FitnessHACK: (verb): to get the most out of your workout; to sweat with efficiency; to make every minute count; to find a better way to work out each time you step into class
(noun): one who uses mental prowess to deliver physical results; one who MacGyver’s his or her workout like a boss; one who contains a badass combination of savviness and grit (hashtags): #fitnessHACK #hacklikeaboss

New York City, a current ice and slush minefield (sidenote: enough with the puddles), wouldn’t know it, but underneath our triple layers of Luon and sweatpants are some pretty shapely legs. Your gams may be covered now, but in just a couple of months they will be parading down West Broadway in sundresses and cutoffs. (Oh, yea, I’m pulling the ‘summer’s coming’ card.)

You already know that Bari’s method is all about leaning out, toning up and sculpting every itty bitty inch. But how can you push your practice even further? How can make sure that every hour hour you spend in the classroom is delivering your best Bari body and sculpting your leanest legs? Let me hack it for you.

Kick your butt. No, not in the metaphorical sense, I want you to literally kick your butt. During floor cardio, especially, when our legs are working out at the highest impact they can, it is so easy to get tired and lose the quality of our movement. When we kick our butts, our quads lengthen out as long as they possibly can. By getting that leg to your butt, you are teaching your muscle to favor length as you tone.

Pay attention to the detail. Even when you are working another body part, like say, your tush, everything is connected and your legs are still working out. You may notice your trainer telling you to flex or point your toe. This isn’t aesthetics, my loves, this is super intentional. When you flex or point your toe in an exercise, you are working the back, front, or side of your leg. Notice the different parts of your legs that burn so good depending on the position of those twinkle toes.

Learn how to distribute your weight. Believe it or not, where your weight is distributed is probably the most determining factor of how you are working your leg. When you train privately or tackle classes with your Bari Coach, your trainer will be able to pick up on any weight distribution no-nos that are getting in your way, bulking you up, developing your muscles in an imbalanced way or causing discomfort.

There are some signs you can look out for on your own: When you squat, can you lift your toes up easily so that your weight is in your heel and your knee is over your ankle? Is your weight centered between your two legs? When you lunge to the back, are your shoulders staying directly over your hips? When you balance on one leg are you centering your weight in your foot or favoring the inside or outside? Again, listen to those cues your trainer is giving you to make sure your legs are getting the intended workout.

Bend your supporting leg. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Bend that baby! Locking out your knees does nothing but make a joint injury far more likely. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Bend that supporting leg and automatically your leg muscles go into overdrive to fatigue, break down, and rebuild into a new, long, lean shape. One you’ll be proud to show off in the spring and summer fashion that’s just around the corner. (Oops, I did it again.)

Catching up on past Fitness Hacks? Find out how to: make the music work for you and get more (calorie) burn for your buck. Have a Fitness Hack request? Email us at blog@thebaristudio.com!

FitnessHACK: (verb): to get the most out of your workout; to sweat with efficiency; to make every minute count; to find a better way to work out each time you step into class
(noun): one who uses mental prowess to deliver physical results; one who MacGyver’s his or her workout like a boss; one who contains a badass combination of savviness and grit (hashtags): #fitnessHACK #hacklikeaboss

It’s no secret that we are numbers geeks at Bari. As trainers, that colors-of-the-rainbow iQniter screen gives us the 411 on your heart health, your intensity level, and even your calorie burn. We take what we see on the screen and intentionally give you what you need to work at your maximum and see the changes you crave. But how exciting is it, how inspiring is it, how affirming is it for you to intentionally work out and see your own numbers go up? Now that’s some self-made mojo. And guess what? Mojo isn’t just good for the mind — it’s good for the bod. When you work out with intention, you’ll see serious payoff in the results department. The proof is in the pudding #baribody.

So here are my tips for digging deeper into your workouts, boosting your calorie burn and taking full control of your hour at Bari.

