Taking Bar Method Class with My Wife

Butts After Bar Method

A few times a week, my wife works out. Occasionally that means going for a run; usually, it means taking a Bar Method class. Last week, I joined her for a session. Here’s the recap:

• I was the only guy there. Me + a couple dozen women wearing yoga pants and tankinis. (Them, not me. I was in track pants and a t-shirt.) I knew a couple of them. Lots of smiles and looks when I walked in. A woman I knew asked me if I was self-conscious about being the only guy there. My wife answered, “Are you kidding? Look around—he’s having the time of his life!” I love my wife.
• Everyone was friendly. I definitely also picked up a small undercurrent of, “Hmm…” with me there. I think some women were curious to see how I’d do, while others might have been a tad worried that I’d be too curious about seeing how they did. (For the record, I’m sure y’all did great, but I was pretty much too focused on holding the poses to gawk.) Some might have been interested in showing off for me. That could have been my imagination. Not sure.
• The combination of friendly smiles, significant other, friends, vaguely familiar faces, and awareness of their unspoken questions made waiting for the room to open seem like waiting for the bell to ring after lunch in high school. In a good way.
• Sara was teaching the session I attended. I liked Sara. She reads my blog. Hi, Sara!
• Great flow to the class, great energy. Lots there from a flow perspective that other classes would benefit from mimicking. It felt like everyone was in it together. Sara knew everyone’s names, and she used them to call out corrections and compliments. Especially mine. I had a lot of correcting to do.
• No pretense. We got to business immediately. I liked that.
• Guys, if you take the class, don’t show off. Use less weight for the shoulders bit than you think you should. Much less. I had to hold my arms out at unnatural positions that hit muscles I don’t normally hit. Ever.
• You’ve got to get your leg up on a waist-high bar and then hold it there while reaching for things and touching things, like your toes. I’m pretty flexible, but many guys I know can’t touch their knees from a standing position, let alone their feet, and they’d struggle.
• It’s fast paced. It’s not that the exercises are that difficult, it’s that they never end.
• Except for the bar exercises. Those are both hard and never ending. You stand on your toes, tuck your ass under your belly, squeeze everything from your thighs up through your abs, bend your legs, and hold. Forever. Given the choice between doing a wall chair for 5 minutes or these exercises, I’d choose wall chair. It’d be easier. Holy hell.
• Bring water in a squeeze bottle. There’s no time to unscrew a cap and rescrew it.
• The ab exercises are easier if you cheat and don’t clench your butt cheeks. If you do clench, they become impossible. That’s not hyperbole. I mean they become physically not doable. For me.
• The one thing Sara did that I didn’t like was lie. As in, “OK, 4 more! 3 – 2 – doubles! – 1- 2 – going to 30! – 4 – 5…” I kept expecting to stop, but it never happened. Worse, the resting holds were just as difficult as the exercises—they just worked different muscles.
• The final exercise is this thing where we lied on our backs, bent our knees so our feet were on the floor, moved our legs shoulder width apart, and then lifted our butts off the ground to the beat of the music. Basically a room full of women, and me, humping the air. I really wanted to look around during that one. Alas, I was staring at the ceiling, trying not to die.

I got great, supportive comments from a number of women after class—thanks! It was fun. Maybe I should say “fun.” Either way, I’m impressed with my wife. I have commented to her about the results of the classes; now I know where they come from. So, women, if you’re thinking of starting up some type of workout routine, definitely consider Bar. And drag your husbands to it, too.

Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.