Why Some Trainers Say Barre Workouts Can't Really Deliver

Barre studios have exploded over the past decade and continue to be on the rise. But is it really all it's cracked up to be? Do those tiny pulsing movements that leave the body shaking really help you gain more strength? Are all the promises of long, lean muscles and ballet bodies really achievable without actually training and dancing like a prima ballerina? While barre studios are popping up in cities all over the world, many fitness professionals, kinesiologists, human performance coaches, and others have questioned the validity of the practice. Let's cut through the promises and quasi-science and try to shake out some truth.

Barre was initially created by a dancer named Lotte Berke who suffered from a back injury and used a mix of her rehab exercises and ballet barre exercises to create her method (better known today as The Bar Method). Since then, many trainers have thrown in their own mix of barre, Pilates, and even cardio exercises to give their studio a unique spin on things.

A barre workout typically combines elements of yoga, ballet, and Pilates. Some workouts are pure bodyweight, and some include props such as rubber balls, yoga blocks, the Pilates Magic Circle, resistance bands, and light (1-3 pounds) weights. The workouts are usually done in an open studio surrounded by mirrors and a ballet barre — similar to how ballerinas practice. Most sessions are done in bare feet, though some studios do require students to wear grippy socks.

In almost all barre classes, you'll be asked to hold your body through certain exercises while your muscles shake. Barre instructors explain that this is the body's way of fighting through muscle exhaustion; in the process, you build both strength and endurance.

According to certified personal trainer Heather Neff, the shake you experience isn't as unique as you'd expect: "I'm just going to be blunt here, have you ever sat on the toilet, leaned forward, lifted your heels off the ground so you're up on your toes and all of a sudden you have this uncontrollable shaking in your legs? This is the same type of shaking you will experience during certain exercises in a barre class." But what does this shaking mean? Is it an indicator that your legs are weak? Since legs house the strongest muscles in our bodies, that's highly unlikely. So, what's really happening?

Neff explained the phenomenon, and it's not good news for the barre believers: "When you hold a certain position (such as your legs straight up in the air), your quadriceps and hamstrings are working against each other. One is the agonist and is contracting, and the other is the antagonist that is being stretched. The one being stretched is sending a signal to contract to protect it from overstretching. Basically, both muscles are trying to contract at the same time, which causes the shaking." It's as simple as pushing your hands against each other, palm to palm — your arms are going to shake because your body is working against itself. What's worse is that with the barre technique's semi-contraction of the muscles, neither of them fully engages, so you couldn't even get the same benefit as you would from doing a full squat with proper form. Your muscles are working, but not fully and that isn't the path to stronger, longer, leaner, and toned legs. Some experts we spoke to have also noted that after a prolonged use of the barre techniques, your brain and muscles can also adapt to the point that the shaking can become less common.

Unfortunately, while barre instructors claim that the shaking is a sign of muscle fatigue, a resounding number of personal trainers and exercise physiologists contacted for this story don't buy it. "You can't bring a muscle to fatigue that quickly when the shaking begins the moment you go into the pose or exercise and you're usually only using 5-pound weights," said Neff. When you flex a muscle with all your might, you'll eventually start shaking. That is the result of a constant contraction without pause and eventual fatigue setting in. If you're shaking right away, there's something else at play and it's not shaping your muscles.

While long, lean muscles are exactly what so many women are hoping for, the unfortunate truth is that only genetics decides the length of your muscles. According to Neff, "A muscle begins and ends at a fixed point and there is no way to change that with any kind of exercise."