Bend. That. Supporting. Leg. Hey, I get it. You have been throwing it down for 30 solid minutes at this point and balancing on one leg as the other works to tighten your cute little butt is not always easy. But, next time you dig deeper in that supporting leg, notice how your heart rate spikes. Instead of locking out your knee and possibly putting stress on your joint, you’re allowing your muscles to work and lean out. You’re strengthening your supporting leg from butt cheek to foot and as that heart rates spikes, so does your caloric burn. Bending that supporting leg is the most efficient multi-tasking you’ll do all day.

Get right back into it. When you take breaks after every song for to sip water, to towel off, or to a chat with your neighbor, I’d bet you any amount of money that you lost 8 reps easily (if not more). And here’s the thing - as trainers, we strategically plan our classes to give you an hour of efficient exercises for maximum results. If you miss out on those first 8 reps, you’ve lost your chance to really fatigue that muscle into slimming submission. The stronger your muscles become, the more calories you’ll continue to burn throughout your entire day. It’s okay if you have to take a minute to regroup, but always come back to the exercise or sequence as fast as possible.

In cardio: Stop trying to be perfect. Whether we’re on the floor or the trampoline, the principle is always the same: Just keep moving. It’s easy to feel frustrated when you’re learning something new. Synapses are firing, your legs are kicking, and all of a sudden we’re asking you to CLAP. You’re negotiating a lot! Because, Tribe, you rock! So don’t let the fear of some new moves or unfamiliar territory stop you from moving that #baribody. Even if you are jacking in place as your trainer shows you some fancy footwork, you’re keeping that heart rate elevated and giving your mind a minute to catch up without losing your body’s momentum.

In toning: Don’t ever stop trying to be perfect. My dad, the football coach, always tells me, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” In cardio, your trainer just wants you moving. But when you tone, if you don’t nail your perfect form not only will your calorie burn be substantially less, but you could injure yourself. Your form is the foundation on which your results are built. If you can practice a perfect plank, then you’ll eventually be able to practice a perfect push up. And when you can practice a perfect push up, you’ll strengthen your arms, shoulders, even abs as your heart rate sky rockets (read: bye bye, calories!) because every inch of your body is working.

Let it out. Ever forget to breathe? I do, too. Something I’ve noticed in a lot of my classes is that when my clients not only remember to breathe, but let out sighs or groans or yelps or hollers, everyone starts burning more calories. The energy lifts, the legs kick higher, and the tension in our minds release so we can work out with more fluidity - meaning, a deeper mind-body connection, a fuller range of motion, and easier transitions between sequences. Giving yourself permission to make some noise tells your body that you’re going for it, and to top it off, you’re giving everyone else permission to do the same. Go, sweaty altruistic you!

Catching up on past Fitness Hacks? Find out how to make the music work for you here. Have a Fitness Hack request? Email us at blog@thebaristudio.com!

You know the old saying, a job worth doing is worth doing right. At Bari, our job is to sweat our butts off during an adrenaline-pumping power hour of cardio and muscle sculpting. So how do you know when you’re doing it right? Here’s a hint: it’s not how many times you nail Rodeo perfectly, it’s not how much longer you can hold plank than your neighbor, it’s not the depth of the sweat pool that has gathered beneath your head during a Scorpion Series. Nope. It’s all about your heart rate.

A high-intensity workout for the Average Joe gets you working anywhere between 75 to 85 percent of your personal maximum heart rate. Heart rate maximums can be calculated a number of ways. The old, somewhat outdated way of measuring your maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. With our iQniter Heart Rate Monitoring System, the program takes your age, height, weight, weekly amount of exercise, and gender into account in its own specific formula to find your maximum heart rate. The more specificity with which you calculate your heart rate, the more accurately you will be able to measure your intensity percentage. And according to this new study, when your percentage lands between 75 to 85 percent, you are doing incredible things for your overall health.

