Barre Code at Barre Code, Sunnyvale

woman working out using orange prop for ab workout

Barre Code was a solid, total-body workout that felt like a ballet-inspired bootcamp. Each move isn’t difficult, it’s the small, repetitive movements that really cause a burn. This class is great for anyone interested in toning, but isn’t interested in lifting heavy weights.

CLASS: Barre Code

TRAINER: Rachel

Rachel was awesome. Her voice ranged from light and airy to drill sergeant at the right moments in class.

SWEAT: 9/10

LEVEL: Intermediate

TOP 3 TAKEAWAYS:

Ballet with an extra burn — The movements are ballet inspired, so they’re beautifully deceiving. They look effortless, but boy oh boy do they brun.
Tippy toed technique — Expect to spend quite a bit of time on your toes in this class. Sounds fun, but … holy calf burn!
The smaller the move, the bigger the burn — What struck us about this class is that the moves are all pretty small (think pulses and tucks), but the burn is big.

MUSIC: A range of club remixes of pop music from the 80’s to today was blasting through the speakers. It kept us motivated to keep moving in moments when we felt like we couldn’t.

BRING: Nada —not even shoes. You’ll be barefoot in this class.

CLASSPASS: Yes

THE WORKOUT DETAILS

As soon as class started, Rachel pumped up the tunes and asked us to step up to the barre. The class was structured in six segments: a warm up, lower body, upper body, core, cardio, and a cool down.

To get class kicked off, Rachel led us through a warm-up and before we knew it, we moved into the lower body segment of class. We did a variety of movements that included small pulses to work our thighs, glutes, and calves. One set specifically made our hips and calves feel like they were on fire: The arabesque. We stood on our tippy toes on one leg, then lifted the other leg behind us at hip level. We held the pose for about two minutes on each side, making mini-pulsing motions with the lifted leg. The burn was real.

The upper body and core sets were equally as challenging, and included arm raises, pushups, and So. Many. Crunches. Throughout class, our muscles definitely felt fatigued.

The hardest part of class (mentally and physically) was cardio. Perhaps it’s because it comes toward the end of class when our muscles have been thoroughly worked, but it was quite challenging. We made it through — with some encouragement directly from Rachel — and gave ourselves some mental high fives for completing the workout.

Overall, Barre Code was much tougher than expected. It hit our muscles in ways that other strength and core classes frankly have not.

The Barre Code | 415 N Mary Ave., Sunnyvale | 408. 721.7936 | thebarrecode.com/studio/sunnyvale/