Safety Tips for Using Free-Standing Ballet Barres

If you’re looking for a great way to improve your flexibility and tone muscles, ballet could just be the ticket. When using free-standing ballet barres in your workout routine, there are a few things you should keep in mind in order to ensure your safety while doing so.

When choosing a material, barres made from structural steel barres will be the sturdiest, while most of the thin-gauge aluminum, PVC plastic and wood alternatives can't quite compare. Even the sturdiest barres can have safety issues, however

If finished poorly, they can stain the hands, pass germs and bacteria along, or become hard to grip. Painting is not a long-term solution, chipping off easily and often coming off in small amounts on hands and legs.  Buying units with a powder coated finish will also help prevent rust and make them easier to clean as well.  All Boss Ballet Barres are fully powder coated in a controlled facility, providing years of a germ-resistant, durable and clean finish.

It’s important to check the edges of a ballet barre in order to make sure they are smooth or capped on the end. This can help you avoid getting poked by sharp edges, and can ensure that children will not bump into them and possibly become injured.  With no square edges, all of our barres avoid this issue entirely.

The feet should NOT be made from rubber when choosing a portable barre. Although rubber feet can help to hold the barre in position on certain surfaces, they can also cause marks to form on the floor beneath.  Using a proprietary polyurethane material, our barre feet are made to be durable and non-marking, regardless of the surface, but especially on expensive dance flooring.

By choosing the right ballet barre, you can ensure your workout will be safe and fun for years to come. For the best selection of ballet barres anywhere around, contact us.

Why You Should Use a Ballet Barre to Get In Shape for the Coming Year

Ballet barres are not just for ballerinas, as nearly anyone can use them to help get in shape. Workout routines that make use of a ballet barre are growing in popularity because they provide tremendous benefits for those who participate in them.

Ballet barre workouts tend to combine yoga and Pilates with dance moves. As a result, you’ll be able to lose weight and tone problem areas such as the hips, thighs and buttocks. Not only that, but you’ll also improve your overall body strength and flatten and tone your abdominals as well.

Improved flexibility is a major draw to ballet barres. As a result, you may find it easier to participate in sports due to your increased range of motion. Enhanced flexibility can also eliminate some of the signs of aging such as stiffness, and result in improved posture as well.

Ballet workouts result in better balance, which means that falls will be less likely. Those who regularly take part in ballet barre exercise can also experience a host of other benefits that can include:

A reduction in lower back pain

• Improved self esteem
• Weight loss
• Increased levels of energy
• Higher levels of endurance
• Stress reduction

These workouts can also incorporate resistance bands, stability balls or free weights for even more intensity. For maximum effectiveness, you should plan on working out on the barre two to three times a week, alternating strength and flexibility training with cardiovascular exercise such as bicycling, running or brisk walking. In less than 30 minutes per day, you can look and feel better than you ever thought possible before. To find the right ballet barre for your workout regimen, contact us.

A Dance Barre Fit for a Princess

What little girl has not dreamed at one time of waking up to discover that she's really a princess? If we are honest, there's probably not a woman among us who would not admit to having fostered such fantasies while growing up. Hence the massive popularity of Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries, a book series which chronicles the adventures of hapless high school freshman Mia Thermopolis. Mia's discovery of her royal heritage and all of the responsibilities that go with it turn out to have a massive -- and hilarious -- impact on her life.

Whether born of literal royal blood or not, every little girl has a princess inside. Girls who dance feel this doubly so, and they long for others to recognize this fact and give them the royal treatment they deserve.

That's why the Boss Princess Barre would be the perfect addition to the bedroom, rec room, or dance studio of the little princess in your life. At a height of 37 inches and with an adjustable lower bar, this barre is perfect for home princess practice, either alone or with a royal court of friends!  And the ability to adjust that lower bar means it can grow with her, as well.