At the University of Utah, researchers found that intensity mattered much more than duration in regards to weight loss. Their study showed “that even brief episodes of physical activity that exceed a certain level of intensity can have as positive an effect on weight as does the current recommendation of 10 or more minutes at a time.” The current national guideline for adults is to get 150 minutes of exercise a week, and this can be split up into 10 minute increments.

Taking all of this into consideration, with the knowledge that at Bari we actually have the technology to track this and track it accurately, Sarah Levy and I put our method to the test. We did about 13 total minutes of trampoline cardio with a two-minute rest period. All of Sarah’s stats were logged into iQniter, and I took her through some of the Bounce sequences we’re currently doing in classes. her only instructions were to follow along, keep up and focus on moving with intensity. Here’s what we found:

In 13 minutes of Bari, Sarah burned 187 calories, her max heart rate BPM was 191, and she worked out at an intensity level of 86 percent. Eighty. Six. Percent. 187 calories in 13 minutes. Had this been a full hour class, Sarah would have burned something like 748 calories.

Tribe. What does this mean for you? It means that, at Bari, you have everything you need right at your fingertips to get the results you crave. It means that with our iQniter system, you have a measurable tool to use in class to make sure you’re attacking your workout and getting the most bang for your buck. It means that if you commit yourself to a mere three classes a week, you’re surpassing that 150 minute recommendation and contributing to your weight loss in the most efficient-scientifically-proven-we-can’t-stop-we-won’t-stop way.

Ready to earn your #bariblackbelt? Join our January challenge to push your limits and see visible results.

You’ll be a perfect fit if…

• You like to sweat. A lot.
• Movement is your first language. You can’t go a day without a hefty dose of endorphins.
• You crave sharing your nerdy fitness knowledge with others.
• You wish your life had a soundtrack.
• Your energy and confidence is contagious.
• You’re not perfect, but you love when things are.
• You strive to see others succeed.
• You’re ready to change the world, one sweaty body at a time.

About the Bari Workout

Bari’s cutting-edge formula burns fat and sculpts muscles from every angle. If you love to move with purpose, intensity and to the beat of your favorite music, you’ll love your job every single day. Our workout is composed of three elements: sensory cardio, trampoline cardio and muscle sculpting. Read more about our workout here.

focus (verb): to pay particular attention to, concentrate, center on, zero in on, zoom in on, pinpoint, have as its starting point

We’re about to let you in on a secret. It’s the goal-busting, sweat-inducing, butt-kicking strategy of our truly #bariddicted Tribers: BariFOCUS classes. You’ve seen them on the schedule, you’ve seen the sweaty bodies trickle out of class, but, still, you may be wondering — what is a Focus class?

In layman’s terms, it’s a 30-minute class dedicated to one specific target area or training modality: abs, butt, sensory cardio, bounce cardio or bands. In Bari’s terms, it’s the half hour that transforms your workouts from good to great, from sweaty to dripping, from workout queen to superhuman. Here’s why:

30 minutes of FOCUS a week will transform your practice—and your results. Ever feel like you could really nail your next Macro class if only you could figure out that turn-back, kick-up section of Hopscotch? Taking even one Sensory Cardio Focus class a week gives you an opportunity to digest our floor cardio sequences from the ground up. We know that so long as you keep moving, you’re still getting a great workout; but when you feel more confident in the sequences, you can push yourself harder, kick your leg higher and stay in it longer. Thirty minutes of focus to achieve maximal results in every subsequent workout? Trust us, it’s worth it.

Customize your workouts even further. If you’ve done a measurements consult or a BariONE private, then your Bari trainer has given you a workout prescription to follow. You know what your target areas are; you know what your ultimate goal is. The Focus classes can be your final push forward. Focused on improving your balance? Take an Abs Focus class to strengthen your core. Focused on lifting your butt and increasing your hip range of motion? Take a Butt Focus class to make sure you’re doing your Scorpion Series effectively each and every time. Love to Bounce but just need a little more practice on “bouncing down?” You know the drill. Add 30 minutes of Bounce before a Micro, and you’ll not only improve your trampoline skills, but you’ll elevate your heart rate for the next class.

