STYLE of SPORT | Gear & Apparel Curated for the Stylish Sports Enthusiast

BALLET BODY(TM) BARRE

Barre3, The Bar Method, Pure Barre are just a few of the countless barre fitness studios across the country. Barre classes are very popular sculpt and tone workouts that integrate small isometric movements designed to work muscles to fatigue. Ballet Body(TM) Barre is a very different kind of barre workout.

Developed by former ballerina Roberta Senn, Ballet Body(TM) Barre follows the format of traditional barre classes ballerinas have taken for years to maintain their long and lean physiques and develop the strength required to perform at the highest level. The result is what Senn calls “the most beautiful bodies on the planet.”

Senn was discovered by Jerome Robbins on her very first audition after moving to New York City, who cast her in the original production of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway in 1964. She left the production a year later to pursue dancing in a ballet company, and spent many years abroad with the Geneva Ballet, Israel Ballet, and Iranian National Ballet (disbanded after the Islamic revolution of 1979). Read More

WEEK 2 OF 52 WEEKS OF FITNESS:

PILATES MEETS STRENGTH TRAINING AT VAURA PILATES, TOP; RE/GEN METHOD, BOTTOM

 
According to ClassPass, Pilates was the most popular workout of 2023, overtaking strength training as the number one choice of fitness enthusiasts. There are countless Pilates fitness studios across the country — many of which we have featured like SLT, SolidCore, Club Pilates, and Lagree Fitness – with classes on a Pilates reformer machine or a variation thereof. All are slightly different, but at their core is core – core strength that is.

A few new studios have popped up on the fitness landscape like Vaura Pilates and Re/Gen Method that combine the popularity and benefits of Pilates and strength training into one workout. It’s a new approach to Pilates and a new approach to strength training. Though there is an emphasis on core work, core strength alone is not the end goal. Maintaining your stability and form on the Reformer as you slide the platform and pull the straps against the resistance of the spring makes Pilates classes a total body workout. These new classes add weights into the mix for added difficulty and results.

Vaura Pilates is a new Australian import that just opened in NYC, and I took their first class opening day. Billed as an “athletic” Reformer class, Vaura mixes dumbbells, a weighted ball, and the traditional Pilates ring into moves on the Reformer. Every class is different and each teacher encorporates the equipment in their own way. My instructor, for example, integrated upper body dumbbell moves like bicep curls, triceps extensions, and shoulder presses into lower body moves like lunges and squats on the Reformer. Read More

 
It’s a match! adidas Training and Bumble have unveiled a partnership to tackle gymtimidation, a barrier to training which can impact athletes at all-levels.

To better understand next-gen training attitudes, a study was commissioned by adidas on the effects of intimidation in the gym that found nearly one-in-three have avoided the gym completely as a result. The driving factors include fear of being judged, not being confident in how machinery works, uncertainty on how to push to the next level, and no one to workout with.

When looking at ways to combat these feelings, seven-in-ten say a gym partner helps overcome feelings of discomfort and intimidation, with six-in-ten likely to be more motivated, and half even going more often. Read More

 
Summer traffic and you’ve been stuck in the car for hours. The best way to unwind – literally – when you finally arrive is with a few stretches. If you’re Stacey Griffith, famed Master Soul Cycle instructor AND co-founder of the athletic apparel brand, LOVE & SPORTS, you make it into a mini workout too. All you need is a set of elastic bands.

Check out Stacey’s High Five feel good moves you can do anywhere to loosen up and energize after a long drive. Do each 5 times. Now you’re ready to rock the weekend!
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CLOCKWISE TOP LEFT: TRUFUSION, HOTWORX, WHITFIT NYC,

MELT HOUSE OF FITNESS (2)

 
Hot Pilates, Hot HIIT, Hot Barre… While hot yoga has been popular for quite some time, other hot workouts have popped up on the fitness landscape. Many hot yoga studios have added these new classes to their schedules, finding that those who enjoy yoga in a heated room like other hot workouts as well. New state-of-the-art, infrared heated studios have also opened specifically designed for all kinds of hot classes.

Hot studio temperatures range from 90 to 108 degrees, with varying levels of humidity depending on whether they are heated with blown HVAC air or infrared heat. Among the benefits of the heat are increased flexibility, greater exertion, and higher calorie burn. Because of how much you sweat, hot classes are detoxifying for the body, and can help promote relaxation and reduce stress.

But these same benefits can also be dangerous if one is not careful. Some of the risks of hot workouts, according to Maria Restrepo, CPT at FitDominium, are dehydration and overexertion that can cause dizziness, nausea, headache, and, in severe cases, heatstroke. It is critical to stay hydrated before, during, and after a hot fitness class. Participants need to be cautious and listen to their bodies, stopping or modifying exercises as needed. Read More