity or challenging and still be low-impact."

We spend most of our time in the sagittal plane, moving forward and backward. "We sit, we walk, we run, even cycling is a forward and backward motion. We don't go side to side a ton," George says.

In barre, your feet are often turned out, and many of the exercises are lateral. "So, it's a fabulous way to cross-train," George says, and build strength in different planes of motion.