Group X Barre w/ Hannah Sansone (Full Potential Fitness and Nutrition) | Natalie Jill

Hi, guys. Natalie, Jill. Here on Happy Healthy Fit. Today, I've got a special guest. My good friend Hannah, with full potential, fitness and nutrition. And she has been talking to me forever about this barre. Ballet kind of thing, or at least I thought it was some kind of bar ballet kind of thing, bar workout. But she's told me that she's a bartender, and not the kind of bartender that you all are thinking the kind in the fitness sense. So she's convinced me to learn a little bit more about this. She put some funky, weird socks on me. And we're gonna learn why this is some beneficial stuff and why I need to include this.

Well, yes. So we're not wearing traditional sneakers to work out. We're wearing socks. They have little grippies on the bottom. And so when we go into the classroom, the classroom is a lot like a ballet studio. It has wood floors, there's ballet bars, but we're not pirouetting across the room. It's a very athletic, very. A toning workout. It's a conditioning workout. I was drawn to barre because originally I was a runner, and I found myself with some weaknesses that I needed to resolve. And a good, good friend of mine said, try this great studio, studio barre and see what you think. And I was really, really doubtful, as.

I have been and as I've been telling you, because I think athlete and running and hardcore, and then I think ballet, it just seems so opposite. But it's. I guess it's not ballet. It's just based on some.

The foundation is in ballet. And you know me, I'm a cardio junkie, and I have been. And I realized my need to tone those synergists, those muscles that support all of those, the prime movers that we need when we run or when we're cycling or when we're doing anything else. And so the foundation is ballet, but the workout itself, at least where I teach and the way that I teach, is very athletic and conditioning. And so the foundation really starts with the tuck. We'll call it the tuck. And what it is, is it's not just clenching your glutes together. It's really a posterior pelvic tilt. And so you're standing there, and you really. You bring that whole pelvis forward and the shoulders come back. It's about beautiful posture, and those abs come in, and it's really about multitasking. So. So I'm a busy mom. You're a busy mom. I need a way to multitask and get my whole body conditioned in one Solid hour.

And do you find this type of workout has helped you with your runs and your other.

Unbelievable. I started doing this workout again, a total doubter, and all of a sudden, I was just shaving seconds off my run, off my minute pace, and my running improved, my endurance improved, and suddenly my hip flexors weren't hurting anymore, my hamstrings weren't hurting anymore, and it wasn't such a struggle to do those longer runs. And then everything else started to improve. And suddenly I looked in the mirror and I went, oh, my gosh, things are really changing. And that's something I completely didn't expect.

Wow. And that's just part of why I wanted to do this today is I'm checking out her arms and I'm getting serious arm envy. So I thought, okay, what is she doing? What is she doing?

You may have arm envy. I've ab ended, so we'll go with that.

So show me some of the stuff. What are we doing?

So we talked about that tuck, right? We. It's not about clenching your tushy together. It really is about that posterior pelvic tilt where we're bringing in the abdominals and we're closing off the ribcage, and we're standing nice and tall. Let's come over to the mantle. Usually we'd have a ballet barre that we. But we're going to gently balance. Zip your legs up really, really nice and tight. Come onto your highest, highest tippy toes. Beautiful ballerina stance. Bring that hand to your hip just so you have that balance. I'm not a ballerina.

I'm trying.

Today I play1 on YouTube. I was never a dancer, so. So I learned all this. Shannon Higgins, the founder of where I currently practice, she was a professional ballet dancer and a personal trainer. She really combines this all together. So I know you've been standing there for a while. Bend your knees and sink your seat down. Keeping those heels high, high, high. Bring them up high. Yep. Don't let them fall. And you bring the shoulders back and pull on the abdominal and give me that tuck we talked about. And hold it there, hold it there. And now come down an inch and up an inch and down and down. And you hold it. It's a little. Little tiny isometric movements. And so they're all forced to work together when you're in that position. And maybe you bring your arm overhead. Beautiful posture. Now, normally, we wouldn't be balancing on a mantle, but maybe you can bring that other hand up. Oh, boy. And little pulses. Yeah, I thought it'd get balance until right now. Little pulses, little pulses. Keep your heels high, high, high. Beautiful. Yes. It's like I have to pee. Let's bring it down to the floor, though, because it's a little bit easier sometimes to feel it. So maybe head towards that direction. Come on down onto all fours. Hands underneath your shoulders, knees underneath your hips. So a nice neutral spine here. Get that out of the way for you. Nice neutral spine here. I'm going to take this ball and I'm going to place it behind your knee. And if it falls out, I'll put it back. So give me that tuck we were talking about you. And bring that knee up and bring that heel to seat. Now, it doesn't matter. It's not about the height. It's about the tight flex your foot. And now hold it there. And every single time you tuck, lift the knee a little. So it's a little combination move. You tuck and lift, tuck and lift, tuck and lift. Maybe you add a squeeze at the ball at the top. Tuck, lift and squeeze. Tuck, lift and squeeze. And now imagine if an instructor came by and tried to steal that ball from you. And just hold it there, hold it there and just tuck.

