Learning to workout like a ballerina

Many of you know that I teach a strength and resistance training class called Gravity. If you have ever been up late at night watching infomercials you have seen Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley hawking a Total Gym System, its kinda like that but way better! I currently teach at Union Studio at Bathurst and Wellington here in Toronto. Another class on offer there is Union Barre. It is the kind of workout that a dancer would do to stay in such amazing shape. I had the pleasure of being involved while Heather Ogden, principal dancer for the National Ballet of Canada, and Christie Ness (a former ballerina herself), GM of Union Studio were developing the class. It is a super fun and challenging workout that promotes flexibility, stability, posture and strength. And a great butt. That's what I think of every time I take a class, 'this is great for my butt since I spend so much time in the kitchen sampling my recipes'.

Honestly I did feel a little bit like a large whale the first time I did the cardio sequence in the class, but quickly got over myself when I realized that everyone probably feels like this the first couple of classes. Regular people (ie: non-dancers) do not have the innate fluid movement that dancers do but, with perseverance we can forget what we look like and continue the workout for the good of our butts.  Check out http://unionstudio.ca/ for all your barre needs. And if you combine Christie's barre classes with my gravity classes it's the quickest way to get fantastically fit results. Pop in anytime to try a class, I teach Mondays @ 7am & 8am, Tuesdays @ 6:45pm, Wednesdays @ 1pm and 5:45pm.  There are other Gravity and Barre classes daily.

There will also be a Master Class with Heather at Union on December 2nd at 4:00pm. New choreography will be revealed as Heather leads you through a 60 minute workout and Q&A stretch after the hard work! You can also enter to win 2 tickets to see her in action in The Nutcracker and a pair of signed pointe shoes.

Heather Ogden - Principal Dancer National Ballet of Canada

A lot of our clients come to the gym after work and low on energy after a long day of sitting at their desks. So I have come up a gluten-free-dairy-free-low-sugar-high-energy-cookie inspired by my friend DeeDee a jewellery designer and Pilates instructor, check out her classes here          . 

Eat half before a workout and half after, the perfect combo of protein, carbs, salty, sweet and all around energy bursting goodness, but freeze the rest or you'll be doing double barre classes!

BBB Union Barre Energy Cookie

Ingredients

1 cup Almond Butter

2 eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tbsp Ground flaxseeds

¾ cup Coconut Sugar

½ tsp Baking soda

¼ tsp Sea Salt

½ cup Dairy Free Dark Chocolate Chips

½ cup Quinoa Flakes

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients into a large bowl. Use a fork to really mash it up. Drop by the teaspoon onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 10-15 minutes. Let cool for a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to cooling rack or counter top. Makes approximately 15 cookies, depending how big you make ‘em!

Enjoy your workout, until next time

tbxo