And on the second day, our founder created BariMICRO. Now Bari’s signature sculpting class, MICRO is for us nut jobs who are left wanting more after MACRO’s strengthening portion is over. You won’t be winded after this class. Sweaty? Sure. Tired? Absolutely, positively. Sore the next day? HECK yes.

But MICRO isn’t a cardio class. Its purpose is not to make you slide across the floor in your own sweat (okay, we’ve done that once or twice during a super sweaty scorpion series). Its purpose is to tire the living youknowwhat out of your muscles. Its purpose is to tone every inch of your body. I mean this literally - ev-er-y inch. You’re getting all you bargained for and more, soldier. Chin up, and let’s get to work sculpting your top abs, side abs, bottom abs, inner abs and butt abs. I’m kidding. There’s no such thing as butt abs, but you do have a MILLION* secret little different ab muscles up in there, and somehow your MICRO trainer will find a way to pinpoint, work and exhaust all of them.

*This may not be accurate.

And the torture (stop complaining, it doesn’t count as torture if it’s self-inflicted and making you look like a goddess) doesn’t stop with your abs. Bari trainers design these exercises to tap every dormant muscle on the shoulder and shout, “HELLO?! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IN HERE ALL THESE YEARS?” Unless the excuse is a Game of Thrones marathon, we can’t justify such extended inactivity. And since there’s about zero chance your hamstrings have been watching Game of Thrones, they have no reason not to get to work.

So, what exactly happens in a BariMICRO class? Your trainer will lead the class through a strategic series of exercises; each group of exercises will work a different part of the body. Trainers employ different training apparatus to tone, sculpt and strengthen. Even if you’re not familiar with our method at Bari, if you’ve been reading our blog, you’ve certainly heard us reference our beloved (interpret that with sarcasm or without) skimmers, ceiling bands and weights. But let’s break down what these tools are, and how Bari trainers use them.

Literally designed to make me cry, Skimmers are thin foam pads that, when placed under the balls of your feet, allow you to slide your sneakers across the floor. These bad boys allow for movement that destabilizes the body in order to stress and condition the core. They take any average Joe of a plank, push up or squat and ramp up the intensity, demanding the core to remain still. Which translates into abs, abs and MORE ABS.

Bari trainers use 2, 3, 5 and 8 pound weights in fluid, dynamic motions. You’ll see bicep and tricep curls as well as many more innovative moves. Trainers use these lighter weights because many of the movements require unstable extensions of the forearms; Alexandra, Bari’s founder, discovered that this is the best type of movement for carving the many long, beautiful muscles of the arms. So, if MICRO is your first class, my one word of advice is don’t try to be a badass and start with the 5 pounders.

My absolute favorite part of MICRO is the band work. Used for upward and angled resistance, the ceiling of each Bari studio is outfitted with sets of two different strengths of bands for different types of exercise. Trainers use the weaker bands as a stabling mechanism for balancing series that work the lower legs; the tighter bands supplement the weights portion, positioning each student far away from the base of the band to increase the tension in resistance arm work.

You can see that there are many pieces to the BariMICRO puzzle. We’re not talking about vanilla toning here. You’ll never see a hundred chest presses or tricep curls in a class. While you are dedicating your whole hour at Bari to toning and strengthening your body, you won’t get bored (and if you do, you’re cheating). Even though the exercises are familiar enough for you to observe your progress from class to class, “bland” is filed under “words that don’t exist in our vocabulary” right next to “impossible.”

MICRO requires a totally different type of effort than MACRO. In a MICRO class, you don’t learn moves and put together a sequence. Leave your jumping jacks and your fist-pumps at the door (so everyone in the lobby can have some fun). You’ll need serious determination to finish your reps, absolute resolution to keep going no matter what and willpower to keep away the rationalizations and mental bargaining that if you stop mid-set, you promise to just eat one less cookie tonight (this is one of my favorites).

But, don’t take this the wrong way. Even though you won’t be doing floor cardio, the method at Bari always provides you with creative ways to keep your heart rate up (seriously, this is one of the main topics of trainer lame hot gossip). So don’t expect to be able to slack off or skip your post-class shower. Like, ever.

At the end of class, there’ll be as much sweat on your forehead from resolve as there will be on the rest of your body from physical effort. Just like MACRO, you’ll leave the classroom feeling on top of the world. You may just spend your subway ride home casually flexing whenever possible to show off your kick-ass muscles to businessmen and small children alike (yes, I am guilty of this one).

But be warned: Inflated feelings of invincibility are an almost inevitable by-product of MICRO. You might think that you could take the group of construction workers cat-calling you in a fistfight, hail a cab by catching it with your bare hands, crush coal into diamonds, or carry home five full bags of groceries from Whole Foods by yourself. None of these are good ideas (even if double-bagged). But we hope you have the sense to keep it modest in front of all the non-Triber weaklings.