If you're seeking to honor a princess who lives far away, remember that we also offer gift certificates. Taking advantage of this unique gift-giving opportunity can ensure that your thoughtfulness will arrive in a timely manner (via e-mail) and still allow her royal court to assist her in choosing the dance barre that best suits her needs.  This time of year sees us usually running short of Princess Barres for holiday gifts, but we currently still have stock.

As a reminder, we encourage all West Coast orders to be in by Dec. 11, and all East Coast orders by Dec. 15 in order to have them arrive in time for the holidays.

For all of your ballet bar needs, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to serving you!

How to Find the Ballet Barre That is Right for You

For safety and for your own personal satisfaction, it's essential to have the proper ballet barre. Whether it is for your home or studio, you deserve equipment that best suits your needs. The 3 most important characteristics to keep in mind before purchasing a ballet barre:

Type

The first thing you should look for is the type. Pro Barres utilize a larger tube and are designed for maximum strength and stability in a studio or school setting, used by multiple dancers. Another type is the Intermediate Barre. They have high strength and durability to use at home, at a competition or in the studio. Got a little ballerina at home? No problem! The Princess Barre will be a perfect size. Fortunately, Boss Ballet Barres can easily help you choose what type is best for you.

Size

You need to be prepared with the correct size. If you are just practicing in your basement, you will want a smaller length barre. If you own a studio, a larger length barre is probably more efficient and has greater value.Ranging from 4 feet to 14 feet, www.balletbarresonline.com can provide you with the accurate size barre for your needs.  No need to try to adopt your space to a barre; there are enough choices to get the right barre for your space.

Accessories

The ballet barre is only one piece of equipment. When purchasing ballet barre equipment, accessories are also essential. Dollies enable you to relocate your barre from different spaces, or even to a different venue. They are constructed to custom fit your ballet barre. Hex keys are also needed to tightened or loosen the bar perfectly.

Don't stress when looking for ballet barres.  Our website can help you determine your needs and how they can be best met with a variety of ballet barres and accessories. Boss Ballet Barres offers a selection of ballet barres and accessories for you. Contact us so we can help you create your ideal ballet space!

Find the Time for Dance with Our Free-Standing Ballet Barres

These days, it seems we're working harder than we have in decades. While North Americans may not be working as hard as employees in certain areas of Asia, we do in fact have less national holidays, and in general, less days off than many of our European counterparts. Even lunch breaks and vacation days are becoming less and less common in the North American workplace. In fact, many employers are discouraging both lunch breaks and taking vacation days with peer pressure and the idea that a “dedicated worker” craving advancement is one who does not need time off, or have obligations outside of the workplace, causing many workers to feel pressured into giving up these times away from their jobs in order to advance their career.

Despite this, our knowledge of what it takes to stay healthy and live a long life, is growing. We all know that a healthy diet, preventive healthcare and plenty of exercise is the best way to be, and stay healthy. So, while our free time is being limited by more time in the workplace, our commitment to getting good exercise and staying fit hopefully remains intact.

Balancing both work and caring for your health doesn't always go hand in hand. More often that not, you might find that having the time to rush to the dance or fitness studio before, or after work, in order to run routines isn't always an option. Boss Ballet Barres understands the fine line we walk when trying to balance work with finding the time to dance and exercise, which is why our free-standing ballet barres are perfect for today's hectic schedule.

Now you can keep your work schedule and still find time to participate in the excellent exercise that dance provides. By having your own portable, free-standing ballet barre--you don't have to worry about getting to a location with a barre to complete your barre stretches, strength training, or exercises. You simply have to have the space to set up and dance!

Boss Ballet Barres creates high quality, easy to use and assemble ballet barres for all your free-standing ballet barre needs. Our Boss Barre Intermediate line offers a perfect choice for any dancer looking to move their ballet barre from venue to venue, making practicing at home, in studio, at school, or anywhere as easy as the set up. The 8ft Boss Barre Intermediate is not only one of our best selling free-standing barres, it is also ideal for those looking for an adaptable barre for use in many different places.

