Title: BeyondBarre: Grace
Presenter: Colleen Ketchum
Format: widescreen DVD with two workouts for intermediate-level exercisers.
The title workout includes a 14-minute warmup, a 7-minute arm-sculpting segment using very light weights, an 8-minute leg-toning segment done standing beside a portable ballet barre; a 9-minute "booty lift" in which she leans on the barre and lifts her legs one at a time in various directions, over, over, over, until she lets you stretch; a 9-minute inner thighs and abdominals "low barre" segment, meaning you're lying on a mat with no barre in sight; and a 3-minute stretch.
Chapters can be played one by one or altogether.
There's also a 9-minute "bonus" cardiovascular endurance skating and sliding workout using a Glideboard, a 4- to 5.5-feet-wide slippery surface with bumpers. People who don't have this $249 device could do the moves in their socks in a hallway with a waxed wooden floor.
Do I need to know ballet? No. She uses some ballet terminology but it's clear what she means.
What's the setting? Unusual, like a vacant dance club. Ketchum works out by herself to lyric-free, upbeat electronica music in the warehouse-like concrete sound stage of Studio 120 in Plymouth, Minn. Tall banners slashed by violet spotlights hang from the gray walls, and chunky art objects stand here and there.
Any obviously risky moves? No.
Anything especially good? The 14-minute warmup builds slowly, including lower arm and wrist stretches, foot isolations, hip rotations and enjoyable bends and pivots, but it flows into balance-challenging heel lifts, single-leg raises and attitude lifts. The workload increases fluidly until you're alternating jumping jacks with variations on the plank.
Anything distracting? As she works harder and harder while giving careful posture cues, her breathing becomes quite obvious, but she has a likable personality.
Gear needed: yoga mat; barre, counter or sturdy chair; hand weights weighing 1 to 4 pounds
Can I do it barefoot? Yes, but she wears ballet flats.
Are other titles available? BeyondBarre: Fit is a 53-minute strength class involving a small ball, resistance bands and hand weights.
Who is the presenter? An entrepreneur with a diverse background. Ketchum has worked as a stuntwoman in movies and TV shows, including Orange Is the New Black and Law & Order. She owns a Pilates studio in Warwick, N.Y., and she developed the BeyondBarre fitness method, which has certified more than 1,000 instructors through a study-at-home program with online tutorials at beyondbarre.com. As a girl, Ketchum took up ballet to improve her skills in competitive gymnastics. She has a bachelor's degree in biology from Western Connecticut State University and is married, with three children.
Cost: $14.99
ActiveStyle on 08/01/2016