Female Filter: Newbie at strength training. What blogs/sites should I look at?

Don't knock barre 'till you try it....Like I said in my first post, my experience with barre was very convincing. Granted, I am very petite and don't weigh a lot to begin with, so the results were visible fairly quickly. I took barre classes for 4 months and while I didn't notice much visible difference week-to-week, by the end of a couple of months I saw a visible difference. I don't hesitate to say that I was transformed. My butt was lifted, plus my thighs, calves, abdominal muscles, back, and upper arms were all visibly toned. My hip strength improved dramatically, lower back pain disappeared and I had more energy to boot. I was in the best shape ever and I felt great. And.... I was strong. Much more so that I had been before I started.

I can see why women who are into strength training diss barre. I get it. I'm not enticed by Lululemon branding, I don't wear makeup at the gym and expensive high end fitness studios make me gag.

But.

I was an injured runner who needed something to stay in shape while I figured out what was going on with my legs and I was directed by all of the doctors I saw to lay off the high impact, repetitive stuff (i.e. no running). Turned out I had compartment syndrome and had to have surgery. So there I was in a barre studio, feeling very out of place at first. After a few sessions, I was pleasantly surprised - I really enjoyed the community atmosphere, the music, the personalized attention you get from teachers at the studio, making friends and getting in shape... it just pumps you up and it's fun. And effective. You get out of it what you put into it. And it's not for sissies. Barre absolutely kicked my @. If it wasn't so freakin' expensive I'd still be doing it. In my area, is at least $150 a month and that's why I stopped - not because it wasn't effective, but because the cost is obscene.

Barre fusion is another story. I just took a class like that at my gym, and barely broke a sweat. In an actual barre studio, I was dripping with sweat when I left the class and I felt like a rock star. Barre fusion? Not so much. I did notice that the woman who taught the barre fusion class was 1.) teaching to some older non-athletic folks, 2.) caught herself saying things like "oops, can't say pulse" and 3.) laid way off the repetitions. #1 tells me that she's watering it down for folks who are older/not as in shape. #2 tells me that she's not a certified barre instructor (or she is, and can't teach barre in any place but one that is branded as a barre studio. #3 tells me that in general, she's not trying to scare people off with a really difficult workout. Which is my experience in general at classes at the gym.

TL;DR:
1.) Barre kicked my @, with results, in a relatively short amount of time.
2.) Barre fusion is worth a try, but don't confuse it for the real thing.
3.) Don't knock barre 'till you try it.