Barre

I was introduced to the Lotte Berk Method when I took a class at my local gym.  I was a little skeptical at first, I had heard about how it could change a woman's body.  I thought to myself, "how could doing some small movements really change a woman's body?"   After all, I am a product of the 80s, when a workout consisted of sweating out to Jane Fonda aerobic VHS tapes in your leotards and leg warmers. The instructor called it core fusion.   She was the same instructor who introduced me to the WillPower and Grace Method.  She is an awesome teacher and I am sure it was because of her that I fell in love with it.  Unfortunately it was only offered a couple of times at my gym, and I wanted more.  Then I found a new studio called the Pure Barre Method.  I realized that the more I took the class the harder it got.  I was never one of those women that liked to do group exercising, but something about the barre classes is addictive. 

For those of you who don’t know what the Lotte Berk Method is, it is an exercise method that originated in London almost 50 years ago by a famous German dancer,  Lotte Burke.  Lotte got the idea for this exercise method after she hurt her back.  She wanted to fuse her ballet training with rehab exercises.  It was her hope that these exercises would strengthen the spine and the core.  But what her devotees noticed is how beautiful their bodies were becoming.  Word began to spread and soon her London classes were attended by movie stars and stage performers and dancers.  One of her most famous disciples was Lydia Bach.   

 It was Lydia who bought the rights to the Lotte Berk Method and opened her first studio in the U.S. in 1971, which was a big year in other ways (my birth!), but I digress.   Lydia incorporated strength, endurance, cardio, body sculpting, weight loss, and flexibility into her program.  The end goal was to develop a dancer’s body.   To find out more on the birth of this method, please go to http://www.lotteberkmethod.net.

I mentioned earlier that I just started taking the barre method and I thought that it was my first exposure to the Lotte Berk Method.  After doing some research I realized that I was actually first introduced to the Lotte Berk Method when I was in college.  A sorority friend had a VHS called Callanetics, which we all used to do together.  I do remember liking the exercises, and this was back in the day when I did not really exercise.  Apparently, the creator of Callanetics was  Callan Pinckney, who studied under Lotter Berk in London.    Callan Pinckney had scoliosis and other back issues, under Lotte Berk's tutelage Callan was able to relieve her back pain.  After a year of studying under Lotte Berk, Callan return to the states and  put her own personal spin on the Lotte Berk method and the callanetics was born.

 I have noticed changes in my body, my arms and thighs show definition since I started the Barre Method.   Since I started my weightloss journey over 20 years ago, I have never seen my body change so much in such a short period of time.  After all those boring years on treadmills and stair masters and seeing no results I finally found something that I could see my body getting leaner.  I have been hooked ever since. 

So for my legion of  readers, all two of you, I highly suggest trying a class out.   You will be pleasantly surprised.