Barre and yoga fusion workout

This workout combines barre and yoga elements for an effective and fun total body workout you can do anywhere. All you need is a yoga mat.

Hi friends! Happy Taco Tuesday. Hope you’re having a lovely morning. Yesterday ended up being a fun and chill day. The girls had swim lessons, we made a delicious garlic shrimp and rice with zucchini for dinner, and today I’m off to a brand meeting and catching a legs workout. 

Before I head out, I wanted to share a new workout with you! This one combines two of my very favorite bodyweight formats: yoga and barre. I love the mindfulness aspect of yoga – that whole “finding comfort in the discomfort” thing – and the endurance work of barre. Barre is challenging every single time I take or teach a class, and I also notice a difference in strength and visible leg definition when barre is a part of my routine.

I hope you love this one! As always, chat with a doctor before making any fitness changes and modify as needed.

Here’s what this yoga and barre fusion workout looks like:

Form cues and tips:

Reverse lunge to knee raise with arms: Take a big step back to come into a lunge position. Watch your alignment and make sure your front knee is stacked over your front ankle, and your chest is lifted with a tight core. Lift your back leg up, and engaging your core, bend your knee and bring it into your chest. Step back to lunge and repeat. For the lunge portion, your arms are overhead, and as you bring your knee un, you press your arms down.

Pulsing squat with heel raise: Stand with feet hip-width or slightly wider is good, and toes slightly turned out. Focus on sitting back, while keeping your chest lifted and a tight core. Inhale to lower, exhale to rise. Make sure that your knees go towards your toes, but not far past your toes. Sink your hips as low as your flexibility allows, whether it’s a small squat, or to hips just above knee level. You can squat lower than knee level if it works for you, but generally it’s not something that I recommend. Hold your lowest squat point and lift one heel off the group. Pulse up one inch and down one inch from your lowest point. 

Push-up side plank: You can do these on your knees or toes, just make sure to keep your hips in line with your torso (no butts in the air or sagging in the middle) and your hands planted firmly into the surface. Bend your elbows to lower your body towards the ground, exhale and squeeze your chest to rise, then rotate to a side plank, lifting up your bottom oblique. This is one rep. If you’re modifying, keep your bottom knee on the floor as you rotate, and just extend the top leg. If you want a challenge, hover the top leg up as you rotate. Repeat, alternating sides.

Beast to downdog: Start in all fours, with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders. Engage your core to lift your knees off the floor. Hold for 3 breaths before pressing back into down dog. Slowly, and with control, come back to the beast position and repeat 20 times.

3-leg dog to crescent lunge: Press back into downward-facing dog, lifting your hips, letting your heels move towards the floor, and gently pressing your chest towards your thighs. Lift one leg high towards the sky, and then step that foot in between your hands to rise into a crescent lunge. Your arms will be overhead, your front knee is stacked over your front ankle and your back leg is straight and strong (heel is lifted). Place your hands on the floor and step that same foot back into your 3-leg dog to repeat. 

Low lunge to squat: For this exercise, you aren’t rising in between switching – keep your body LOW and knees bent the entire time. Torso stays upright, step back into your lunge, then keep the front knee bent as you step out to the side to squat. Step the opposite foot behind and lunge. Watch the front knees to make sure they don’t extend past the toes.

Goddess to side leg lift: For this squat variation, you’ll take a SUPER wide stance and turn your toes out. As you sink down, keep your chest lifted and endeavor to get your thighs parallel to the floor. Make sure your knees extend towards your toes but not past your toes. Exhale and rise from your squat and using your glutes, lift one leg out to the side. Lower down gently and sink back down to your low squat to repeat. 

Seated twists: Sit on the floor with you feet on the floor and knees bent. Lean back, keeping your back flat (optional: lift feet off the ground and keep your knees bent at 90 degrees). Rotate your torso to one side, then the other. 

Please let me know if you give this a try! What are your top two favorite workout formats? Any workout requests you’d like to see here on the blog?

Have a wonderful day.

xo

Gina

Photos: Tara Leinen

Wearing: Zella leggings and lululemon tank

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