The 8ft Boss Barre Intermediate was specially designed to meet the needs of users ranging from beginner to professional, and everyone in between. It is so easy to set up, and take down that it only needs one tool (the Boss Hex Key) to do so. This barre is also constructed of high structural strength steel components, making it both versatile and durable enough to last for years to come, unlike some of the much weaker thin-wall aluminum barres available elsewhere.

Never let time, the stress of the work week, or a lack of days off, keep you from the exercise your body and mind needs to stay healthy and happy. If you love dance, like those of us at Boss Ballet Barres love dance--then you know that you can always find time to do what you love, and what make you feel good. With Boss Ballet Barres, we can make your dance practices and routines easier with our line of amazing ballet barres.

Contact us today to discuss all of our ballet barre choices, and let Boss Ballet Barres provide you with the finest quality in free-standing ballet barres.

Tap Into Success With a Workout Bar

For those who realize how athletically rigorous ballet actually is, it will come as no surprise that many professional athletes outside the dance world have appropriated techniques and workouts from the ballet world in order to improve in other areas.  We've mentioned this in our Blog before, but it bears repeating.

Even more successful athletes who credit ballet with a measure of their success:

• Legendary bodybuilder, actor, and political figure Arnold Schwarzenegger took ballet lessons.
• NBA legend Michael Jordan freely admits that his signature slam-dunk jump is actually a borrowed ballet move: "Everyone thought I did that by running and taking off. Actually, it was a ballet move where I jumped up and spread my legs." 
• Just one among many in the NFL who use ballet to strengthen knees, ankles, and feet, Pittsburgh Steelers tackle Steve McLendon states emphatically that ballet is harder than anything he does.
• Junior hockey champion Brooke McArdle has found that ballet moves have given her an increased flexibility that's helped her on the ice. 

With so much evidence pointing to how ballet can increase strength, agility, flexibility, and muscle tone, workout studios across the country would be remiss if they did not install at least one workout bar in order to incorporate ballet moves into their exercise regimens. 

No matter your fitness needs, we have a barre to suit the occasion. For MMA studios, yoga studios or fitness classes, we recommend our Boss Barre Pro series, our strongest and most durable barres that are still easy to move from room to room as needed. For home or individual use, we recommend the portable Boss Barre Intermediate series. And for homes with their own very young junior champions, we offer our compact Boss Princess Barre.

For more information on installing workout bars in your workout space or studio, please feel free to contact us.

Piloxing: The Latest Craze With the Ballet Barre

As you know from some of our earlier blogs, the ballet barre is not just for the sedate classes of your childhood memories anymore. Enter piloxing: a new fitness craze that has come or is coming soon to workout studios across the nation. Think a bit of boxing combined with pilates and dance. Think half pound gloves and balance exercises that involve a ballet barre.

According to several sources, including a recent report in the Richmond Times Dispatch, piloxing was created in California by a Swedish dancer and a celebrity trainer. Instructor trainings are now held around the world and piloxing classes are cropping up around the country. Classes are split between high intensity punches and kicks and the balance and core training found in Pilates and ballet.

Are you the owner of a studio or workout center, looking for a fun and healthy new class to offer your customers? Are you an individual looking for something to learn and practice at home? You'll need a ballet barre.  A Boss Ballet Barre.

The idea of Boss Ballet Barres came in much the same way as piloxing: by finding a creative use for an established, trusted product. With piloxing, a dancer and a trainer came together and asked why can't the benefits from three different disciplines be used together for one awesome workout? With Boss Ballet Barres, a dancer -- the Boss president's award-winning daughter, to be precise -- asked why the strong and trusted Boss steel product lines couldn't be used to make the strongest portable ballet barre available? The answer to both questions: they can! 

For more information on how to get the strongest, most durable ballet barres around, contact us.