The Bar Method workout, which has been featured in Self magazine and Seventeen, started with German ballet dancer Lotte Berk. After injuring her back, Berk took her physical-therapy regimen and fused it together with her old ballet workouts. Burr Leonard took this system and modified it in 1991, in an effort to minimize the impact it had on delicate joints. The workout became known as The Bar Method, named for the horizontal barre that ballerinas use to steady themselves during dance routines and astronauts use to practice pole dancing in space. Bar Method workouts combine Berk's original dance conditioning and physical-therapy moves with fast-paced interval training and muscle-building isometrics, and aim to tone physiques without adding bulk.