April 2017 Barre Intensity had the pleasure of conducting our first barre instructor training in the state of Iowa; hosted by the campus recreation team at Iowa State University. We could not be more proud of what the team has accomplished with the build out of their new barre studio, continued instructor development and barre classes filled to capacity.
Hear from Ashley Artist, Group Fitness Coordinator at Iowa State University, on what their barre experience has been like.
This is the first year you're offering barre fitness classes. What made you decide to invest in the equipment and instructor training?
I started in my position as the Fitness Coordinator at Iowa State last Fall and wanted to bring some new fitness classes into our program. I really love that barre focuses on muscular endurance with high reps and light weights. It is great for our beginners because the light weight is much less intimidating, and also great for our intermediate to advanced levels because of the endurance challenge. Barre engages muscles most don't regularly utilize.
Your students and faculty participated in a One Day Barre Intensity Instructor Training back in April. What was their post training plan to prepare them to teach this fall?
ISU in action!
Following the training course our instructors began meeting on a weekly basis to practice together and prepare for the launch of our new classes. They have built a great camaraderie in assisting each other with identifying additional ways to build upon each exercise and improve transitions. The quality and preparation of our instructors has been one of the biggest factors to impact the success of these classes.
What has been the participant response thus far to your barre fitness classes?
We’ve had an overwhelming response the first few weeks of school. Our fitness classes at Iowa State are all offered on a drop in basis, so it is first come first serve. We always see a big rush at the beginning of the semester in all our classes and then numbers level off as everyone gets busy but we’ve especially seen high participation in barre. The first week we sometimes had to turn away just as many people as we were able to allow. It may have also been the free T-shirt giveaway the first week of school with our “Meet Me at the Barre” shirts :)
Do you have plans to train more barre instructors through Barre Intensity in the future?
We do! We have a great group right now but as is the nature of the industry in campus recreation our students will graduate and more will come to join our program.