Barre studio in Yeonsan-dong, Busan, tougher than the gym: UCore

Where is UCore Barre&Pilates in Busan?

UCore Barre&Pilates (유코어바레&필라테스) is a body-alignment barre center in Yeonsan-dong, at 346 Gwajeong-ro, Yeonje-gu, Busan, 3rd floor. It is open Mon–Sat 09:00–22:00, closed every Sunday, and there is no parking.

UCore Barre&Pilates exterior and interior

Hello! I visited UCore Barre&Pilates, a body-alignment barre studio in Yeonsan-dong. It turns out UCore has a separate Pilates center and barre center. The photos show the Pilates center, and the barre center is on the 2nd floor of the building across the street.

It's diet season, so for summer they're running a diet motivation event. Good to know!

Go up to the 2nd floor and open the door, and you're in the barre center.

A physiotherapist director with 17 years' experience and posture-correction equipment

UCore Barre&Pilates is run directly by a director with 17 years of experience as a physical therapist. That's why the center is stocked with lots of posture-correction equipment.

Both the Pilates center and the barre center have lots of national certification plaques on the walls. You can train here with confidence!

My favorite thing was that they have protein bars as snacks! Grabbing some protein after a workout sounds perfect :)

What is a barre workout?

I've done Pilates, but barre was my first time, so I was a little nervous. Looking at the ballet barre, I wondered, "Can I really pull off elegant ballet?"

Barre is a low-impact, high-intensity hybrid workout that uses a ballet barre. It blends in Pilates, so there are plenty of small props around too.

The class uses a different prop each day, so every session teaches a new sequence, which made it fun.

How the barre class at UCore Barre&Pilates is structured

The barre class at UCore is built as a lower body – upper body – core – stretching sequence, so it works your whole body efficiently. First you hold the barre and fold down for a stretch that opens up the back of your body. I'd done this a few times in Pilates, but never while holding a ballet barre.

True to its ballet roots, there are lots of moves where you fold your legs down and come back up. When the teacher does it, it looks like elegant ballet- I was flailing...... After that the workout got so intense that I couldn't take any photos ; It was really, really*100 hard.

Verdict: barre is no easy ballet-meets-Pilates class, it's harder than the gym

I'm a 7-year gym veteran. I can say this with confidence. "Barre is harder than the gym." At the gym you set your own intensity and pace, but barre is a group workout, so even if you want to rest, you kind of can't.

Barre is harder than the gym.

Still, moving as if dancing to fast-tempo songs was exciting and fun. And seeing everyone else working hard has a positive effect: I end up pushing harder too. Strength and cardio together to upbeat music means you definitely burn calories. It has a different charm from the gym, so I think I'll keep doing it :)