Technique Tip: Taking a short break is fine
Align Fitness
When your thighs are burning, your calves are almost cramping, your toes are screaming, and you're gripping your barre or sturdy support like you're hanging off the Empire State Building, you start to think that you cannot possibly do one more rep!
High repetitions with light weights are the hallmark of barre work. This really challenges the endurance of your muscles and the strength of your willpower. Can you keep going through the intensity? Can you lean into the burn rather than try to pretend it's not there?
The subtle intensity of the barre burn sneaks up on even the most fit bodies. But does taking a break mean you fail?
No. Taking a short break - 3-5 seconds during an exercise - is not failure. It is smart. The consequence of not doing this is that you lose your form. Sloppy form does not work your muscles properly. First it's sloppy form, and before you know it, bad habits start forming and you've forgotten how to do the exercise correctly. That is much worse than taking a short break.
One of the most demanding exercises in barre is single leg work. Whether it's front, side or back, single leg work requires a ton of effort on your standing leg. This surprises new students of barre all the time. They mistakenly but understandably think all the work will be in the gesture leg (the leg that's moving). But it's not because all of your body weight being supported on just one leg! That makes your standing leg work like C.R.A.Z.Y.
So rather than losing your concentration on your form (getting sloppy), vary between bending and straightening your standing leg a few times or take a break all together and shake it out for a few seconds. Find your good form again and get back to it! Maintain it for as long as you can, then take another small break before you lose your form.
The more you do barre, the more you get used to this intensity, dare I say, even come to love it. Addicted to it. It is the barre's version of a runner's high.