Pilates studio in Yeonje, Busan: 1:8 barre vs 1:4 class, Yucore

As promised in part 1, here's part 2 of my review of ❝ Yucore Barre & Pilates ❞, which I visited during my Busan trip ◡̈

Before you visit, let's cover the most important thing you need to know first.

Two buildings? Where each Yucore Barre & Pilates class is held

Yucore Barre & Pilates is split across two buildings on either side of a single crosswalk. Pilates classes are on the 2nd floor of the left building, and barre classes are on the 3rd floor of the right building.

• ☑︎ 2nd floor, left building — Pilates classes
• ☑︎ 3rd floor, right building — Barre classes

Which building you need depends on which class you're taking, so if it's your first visit, be sure to double-check the building and floor ˗.ᐟ.ᐟ

Pilates vs barre: which class is right for you?

The biggest feature of Yucore Barre & Pilates is that you can choose between two class types. Having tried both barre and Pilates myself, here's who I think each one suits ◡̈

Take barre if you're this kind of person...𖤐

Barre is an active group class run with the music pumped up a bit. It's perfect for forcing your tension up when you don't feel like exercising after work or you're feeling a lot of internal resistance.

You use various small props to hit muscles you don't normally use, all over your body. If you're not used to bodyweight exercise with props, this alone will give you plenty. of. stimulation ◡̈

1:8 barre morning class review

The Yucore barre class was so popular in the morning that the 1:8 capacity was basically full ◡̈ Given the residential area, there were a lot of housewife members.

The instructor built a solid sequence from stretching to high-intensity movement tailored to the members' level, so I lost track of time while sweating it out ˗.ᐟ.ᐟ

Barre as a workout blends together movements from weight training, Pilates, yoga, and ballet,

so if you've already done weight training, yoga, or Pilates before, you'll probably be able to follow along faster than you'd expect ◡̈

Take Pilates if you're this kind of person...𖤐

Pilates, on the other hand, feels more like going to train or study.

You confront your body's imbalances head-on, and enduring that process is genuinely tough 🥺 But within that endurance, you start to sense how your muscles are being controlled.

The tempo is relatively slow, and the only sound in the room is the instructor's cueing, so you can focus purely on the stimulation in your own body. If you get a thrill from feeling the tiny tremors of your muscles in this quiet atmosphere, then you, my friend, are a Pilates weirdo and proud of it . . ෆ

Weekday morning 1:4 Pilates — does teaching suffer compared to 1:3?

Yucore's weekday morning 1:4 Pilates class didn't lose any teaching density even with one more person in the room. When I recently took a 1:3 class in Seoul, the density of individual attention was really great. So I assumed the 1:4 class would be less detailed,

but in the end it came down to ❝ the instructor's individual skill ❞ ◡̈

This was a class where not a single minute or second was wasted — touches and corrections were given tailored to each member's body. I recorded in detail in part 1, as a kind of workout log, what corrections and teaching I received ⠄⠄⠂💙

If my Busan trip had been longer, I would have signed up for a private lesson . .ᐟ.ᐟ

Saturday morning class: 3 out of 4 spots attended

Since this was the last day of my Busan trip and I had plans to eat at Marine City in the afternoon, I signed up for Yucore Pilates' first Saturday morning class.

Out of a capacity of 4, only 3 people showed up .ᐟ.ᐟ It unintentionally turned into a 1:3 class 🥹 Weekend mornings tend to leave your body a lot stiffer than usual, so the instructor worked in stretching appropriately throughout the sequence. When you only ever work out alone at the gym, it's easy to get stuck in habit and inertia, losing the ability to objectively assess yourself.

But in a group class like this, when you hit your limit and want to give up, seeing the person next to you push through makes you finish it out too ˗.ᐟ.ᐟ And on the flip side, when I had a bit more in the tank, I'd find myself silently cheering the others on.

This ❝ unspoken solidarity ❞ built up while sweating together in the same space might just be the real appeal of group classes 🩵

If you're looking for a proper barre and Pilates class, save Yucore Barre & Pilates for later! ෆ