So I decided over the weekend that I was going to put finishing Barre Blend on hold and try to find a workout program that I would find energizing and hopefully would stick with it.

This isn’t to say that I’m not going to finish the last half of Barre Blend–I will, probably by doing the last four weeks a week at a time between other workout programs.

I’d mentioned earlier that I tried to start Barre Blend last year, and only made it through week 1. This year, I managed to make it through the first half of the program, and while it isn’t a favorite–I decided that I’d ‘pause’ my time with the workout (instead of trying to force myself to do the workouts), and move on to something else.

While I like the fact that the program is low-impact and focuses on toning, one of my main issues with the program are the lunges (both in the warm-up and throughout the workouts). I know that I can do them with less range of motion (and I do), but then the problem becomes the number of repeats–which starts to irritate my knees. Not to mention the fact that I’m working out on an area rug, so rotating also becomes an issue (unless I wear the dance socks for shoes).

So while I’ve only done half the program, these are the things that I like (and dislike) about Barre Blend:

Likes:

Every day is a ‘new’ workout–the program was filmed live for 8 weeks.

There is a low impact option and a modifier to follow

The first four weeks the workouts are only 30 minutes long; the last four weeks (which I haven’t done yet) the time range is 35-40 minutes. So all-in-all, the program is between 30-40 minutes.

Dislikes:

The number and types of lunges

The barre

The occasional emphasis for nutrition and weight loss

So the first four weeks of the program weren’t my favorite–the last half could be my favorite, but only time will tell. I’m pretty sure that I can handle the program a week at a time and done between other programs. So I will finish the program this year, but broken up into more manageable chunks.

The dislikes are strictly personal–lunges have (and will always) be problematic for me due to my bone structure. My dislike of the ‘barre’ is the fact that mine currently is a chair that I have to keep moving around the room during the workout.

The dislike of the emphasis on nutrition and weight loss, is simply because I’ve removed the word ‘diet’ from my self-talk and vocabulary over a year ago, and I’m working out to help improve (and stabilize) my mental and emotional health–I’m not working out to achieve a certain number on the scale or clothing size.

With ‘pausing’ the last four weeks of Barre Blend, I decided I would move on and try CIZE, which is Shaun T’s dance program that he released three years ago (I think) with Beachbody. While I will never be a professional dancer (and will probably never dance in public in general)–I can at least learn to dance with my two left feet in the sanctuary of my own house.