Oxford is filling up with students to squeeze in that extra summer session class, to boost that GPA up, and to keep reaping the benefits of srat life and avoid dreaded study hours in a frat hall. Another thing soon to be filled? The gym.

Oxford is filling up with students to squeeze in that extra winter session class, to boost that GPA up, and to keep reaping the benefits of srat life and avoid dreaded study hours in a frat hall. Another thing soon to be filled? The gym.

The countdown is on for fall semester. The Turner Center will be overloaded with people eager to look good coming back to school, and there will be more joggers circling campus than squirrels. There are plenty of workouts to choose from: the classic gym circuit of weights, living on the treadmill, channeling your inner track star, or my personal favorite, trying out every fitness class Turner offers. Going to the gym always makes me feel better, but a good fitness class gives me such a zen. Grab some good friends, jump around to good music, and have a great workout buzz  

A new workout craze twirling its way around the country is something called Pure Barre, named for the barre, a stationary handrail that is used during ballet warm up exercises. That’s right. Now we can all feel like ballerinas. We can relive our four-year-old ballet days, except instead of that awful shade of pink recital lipstick smeared on our teeth, we get a more beach-ready bod and a grown up excuse to buy cute ballet attire.

A new workout craze twirling its way around the country is something called Pure Barre, named for the barre, a stationary handrail that is used during ballet warm up exercises. That’s right. Now we can all feel like ballerinas. We can relive our four-year-old ballet days, except instead of that awful shade of pink recital lipstick smeared on our teeth, we get a more beach-ready bod and a grown up excuse to buy cute ballet attirePure Barre is said to be “the fastest, most effective, yet safest way to change your body.” It is an hour-long class, yet it gives you a total body workout. It triggers focus on hips, thighs, seat, abdominals, and arms. The Pure Barre technique is low-impact, protecting your joints by avoiding any bouncing or jumping. Each strength section of the workout is followed by a stretching section, in order to create long, lean muscles. You will melt fat and gain tone without bulking up like a juice head. The technique works to defy gravity (gotta love the Wicked reference) by tapering everything in and lifting it up.    

Basically, Pure Barre is like yoga meets ballet. Sounds perfect to me. While Turner offers plenty of wonderful and effective classes, I’d love to see this workout on the schedule! To learn more about it, simply use that google feature.        .