Happy new year everyone! Were your holidays filled with cookies, eggnog, turkey and other delicious treats? I hope so, because mine was. January is when we all get back into the healthy swing of things and one of my new year resolutions was to try something new for fitness (other than running). Imagine my delight when Cecilia Lu from VancityBuzz invited me to go to The Bar Method on their social media influencer night!

The Bar Method exercise targets the muscles that play the greatest role in body change, then keeps these muscles working intensely and safely long enough for them to change. It then intensely stretches each muscle worked to make it look & feel longer & more graceful.

Sounds pretty awesome! I want longer and leander muscles, what girl doesn’t?! The Bar Method website promises a fast-paced form of interval training that maximizes caloric burn during & after every class. Let me tell you, it is exactly that. I have to admit, as someone who workout/runs 5 times a week, I may have underestimated The Bar Method a bit. I decided the day before to do an upper body work out, because I mean…I am pretty tough right?

WRONG! It was an intense all body work out. I was huffing and puffing 10 minutes in and when I thought I could no longer do another rep, the friendly instructors brightly says “Ok, we’re almost done this exercise before we move on, 20 more reps.” Internally you groan and want to collapse but with their encouragement, you somehow push through. By the way, they make a point of knowing your name and encouraging you by name AND they come around to correct form. I liked that a lot. They were not pushy, just encouraging.

And before you know, 1 hour is over and all the muscles in your body are screaming at you. It was….intense. According to Bar Method, you can burn 350-400 calories a class. But don’t be scared off! Their instructors are super supportive and the studio is really friendly. If you are new, they always stick you with people who have been coming for a while so you can watch them and learn.

CONTEST DETAILS

Happy to announce @ngmeagan from Twitter as winner! Congrats and have fun!

The wonderful ladies at The Bar Method Vancouver have given me 1 New Client Special to give away. That is 30 days unlimited classes! You have two ways to enter and you can earn two entries by doing both:

1. Tweet the following on Twitter: (1 entry)

“I want to #bravethebar with @BarMethod_Van and @phoelam http://ht.ly/HERbQ #vancouver. RT to enter.”

2. Leave a Comment: (1 entry)

Leave a comment below and tell us a new year resolution!

Contest ends January 30, 2015 at noon. A winner will be drawn at random and notified. If the winner doesn’t claim the prize within 24 hours, another will be drawn. Good luck!

With two studios, one in West Van, one in Yaletown, they have over 100 classes to fit your schedule. For busy parents, their West Vancouver location even has child minding services, so no more excuses ladies and gents! If you aren’t the lucky winner, they are offering a new client January special. $80 for 40 days of unlimited classes!

Got questions? Check out The Bar Methond Vancovuer on: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram