Ellen Barrett Let's Move!

This Stunned Me!

March 17, 2025 ellen
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This weekend, while watching college basketball with my sports-obsessed family, I spied a horrendous slogan, written front and center in bold, on an entire team’s sweatshirt, that read NOTHING EASY.  Of course, I was like, “How did that get approved?” If I was the coach, I would never allow my players to wear such a low vibe, buzzkill statement across their heart centers. Talk about misdirecting focus and setting an entire team up for a major slog! (And they lost BTW.)  Easy or...

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My Longevity Secret

December 4, 2024 ellen
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Most of my fit pro colleagues have retired. Almost everyone I started teaching with in the fitness world is long gone from teaching and training people. Some of them are still in the industry, but have acquired more behind-the-scenes/ corporation administrative jobs.  The way I see it, there are three main reasons for this: 1. they make more money doing other things and that’s a priority. 2. they don’t want such a physical job anymore and found another passion. 3. Their...

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Ellen Barrett Calm Cardio

Calm Action

October 7, 2024 ellen
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The British government, during World War II, created a poster that read KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. It was intended to boost the morale of the British citizens and was widely distributed via newspapers back in the day. We still come across this saying today on throw pillows and memes, and often times, the traditional saying is altered a tad to things like, “Keep Calm and Buy the Bag” or “Keep Calm and Call Your Mother.”  It’s fun...

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“Feel Good” Comes First

October 3, 2024 ellen
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“Feel good, look great, shine bright” is a phrase I casually started spewing in classes long ago as a way of pumping people up. It organically arose, and I’ve since repeated it again and again. In fact, “feel good, look great, shine bright” is prominently featured on my website and has become my unofficial, three-step formula for empowered wellness…albeit, a bit vague. Step one, feel good so energy flows and any type of action is a delight. Step two, look great….who doesn’t...

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Ellen Barrett Let's Move!

A Great Time for a Coup

August 29, 2024 ellen
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In the US, Labor Day weekend is upon us. Monday (Labor Day) is commonly a day off, and it’s known as the summer’s send off, where people barbecue, lounge by the pool or kick back at the beach. Ironically, it’s about not laboring.  It has occurred to me that I’ve never ever had an un-laborous Labor Day weekend. It has always felt unsettled as it is a major cusp, where some things are leaving and new things are coming. There’s a subtle panic of,...

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All Levels All the Time

August 12, 2024 ellen
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I advise not labeling your fitness level, or anybody else’s for that matter. What’s “beginner” anyway? Someone could have been taking Pilates class for years and still call themselves a beginner. And what does “advanced” mean? I had a legit professional cyclist take my class last week. He raced in the Tour de France and had big sponsorship from a bike manufacturer, but he struggled to sit cross-legged at the starting line of yoga.  Fitness...

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How to Be a Powerful Woman

August 4, 2024 ellen
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There’s a term in our culture, a woman’s intuition, that references how women can be extra clued into an inner knowing. In fact, upon googling a woman’s intuition, the first thing that pops up is: feminine energy is intuitive. However, to throw a wrench in it all, when you scroll down on that very same page, you’ve got a sponsored medical site that avers, “There’s no such thing as a woman’s intuition.”  Well, as a woman, and also as...

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A New 45Minute Workout

July 22, 2024 ellen
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Pilates Fusion has arrived, and it’s the type of workout I teach regularly. It’s effective, it feels good, and it works for just about every body. The Pilates Method is a series or exercises, but it is also a way of looking at the physical body in both a zoomed out/big picture way, and in a zoomed in/micro-focused way. The goal of Pilates is better-ing the body. That includes better body awareness, better movement control, better balance and...

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Ellen Barrett 2024

Make It Make Sense

July 15, 2024 ellen
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When I was a kid, whenever I stayed over at my grandma’s house in Rockville Centre New York, she’s wake up and walk to her neighborhood church, every single morning without fail. I’d scratch my head about it, because six days out of the week, there was no mass or service. She’d go regardless, service or not, and simply sit in a pew all by herself, holding her rosary beads. Church was a non-negotiable for...

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How I Watch Sports 🤩

July 11, 2024 ellen
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The only thing playing on the TV in my household is sports – basketball, football, tennis, golf, baseball….there is always a sporting event on the screen. I’ve learned to embrace it, and I’m actually very inspired by athletes. They are outstanding examples of self-mastery. One of the most universal things among the top athletes, no matter what the sport, is they are their own best cheerleader. They give themselves a fist pump, a subtle head nod and a “Let’s...

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