We're getting the but thigh.

The but thigh. The but thigh. We call it the smile line. So we're carving out that smile line and everyone leaves going, gosh, my smile line just got a little bigger. I'm smiling. So maybe you point your toe and do little, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny tucks. And remember, you want to keep that tuck. Nice, neutral spine, right? And you feel that right in your but thigh.

Oh, yeah, right in the.

In the. And maybe you travel out for two and in for two. Maybe travel out for two and don't let me steal your ball. Travel out for two and in for two and out. Hold it out and little tiny lifts there. Little tiny lifts and hold it up there and just squeeze the ball. Squeeze the ball. Squeeze and hold. Squeeze and hold. Squeeze and hold. And you can see you just start to sweat. Oh, yeah, you just start to sweat. And you can come on down.

Whoa.

So that's a little tiny move that we might do in barre.

Love it. That. I definitely. I put that in my core and I felt it in my hamstrings, in my thigh area that everyone wants to address.

And a lot of our moves are done obviously standing with the leg fully extended. Sometimes they're done with bands, so you add a little extra resistance. I know a couple of people who use multiple bands or weights behind the knees, so it's all really, really simple equipment that doesn't take a lot and a beginner to an advanced person can do it because there's all different levels. I have so many different levels of people coming into the class and taking it with me. Everybody you could think of every body type, men and women. Wow. Yeah. And so that's why I love barre and I'm a full addict.

Yeah. So those moves you showed me, two moves that you suggest that people can actually try at home.

Two moves that I suggest? Well, some of it's on our back and I know that we're mic'd up a little here, but you could do that same tabletop. If you have trouble staying up on your hands, you can always come down to your forearms and you can try taking. Obviously, if you don't have a ball with you and extend the leg out long and do the same move where you're bringing it up. And remember, it's little, little tiny isometric moves. It's not about how high you get the leg or how low you're staying within about a 1 to 2 inch range. And I can show you something else if you want. Let's see. I can come on down. Come on down to your back. Can you do that back this way? Yeah. Come on down to your back and leave your hands at your sides and bring those legs up nice and high to about three quarter length. And now diamond shape your legs like this, like that. And so we're going to show you a little abdominal exercise. Maybe grab the sides of the mat. Just. Yeah. So first start out with just a little tuck. A little tuck, A little tuck. It's tiny. It's tiny. But you're engaging those lower abdominals.

I can feel it.

Right, and now every single time you tuck, maybe pull on the mat, get a little bit of a stronger tuck, Little bit of a stronger tuck. Right, and now bring those legs together, straighten the legs and point those toes up and get those hips off the mat. All one move. Little, tiny, tiny, tiny. Again, it's not about the height, it's about the tight. Nice. So that's a really beautiful abdominal move.

That love doesn't feel so beautiful right now.

Perfect. Perfect. Yeah.

Nice.

Yeah.

Okay, now explain these socks.

Why do we wear these grippy.

The grippy socks?

Well, we're not wearing sneakers because obviously we spend a lot of time on high, high heels, and so sneakers make that virtually impossible. The grippy socks are because we're on wood floors. We don't want you to slide all over. Gives you a little bit of a better traction. People wear normal socks all the time, but they do find that they tend to slide a little bit more.

I love it. Thank you, Hannah, for torture. I'm already sweating. I did so ballet. Well, not ballet, but I thought it was ballet with black socks. Yeah. And we worked at the thighs a little bit and I'm sweating. So thanks for showing up. Where can people find you if they want to learn more? If they want to learn more from you, take one of your classes. Where can they find you?

I'd love them to come and join me@full potentialfitnessandnutrition.com I also have a Facebook page, full potential fitness and nutrition. And I list all of my classes on my Facebook page every Sunday.

And I'll list all of her contact information below. Thanks, everyone. Bye.