On a closing note, the summer is more than halfway over (cue my crazed panic for going back to school), and I feel like a Triber more than ever. Even though I still never know where the trash can is in Tribeca (next to the water, Clare, next to the damn water). My latest progress? I have proudly transitioned from 2 pound all the way up to 3 pound weights (it’s the little things, amiright?).

I’ll see you next time when we’ll jump into BariBOUNCE.

Stay sweaty, Tribers.

First there was BariMACRO. This half-cardio, half-toning maverick was born with the inception of Bari, and it was the launching pad for the many exciting turns our method has since taken. It was the best of times; it was the Bari-est of times.

MACRO was my first ever Bari experience, and I was immediately hooked — kind of like the head-over-heels girl on a first date in a bad rom-com. Also like this girl, I was super awkward (I may or may not have dropped my 2 lb. weights due to excess sweat) and had no idea what I was doing. Still, I left feeling excited for our future together (yep, that would be me & BariMACRO). But I’m not talking babies and white picket fences; I’m talking ABS (!).

Like all Bari classes, the trainer begins MACRO with a dynamic warm-up, which involves a flowing sequence of stretches (nothing static here; we’re getting ready to work). The warm-up transitions right into the sensory cardio portion of class.

You might ask, what does Bari’s sensory cardio look like? Should I be prepared to channel my inner diva with booty shakes and fast, fancy footwork? Should I be prepared to do a billion jumping jacks? Never fear, Triber. That’s not what you’re in for. Last time we checked, this is not military training, and there’s no way we could ever compete with last weekend’s dance floor brilliance, so we won’t even try. Bari’s sensory cardio is both high spirited and tough as nails, but it’s also creative, highly varied and athletic.

Tried-and-true old-school moves like jumping jacks, squats, lunges and high kicks flirt with dance-based movements as they are linked together into coordinated cardio sequences. Don’t let the dance element deter you; Bari calls heavily on plyometrics and bodyweight exercises in its mission to move your tired feet to every corner of the room.

I’ve self-diagnosed myself as a victim of selective (cardio) ADD because I usually can’t stay engaged long enough for the workout to have an impact. For me, cardio has always been like driving — miserable, because I have to pay enough attention so I don’t crash into the person (or mailbox) next to me, but not engaging enough to keep me fully entertained (I don’t have all seven Harry Potters on tape just because I’m a nerd).

This is to say that I completely expected to find that cardio at Bari “wasn’t for me” (code that my mom taught me to describe things I hate). But my first MACRO class — after which I found myself coping with alien feelings of simultaneous satisfaction and exhaustion — proved me wrong.

Sensory cardio is Triber-lingo for cardio that you can’t check out of. This means that the trainer won’t baby you through moves. At Bari, you’ve got to pay attention and stay engaged; this workout is for your grey matter, too. And this ‘sensory’ element delivers on its promise. This was the first workout ever to challenge and stimulate me like this. Ultimately, this heightened level of investment forced me to stay present and engaged in my workout.

For those who have not yet ventured into the world of BariMACRO (what are you waiting for?), let me break it down for you. Like a PB&Nutella (because let’s be honest, once you discover that pairing, you never go back to PB&J), MACRO is the natural, beautiful melding of two perfect halves: cardio and strengthening. After working hard to raise the heart rate in floor cardio, the body is loose and primed to strengthen. As the initial exhilaration from the high-energy, fist-pumping (literally) cardio starts to wear off, I am always ready to buckle right down into Bari’s notorious muscle-sculpting series.

While you’ll become familiar with the sequences featured in the sensory cardio portion of class, you’ll notice a lot of variation in the toning portion from class to class. From skimmers, to scorpion series, to bandwork — your Bari smorgasbord of muscle torture will never fail to surprise you. And no matter the approach or mixture of devices, your trainer will use those 30 minutes to methodically exhaust all the muscles in your body with repetitive, targeted movements. All the strengthening exercises focus on using the smaller muscles to move the bigger muscles so you tone, rather than bulk. You can expect to feel the burn in your arms, abs, butt, quads, hamstrings, and also some surprise muscles that you never knew existed.

Moral of the story: MACRO is the most refreshing part of your day, gets easier as you work at it and makes you feel like a champ when you’re done. Kind of like a keg stand (you former fratstar, you). Stay engaged and you’ll replace that beer belly for a sexy Bari belly. Deal? Deal. You’ll leave the studio feeling elated, empowered and ready to kick some ass, whether on the beer pong table or elsewhere.

Tune in next time for the low down (see what I did there? Low Down?) on MICRO.

Stay sweaty, Tribers.