Photo by Wandoo Makurdi Theresa Thomas (foreground) and Lyndsey Posada (black shirt) grit their way through a Pilates exercise incorporating a TRX suspension trainer, as classinstructor Chrissy Bruce monitors their execution.

Chrissy Bruce, the coordinator of two Pilates classes offered at the Barber Physical Activity Center, did not want thepatrons of her class to lose one of itstwo-days-a-week class after summer scheduling of programs at the gym cost her the ability to use one of the rooms.

‘‘We had to make room in the summer schedule for different [programs,] said Bruce, who’s taught Pilates for five years. ‘‘[The gym’s management] didn’t have room for the Wednesday class anymore so the compromise was to bring the Pilates outside.”

Bruce’s resolution was to incorporate TRX suspension trainers, something she said she had always wanted to do, into the mix.

‘‘TRX has been around for a while ... and you can use it to do a lot of different things,” Bruce said. ‘‘I’ve [wanted] to use the suspensions for a while, but I wasn’t sure that we were ready to go to it; so this is kind of the little push that we needed.”

With the suspensions attached to a pull up bar, individuals are guided through a series of maneuvers for 30 minutes. The exercises begin at a slow pace, and then carefully work up into a faster one while suspended in the air.

‘‘When you do it on the floor, the floor will help stabilize you,” said Bruce. ‘‘When you do it on the suspension, there’s nothing to help stabilize you at all. It’s actually a lot harder.”

‘‘It was good [but] it was hard,” said Theresa Thomas. ‘‘It strengthens your core, and I need to work on that more. This is a good alternative; this is justanother form of working your core.”

The overall goal of the class is toimprove balance faster than the regular Pilates class, said Bruce. Scheduling the class out in the open was just a way of taking advantage of the nice weather in the absence of an indoor venue, she said.

‘‘Your ... core improves everything,” Bruce said. ‘‘It affects everything ...because it’s centralized. So any activity that you want to do, the better yourcore the better you’re going to be at your activity.”

Bruce’s only other advice: pack a lot of sunscreen and get ready to feel theimprovements.

The Pilates Clinic is held Wednesday’s from 11:30 a.m. —— noon. For information on the class or other programsavailable at Barber, call 703-784-3780.