I am an avid Pure Barre attendee. Fortunately, I have a partner who supports this addiction rather than groan about it when I wake up early on a Sunday morning to get my workout in. It’s not uncommon to hear him cheering, “Yes girl! You get those 250 classes!” as I leave the house to make it to barre by 8:30 a.m. However, one thing he was never expecting to do is lift, tone, burn alongside me at barre. Yet that is exactly how we spent our Valentine’s Day!

A couple times a year Pure Barre hosts Bring on the Men classes where there is a discounted guest fee to bring your man (brother, dad, husband, boyfriend, etc.) to barre to see just how hard it can really be. They typically host these classes around Valentine’s Day and over the summer.

I convinced Jared to come to barre with me last summer and he HATED it! The only thing that kept him going was knowing we were getting dinner at Shake Shack after. His exact words following his first barre class were, “Never sign me up for anything ever again.”

So what did I do when another opportunity came around to Bring on the Men? I used the persuasive nature of Valentine’s Day to convince him to come to barre with me with a simple, “Valentine’s date at barre?” How could he say no?! He begrudgingly agreed in the spirit of the holiday.

Throughout the class he tried his best, but it was so hard for me not to laugh anytime I caught a glimpse of his lack of coordination in the floor to ceiling mirror. Any time I caught his eye during transitions he gave me a silent help me plea. At one point he asked how much time was left in class and I had to break it to him that we were only half way through.

It definitely made Jared realize just how hard Pure Barre is. He spent a good portion trying to catch his breath and figure out what was even going on. And who knew those little 2 lbs. weights could feel so heavy? I must admit it makes me feel even more fit doing Pure Barre alongside someone who has absolutely no idea what they’re doing.

After the class, he had a few thoughts:

• It was a little easier than last time, but that’s not saying much.
• “I don’t understand how you know what to do! The instructor coughs and everyone knows to change positions!”
• The warm up abs are easily the worst part of class.
• “I remembered abs are the last part of class so I got really happy when we started doing abs.”

Thankfully Bring on the Men is only two times a year so I think I might be able to convince him to keep this tradition alive. I get a good laugh out of it and get to show off how badass Pure Barre actually is. And Jared gets enough of a workout to last him the next 6 months until the next barre class.