Called to the barre
I’ll be honest - I don’t have a fitness background at all. AT ALL. Historically (turning 40 this week - I feel I can now justify the term) I have put myself firmly in the ‘exercise ain’t my bag’ camp.
Jen and I lived together when she was training for the New York marathon many moons ago - I watched her training from the safety of the sofa, generally scowling at her over a cigarette. Suitably impressed but with absolutely no intention of ever purposefully breaking a sweat.
At some point a few years ago - after three children (including twins, pelvic floor disaster) - I made myself start running. It was awful. Having never run before, I literally couldn’t hobble for 5 minutes in a go. But I was pretty dogged about it, possibly a little obsessed at points, and I got fitter, felt stronger and loved that feeling. I don’t run obsessively now, mainly because my knees don’t thank me. I do still enjoy a jog but I’m not interested in PBs anymore - it’s all about the peace of being on my own for half an hour. And I try to keep fit enough that I can enjoy it.
In real life I’m a barrister - a second career-er, called to the bar a couple of years ago. It’s a pretty stressful job and unpredictable in terms of my diary and workload. It’s fair to say that it’s been a bit of a scramble with three under 10 and my fitness definitely took a bit of a backseat while I tried to get to grips with everything.
When Jen first started banging on about barre I was totally sold on it. Sounded right up my street - low impact, strengthening, toning, and efficiently effective. I tried one barre class locally (I live in Oxford) but it was slow, repetitive, and frankly not remotely as fun as the classes Jen was doing from her studio.
When MYATB hit the internet I jumped straight on the bandwagon and I’ve been plié-ing my way through lockdown like the rest of you. These days when I’m not working at the bar, I’m at the barre (or ironing board in my case). The only common ground being that the outfits are invariably equally ridiculous.
It’s been quite something watching MYATB take off. I know the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into it - Jen has earned every inch of the success. But there are only so many hours in the day so I’m getting involved to help it keep growing and innovating and finding new ways to give you more of what you love/want/need. You won’t see much of me as I’ll be largely behind the scenes (I will NOT be appearing on camera in my lycra whatever evil plans Jen has in mind) but I’ll be there in the background and I’m looking forward to getting to know you all.
X Alice