How many calories do I burn during barre class? That’s a question we hear a lot. We all know calorie-burning is integral to staying fit, and our classes certainly pack a punch in that department. The long and short of it: there’s not just one component that determines how many calories you burn, and besides, that’s not the most important factor.
First, we tasked both a regular Physique 57 client and instructor with tracking their calorie output during Signature and S.B.T. (Sweat Burn Tone) classes. In Signature, the client burned about 350. During S.B.T. (our go-go-go class with more cardio), the client burned almost 500 calories.
For more insight, we called up Dr. Sari Eitches, an internist at the Akasha Center for Integrative Medicine in Santa Monica. (A former yoga and spin instructor, she’s especially adept at addressing fitness concerns.) She name-checks a mix of variables we can and can’t control—a cocktail of things like genetics, weight, diet, body composition, sleep, stress and even what you ate for breakfast—as impacting our caloric expenditure. So what workouts are best for revving up your caloric expenditure?
How Many Calories Does Barre Burn?
“A resistance workout (such as free weights or a barre class) may burn only 300 calories in the hour, but it can also cause a spike in a person’s metabolic rate for the rest of the day,” she says. “You will continue to burn more calories even as you rest and recover; that’s part of the shaky muscle feeling that comes after a resistance workout,” she adds. (We know that feeling well.)
The type of workout and duration certainly affect the amount of calories burned, but that’s beside the point. “The quality of food and the quality of exercise are more important than the number of calories,” Dr. Eitches says. To maximize your 57 minutes, we recommend staying true to the correct forms and take the challenges! Push yourself; that’s where you see (and feel) the physical and mental pay-off. That’s more important than any number.
And we have to agree with Dr. Eitches’s final words of wisdom: “Every workout is a success, but especially if it is enjoyable, because that will help ensure it becomes a habit. The health benefits of exercise are most pronounced when working out is a part of one’s daily routine.”
Looking to make Physique 57 a habit? Find an on-demand workout class—do it wherever, whenever – and tuck, curl, and stretch in the comfort of your own home.
