Boston Buzz: Xtend Barre Newbury Street

On a Saturday in December, I braved the crowds on Newbury Street…no, not for shopping, but to try out the recently opened, Xtend Barre.

Opening on Newbury Street in the last few months, the Xtend Barre Newbury Street studio is absolutely gorgeous. Clean, white décor with turquoise accents make for a super fresh look in the reception area. The studio is bright and filled with natural light from a set of windows on one wall. Two walls covered with mirrors to check your form and one wall of exposed brick finish off the extremely pretty studio.

Xtend Barre offers a number of classes at their studio. Their signature barre class runs 55 minutes and brings together dance, pilates, ballet and barre elements for a killer workout that will leave you shaking. The class starts off with a very dance/ballet inspired warm up that gets your heart rate going. The class then focuses on major muscles groups, from upper body, lower body and core, using the barre, a ball, resistance band and weights. Get ready to hear the words “Bend and Xtend” a lot during class and you’ll be good to go :).

While I’m not a frequent barre go-er, there were a few things I noticed about Xtend Barre that differed from similar classes I had gone to. First, there were parts that seemed a bit more fast paced than other barre classes I had attended. The class has choreography that moves fast and certain times you will be encouraged to do moves in “double time”. Personally, I loved this feeling of getting my heart rate pumping and maybe a bit more cardio then I’d think of having in barre. Secondly, the class uses ballet terminology pretty frequently- tendu, plie, releve, passe are used a ton during class, as well as references to the different positions. No need to have dance experience (though I’m sure former ballet dancers would love it), you can pick up all the terms in your first class.

In addition to barre, the Newbury Street studio offers yoga and TRX classes, which they call Xtend Suspend. I took yoga with Izzy and it was a great vinyasa class, which I am looking forward to taking again. The Xtend Suspend class was also very tough (in a good way!) and my first time using TRX suspension equipment. I’ve heard great things about TRX and was excited to try this class- picture suspending a portion of your body while you do strength training exercises, like a plank. I am definitely planning to go back for another round of Xtend Suspend. While I felt tired after, I also felt very accomplished and strong.

There is also a Babies on Board class which I (obviously) did not get to try, but I think it is such a cool idea. Being able to bring your baby to class and get your sweat on shows how Xtend wants to make their class accessible to all women!

It’s the New Year and so many of us have resolutions that focus on our fitness or health. Xtend Barre is a great addition to your workout schedule and with a variety of classes, you are sure to find something you’ll love. I went to class yesterday to kick off the first full week of 2016 on the right foot :). The Newbury location is offering two weeks unlimited classes for $49 right now, which would be a great way to test the studio. They are also on ClassPass if you use that. Not in Boston? No worries- Xtend Barre has 52 locations and also offers an online video membership so you can “bend and xtend” wherever you are!

If you give Xtend Barre a try, I’d love to hear what you think! Maybe I’ll see you at the barre 🙂

xoxo, Jenna