You can have your cake Energy Bites and eat them, too. As much as I like to (not so subtly) suggest that everyone should stay for every single class I teach in one night, I know that my clients have lives and families and dinner to eat. So sticking around the studio for a double header — although it’s magical — is not always feasible. Tacking a 30-minute Focus class onto the beginning or end of your regular weekly class will amplify the intensity of your workout while being much more manageable for those nights when you’re short on time.

BariFOCUS classes are the ultimate Sweat to Give Challenge strategy. For those do-gooders out there, tallying up your points for our Sweat to Give Challenge can seem like a crazy feat. Well here is your ultimate strategy for racking up tallies and winning gifts: BariFOCUS classes count as one regular class.That’s no half tally, my friends. That’s a full tally for you. So adding two Focus classes a week (if math isn’t your thing, that’s one measly hour) gives you two more points on your way to giving the gift of Bari. Signed, sealed, delivered. Your holiday shopping is done.

Your Focus class can be your starting point, your motivation, or even just your proof that you are stronger than you think you are. Pick a class that aligns with your goals, sign up, and try it out for the month of December. You’ve got nothing to lose but some sweat.

We get it. Measuring body fat is the bari equivalent to eating your vegetables as a kid; you know it’s good for you, but you just can’t seem to get into it.

If you’re one of those unique people who actually enjoys watching your numbers then you already love our measurements system. But if you fall into the 99 percent* of people who would rather read “War and Peace” than track your body’s changes, today’s post is for you.

*This number is pulled out of thin air, but I’m pretty sure it’s accurate.

During our barirx sessions, we take ultrasound readings of four different spots on your body, coupled with inch measurements from your ankles to your shoulders and every target area in between. All of these numbers and data leave us with an overall picture of your health that is much more accurate and insightful than the single-number story that your standard old scale tells us.

But what do these numbers mean? And why do they mean more than the number on the scale? Good questions, young grasshopper. Let’s dig into what your measurements are telling you and why paying attention to your fat is actually TONS of fun (see what we did there?):

body fat redistribution
At bari, we fixate less on your weight and more on what your weight tells us about your health. We look closely at the composition of fat mass (excess fat) versus lean mass (muscle). Why? Because muscle is more dense than fat (a.k.a. one pound of muscle takes up less space than one pound of fat), and it’s also a caloric overachiever (the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn).

Herein lies the key to truly redistributing your fat: The more you tone up those muscles, the more you’re going to shed that excess fat. With our ultrasound system, your body’s redistribution changes are trackable. We can see how your fat is giving way to stronger muscles, and we can better understand how your unique body tends to change from the inside out. All of this gives us the information we need to tailor a bari prescription just for you. That makes your bari double header of macro and micro a one-two punch to the myth that you can’t change your “body type.”

visceral fat
The most dangerous kind of fat is the one that accumulates around the midsection. Visceral fat is deep fat that wraps around your organs and increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and even dementia. What a blast.

When we take your measurements, we scan this part of your waist and literally look into your body to measure the thickness of your visceral fat. And we use this scan to check in after a few weeks to see how much your visceral fat has decreased. Your trainer will use this information as a check-in to make sure all the components of your program are paying off. You will use this information to feel superhumanly awesome that you are changing your body and decreasing your risk of disease. How’s that for power?

body fat percentage
This might be the most satisfying number to watch drop. Your body fat percentage is based on your overall weight. For the average woman, a healthy amount of fat is anywhere between 20 and 25 percent. When we track this along with your circumference measurements, you get a full body picture of your progress. When we look at body fat percentage, we are also tracking increased bone strength, overall muscle tone, and even how well you’re hydrated. We track the body fat percentage against these other elements to fully understand how your workouts have been working for you and to make sure you don’t plateau. It is the ultimate high-five.

