Barlates: Standing Barre Pretzel

Standing Barre Pretzel is part of Linda Wooldridge‘s Standing Barre Series. There are 5 workouts in this series and so far I have done this workout, Standing Barre Glutes and Standing Barre Abs. They are all available for free on YouTube and you can also get all 5 workouts on a single DVD.

I knew by the title of this workout that it was going to hurt. A mat pretzel move is painful but effective. Standing pretzel is basically hydrant moves and again, very effective. This workout fried my glutes and outer thighs–fried. Unlike Standing Barre Glutes it wasn’t my non-working/stationary leg that was burning–it was the working leg. Linda worked it very hard, completely burning out those glute muscles. An extremely effective and excellent barre workout–and at only 22 minutes long it can be used as finisher workout or stack it with others.

Standing Barre Pretzel is 22 minutes long; no stretch. She says #1-3 are warm up, but they felt plenty challenging to me. Equipment: barre or chair.

1. Curtsy lunge to side bent leg raise (hydrant)
2. Hold bent leg out to side of body keeping knee and foot level, and bring knee in front and circle it back behind you, keeping knee/foot raised and level the whole time
3. Circle straight leg to the side of body (like a crescent kick but not a kick)
4. Hold bent leg out to side of body keeping knee and foot level, and raise and lower leg (but only a few inches, keeping leg high); changes to pressing foot out behind you (while keeping leg in same position); circle while in the same position; changes to pushing leg back then raising leg (again, keeping knee/foot level)
5. Hold bent leg out to side of body keeping knee and foot level and push leg behind you then bring forward and extend leg straight in front of you, bend leg and return to starting position
6. Bend knee and bring toe to inside of opposite (standing) knee (like a tree pose) and press bent knee back, keeping toe in contact w/ standing knee; raise up onto toe of standing leg as you continue this move
7. Wide plié squats
8. Repeat 1-6 on other leg
9. Repeat 7

For more info on Barlates and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.