Yesterday I was given the opportunity to try out a new to me studio (and exercise!). You all know how happy new fitness routines make this girl 🙂
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Yesterday I visited ONE PILATES Denver yoga studio. The studio is in a very industrial little section of Cherry Creek, but don’t let the area fool you. The studio itself was beautiful with afternoon sun and multiple rooms with different equipment for a variety of classes.
For my class yesterday, I choose a Pilates Barr class. Not only had I never taken a pilates class, I’d also never taken a barr class. . . but I figured when in Rome, right?
Thanks to getting off work a little early, I made it to the studio about 20 minutes before the class was set to begin — which meant I had the studio all to myself to stretch and relax. Unfortunately I forgot my mat at home, but the sweet workers at the studio graciously let me use one of their mats for no charge. {It’s the little things, right?}
Within a few minutes a nice woman walked in the room and we chatted away until all of a sudden it was 530. She was from Michigan and so of course we bonded over silly Michigan things like:
- the hand map
- the U.P
- Michigan State/ND
We got lucky yesterday and were actually the only two in the class. Talk about private lesson! Right away the instructor handed us all of our equipment, which for today’s class was:
- hand weights
- one ankle weight
- an orange medium ball
We started the Barr class with a 10-ish minute warm up. This included a lot of body weight exercises with the orange ball as resistance. What surprised me from the start was that many of the moves we were doing in the class were the same that I’ve done in Yoga, just in “sets.” So for example, we started a warm up with side bends (this half moon), but instead of doing a hold in the position, we moved in and out of the position, followed by a quick pulse.
Many of the moves were like that: 6-10 reps of a move, followed by a pulsing set.
Once we were nice and warmed up, we moved into the nitty gritty. Starting with lunges and upper body work. One of my favorite element of the class was the dynamic nature of the moves. We’d do lunges, while at the same time doing moves like hammer curls or tricep curls with our upper body. Two for one, I love it.
We finally hit the bar with about 12-15 minutes left in class, which was probably the biggest bummer for me. Because it was called a Barr class, I assumed that we would have more time at the barr. Either way, the time we spent at the bar was tough and probably my favorite section of the class. I have a {very minimal} background in ballet, so it was fun to integrate a bit of dancing into the pilates routine. Made me feel very graceful, even though I may not have looked at it.
Before I knew it, we were done with class after minimal stretching. I will say, the class flew by!
Overall
I absolutely would do another pilates class at One Pilates, especially if I were able to try one of their other class options (they have quite a few). My only complaint was after sitting in a training all day, I was craving a sweat fest . . . which is likely my own fault. I found myself a little anxious to push it a little harder, and that just wasn’t the point of this class. With that said, a quick 2 miler when I got home definitely got that out of my system, and there’s no doubt the class left me a bit sore.
I can see how doing a regular pilates practice would lengthen and lean out your body in a beautiful way — which in itself is enough to keep me interested.
I REALLY appreciate the opportunity to try out a free class at One Pilates, and would absolutely recommend it to any locals or people visiting the Denver area who enjoy a good pilates-focused work out!
Disclaimer: I was comped my class fee to try out One Pilates, but all opinions are my own.
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