We know that calculating fat thickness is not everyone’s cup of tea. But when you know what you’re looking at, it can actually be kind of fun. And having access to such specific information can improve the way you workout, create a better body image, and efficiently measure your results. What’s not to love about that?

Ready to measure up and create an action plan for achieving results? Email or call your local studio to book a barirx consult.

We’ve all been there. You’re fighting the good fight: working out five times a week (with the laundry to show for it), chugging green juice and borderline overdosing on kale and quinoa (good job, you!). After a few weeks, you decide that it’s a good time to check in on how your valiant efforts are paying off. You step on the scale, only to learn that your hard work and dedication amounted to a whopping half-pound weight loss. It’s not nothing — but it’s underwhelming and not what you were shooting for.

The scale — while by no means obsolete — can be frustrating and discouraging because it often doesn’t reflect all of the good we’re doing for our bodies. Why? Because the scale doesn’t tell us the whole story. With the measurement technology we use at Bari, we are better equipped and better informed than ever to understand how we’re changing our bodies from the inside out. And frankly, one number just doesn’t cut it.

That’s why we use the BodyMetrix measurements system to give you a real picture of your overall health.

We don’t just want to know how many pounds you weigh — we want to know if your bones are getting stronger, if your fat is redistributing into muscle and whether or not you need to chug some more H2O. We don’t just want to know how many pounds you’ve shed — we want to know if you’ve decreased your visceral fat in a way that’s going to decrease your risk of heart disease, stroke and even dementia. We don’t just want to consider one number when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of your workouts — we want the ultrasound evidence that you are creating more muscle to burn more calories, which will make your workouts pack a stronger punch.

Tribe, our measurement system isn’t about everybody reaching “the perfect weight.” It’s about creating a holistically healthy workout program that is catered specifically to you, for your body, your needs and your goals. Using ultrasound technology, accurately tracking your progress and having access to a Bari trainer who can translate what your body is telling you is the surest way to create a deliberate, thoughtful, you-based (yes, we’re that technical) plan.

If you haven’t taken advantage of our measurements system yet, jump on the Bari body bandwagon and see what all the fuss is about. Measurements are on us every Monday in November, so there’s no reason not to find out what your body wants to tell you. Email us to set up your appointment and get tracking, Tribe.

Photo via Bari Studio

Did you catch our This Is Your Brain On Bari series? (If not, it’s really interesting stuff! Go read up on Part 1 and Part II.) We dug into how exercise - and specifically Bari’s cardio sequences - build a stronger, sharper brain. The takeaway? Cardio does the brain and the body good. Today, we’re providing you with a list of trainer-curated tips to make sure you’re getting the most out of your cardio experience at Bari.

Trust your trainer.
It’s our job to give you the best workout of your life - every single time. Beyond that, we love and take pride in doing this for you. As your trainers, we promise that we don’t just step into the studio, wait for inspiration to strike and improvise a class on the spot. (Our Bari brains are strong, but not that strong.) We work behind the scenes and in the studio to make sure we’re setting you, your body and your brain up for success. We plan our classes strategically, and we’re trained to make a Bari class accessible yet challenging for all levels. If you let us guide you through, we promise you’ll get a fun and sweaty workout every time.

Match your trainer’s energy.
Take class as if you were teaching class. Sure, we all have the days when it’s a struggle to even get out of bed — let alone bounce around at 100 percent for an hour. But, trust us, your body will thank you if you do! We’ve always had a hunch that our energy feeds our burn — that we sweat more and expend more energy during workouts when we’re really into it. So, we tested this hunch with our iQniter performance training system, and our research confirmed our hypothesis. If you take class with a more energetic and purposeful intention, you’ll reap the benefits of a better workout (a.k.a. you’ll burn more calories). This is a case where energy in and energy out are directly correlated. Step touch like you mean it!

