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Yoga - we need to talk!

It’s not you it’s me … basically I have found a new love and it’s in the form of a Barre class. OK yeah I’m pretty sure we can work something out all of us together ;)

As you may know, we at Leopard HQ are BIG yoga fans but every now and then it’s great to reach out to new forms of exercise, try new classes, work off those cocktail nights and that’s exactly what we did at the Barre class at Blok London recently.

After a slightly hurried entrance we pulled up a mat up in the distinctively coolest gym setting we’ve ever been into in our lives. It’s all very industrial cool minimal London built in an old Tram depot.

The class teacher Lotti a fellow Midlander  (all the best ones are) had us warming up our arms to start… when I say warm up I mean we kinda went straight in with the weights.

Lotti, from Blok London
Lotti our class instructor

Now I’m not a weights girl usually and I think I always forget arms day at the gym (and legs, glutes and lats day :P) I wanted to instantly run straight back out the door and hide with a bone broth in the cafe outside. But no we stayed.

And I’m super glad. What took us to try out the Barre session was that both of us at the class were ex-ballerinas. I was ready to point my toes and do demi point and arabesque and I wasn’t disappointed in, fact the foundations of ballet were certainly there (though our skills were perhaps a little dusty 16 years on). With the use of weights and a balance ball for strengthening and conditioning, it became a really great workout.

The other thing that  often binds us to new classes is the music. If you’re feeling the groove it can be the clincher. Lottie the class teacher basically climbed into my head with her Barre soundtrack featuring, Little Dragon, Sampha and NERD.So ya know… I was in the zone!

yoga class all mid pose

By the end of the class I vowed I would return and the pretty darn tasty juice with lots of energizing maca sealed the deal.

fresh food and drinks fridge at Blok London

Lotti here tells us a little more about why Barre is such a good class to take and what to do before and after to really make it worth it! Perfect for our Eat Clean Party Dirty ethos  inspired by our summer Ibiza travels :P !!!!!

Pre Class
Have a snack about an hour before the class! I'd normally go for a handful of nuts or even just tablespoon of nut butter (at the moment I'm pretty obsessed with Pip & Nuts Coconut and almond butter) but leave it at that, working out on a full stomach can be less effective and can feel pretty grim!
 
Post Class
After class I'd say stretch stretch stretch. I like to leave a good 10-15 minutes for stretching at the end of my class but the more you can do on top of this the better.  Ideally, you could be spending a few minutes in half pigeon on each leg to stretch out the glutes as they are often the focus in a barre class.
 
Extra Special Tip
My new fave thing to drink in the morning is hot water with Apple cider vinegar (with something called 'the mother' in it) with the juice of half a lemon and some slices of fresh ginger. It's great for alkalizing your body first thing in the morning and great for your digestive system.
 

If you’d like to try out a class - Blok are offering a free taster class - so get your asses down there if you’re in the area and point those toesies!

 

All Images property of Blok London

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