Throw yourself into it.
Even the most coordinated people walk through our doors and ask, “I’m so uncoordinated. Will I be able to do this?” And our answer is always, always yes! Because you can. Any hesitation you have about your workout will only hinder your body and brain’s development and progress. So as the peeps at Nike would say, “Just do it.” Don’t sell yourself short because you didn’t perfect Rodeo the first time or because you were off the beat during your BOUNCE class. As with anything in life, Bari takes practice, and you’ll only feel more comfortable every time you do it.

Just keep moving. We don’t care if you mess up!
The flow of a Bari class keeps our minds engaged and in a strangely meditative state (despite the fact that there’s a stinging drop of sweat in your eye). This flow is what keeps you actively involved in the sensory learning process — while also allowing you to immerse yourself in the music-pumping, adrenaline-flowing workout atmosphere. Anything that breaks your groove will make it harder to jump back in. Even if you’re learning a new sequence for the first time or feel a little off your game on a certain day, just keep moving and you’ll push yourself through.

Understand the why behind your workout.
Ever wonder why we make you add that extra prop to an already challenging exercise or why a cardio sequence has, what seems like, particularly complicated footwork? Simple movements that build on one another to create compound and complex movements allow for multiple body parts to work in tandem; they simultaneously force your brain to use coordination to help your body work in a way it’s not used to. Moving in ways that aren’t typical in our daily lives allows us to create functionally-strong muscles and prevent the dreaded plateau.

Look for patterns.
There is a method to our madness. Try to look for movements that are repeated and movements that build on one another. In any cardio class, most movements will inevitably be brought back to build a larger sequence or act as a movement that connects the sequences. Hone in on what movements your body’s making, actively remember and embody them and by the end it will feel like you’ve put together a magic cardio puzzle.

Shall we put those bodies and brains to work, Tribe? Sign up for your favorite Bari cardio class — and rest sweat assured that you’re getting the most out of your workout.

Photos via Bari Studio

Did you catch our This Is Your Brain On Bari series? (If not, it’s really interesting stuff! Go read up on Part 1 and Part II.) We dug into how exercise - and specifically Bari’s cardio sequences - build a stronger, sharper brain. The takeaway? Cardio does the brain and the body good. Today, we’re providing you with a list of trainer-curated tips to make sure you’re getting the most out of your cardio experience at Bari.

Trust your trainer.
It’s our job to give you the best workout of your life - every single time. Beyond that, we love and take pride in doing this for you. As your trainers, we promise that we don’t just step into the studio, wait for inspiration to strike and improvise a class on the spot. (Our Bari brains are strong, but not that strong.) We work behind the scenes and in the studio to make sure we’re setting you, your body and your brain up for success. We plan our classes strategically, and we’re trained to make a Bari class accessible yet challenging for all levels. If you let us guide you through, we promise you’ll get a fun and sweaty workout every time.

Match your trainer’s energy.
Take class as if you were teaching class. Sure, we all have the days when it’s a struggle to even get out of bed — let alone bounce around at 100 percent for an hour. But, trust us, your body will thank you if you do! We’ve always had a hunch that our energy feeds our burn — that we sweat more and expend more energy during workouts when we’re really into it. So, we tested this hunch with our iQniter performance training system, and our research confirmed our hypothesis. If you take class with a more energetic and purposeful intention, you’ll reap the benefits of a better workout (a.k.a. you’ll burn more calories). This is a case where energy in and energy out are directly correlated. Step touch like you mean it!

Throw yourself into it.
Even the most coordinated people walk through our doors and ask, “I’m so uncoordinated. Will I be able to do this?” And our answer is always, always yes! Because you can. Any hesitation you have about your workout will only hinder your body and brain’s development and progress. So as the peeps at Nike would say, “Just do it.” Don’t sell yourself short because you didn’t perfect Rodeo the first time or because you were off the beat during your BOUNCE class. As with anything in life, Bari takes practice, and you’ll only feel more comfortable every time you do it.

Just keep moving. We don’t care if you mess up!
The flow of a Bari class keeps our minds engaged and in a strangely meditative state (despite the fact that there’s a stinging drop of sweat in your eye). This flow is what keeps you actively involved in the sensory learning process — while also allowing you to immerse yourself in the music-pumping, adrenaline-flowing workout atmosphere. Anything that breaks your groove will make it harder to jump back in. Even if you’re learning a new sequence for the first time or feel a little off your game on a certain day, just keep moving and you’ll push yourself through.

Understand the why behind your workout.
Ever wonder why we make you add that extra prop to an already challenging exercise or why a cardio sequence has, what seems like, particularly complicated footwork? Simple movements that build on one another to create compound and complex movements allow for multiple body parts to work in tandem; they simultaneously force your brain to use coordination to help your body work in a way it’s not used to. Moving in ways that aren’t typical in our daily lives allows us to create functionally-strong muscles and prevent the dreaded plateau.

Look for patterns.
There is a method to our madness. Try to look for movements that are repeated and movements that build on one another. In any cardio class, most movements will inevitably be brought back to build a larger sequence or act as a movement that connects the sequences. Hone in on what movements your body’s making, actively remember and embody them and by the end it will feel like you’ve put together a magic cardio puzzle.

Shall we put those bodies and brains to work, Tribe? Sign up for your favorite Bari cardio class — and rest sweat assured that you’re getting the most out of your workout.

Photos via Bari Studio

No one needs to be reminded that exercise is good for our bodies. Moving, running, jumping and sweating in general all give us endorphins, improve our overall health and promote longevity. These are indisputably good things that we should be doing for our bodies — but what about our brains?

In our ‘This Is Your Brain on Bari” series, we’ll dig into the profound ways that our daily sweat sessions boost our brain power. Last week, we discussed how exercise in general affects our brain, and today, we’ll talk specifics about how our cardio sequences at Bari, both on the trampoline and on the floor, are some of the most powerful forms of brain strengthening.

2: Bari Cardio & the Brain

We know learning our sensory sequences when you first come to Bari isn’t the easiest thing in the world. It takes practice. It takes feeling a bit frustrated the first few times (that’s your brain — and yes, your body — being put to hard work!). It takes dedication and commitment. But it’s worth it, Tribers! Sensory cardio and trampoline cardio at Bari provide unparalleled strengthening benefits for the brain.

In fact, these cardio sequences do more for your brain than your daily Sudoku. Yes, really. It’s those holy-shit-my-leg-doesn’t-go-that-high cardio sequences that strengthen, sharpen and train our brains into their prime condition.

Even better news for our Tribers: When looking at ways to decrease the likelihood of dementia, researchers found that out of various activities we may perform, the activity most likely to keep us sharp into old age is dancing — beating out reading and doing crossword puzzles by a landslide!

So, why is that?

Dancing requires more learning than most physical activities; it literally makes us think on our feet. Neural pathways only rewire if our brains need them. So when many scientists think about intelligence, they do so in a “use it or lose it” kind of way. As we discussed earlier, the neural pathways in our brain, like the muscles in our legs, will atrophy if we don’t use them for long periods of time.

If we stop working out, we get weaker, and if we stop doing things that require our brain’s power, we get a bit slower. Jean Piaget suggested that “intelligence is what we use when we don’t already know what to do.” As such, the best thing we can do to boost our intelligence is to involve ourselves in activities that require us to learn something new, and, to go even further, that require us to make rapid decisions. And as we can all attest to, when we step into Bari and discover an entirely new sequence, our brains, as well as our bodies, are forced to work in overdrive.

While Bari is not purely a dance method, so much of what we do in the studio — from the way we move during warm up to the strings of dance moves in our sequences — brings out the dancer in all of us. Dance — along with Bari’s sensory cardio — integrates kinesthetic, rational, musical and emotional brain functions all at once, sculpting our bodies and sculpting our brains. So if you need an extra reason to get yourself to class, you can add ‘get smarter’ to the list.

They say brains and beauty don’t go together, but at Bari, it’s the only combination we know.

Photo via Bari Studio