Xtend Barre Old Town with Uli - My Favorite Barre Class!

Recently, I was chatting with my lovely friend Uli (on the right), who despite always looking like she is in fabulous shape, has never been particularly into working out (luckily, she is delightful and kind, so you don't get bitter that this woman is effortlessly pretty and fit). To my surprise, she shared that in recent months she'd taken up barre at Xtend Barre in Old Town. https://www.xtendbarre.com/Of course, I wanted to take a class with her asap!

We showed up on a rainy Wednesday night.  The rain put a damper on our pre-barre stroll around Old Town, but the class definitely made up for the raindrops! The delightful instructor, Melissa…looked terrifying - extremely fit, energized and strong.  Great attributes in an instructor, but also intimidating attributes.

Full disclosure - I'm in my second trimester of pregnancy, and I am still learning the things I can and cannot do in barre classes (any exercise classes for that matter).  That is also why I'm now in the habit of using bags to cover my stomach, even though I am no longer in the stage of hiding my pregnancy.  Note awkward picture. Super natural place for a woman to hold a bag, right?  And it makes total sense for her to be holding it for a picture, right?

I've found most studios offering any type of exercise classes can offer me alternatives to exercises that I cannot do, which are exercises involving twisting at the torso and laying on my back.  There has only been one exception to this so far, and that was a very sweet girl teaching a class I will not name at a studio that I will not name.  When I asked for alternatives she said she had no clue what to do, but recommended I just plank for the entire abs section to be safe.   I went with that suggestion.  Never again.

To my delight, I disclosed my pregnancy to Melissa and she handed me an entire alternative exercise book!  With pictures.  A step-by-step picture book.  Thank you, Xtend Barre. She told me that I was free to do any of the exercises in the book as substitutions for exercises prohibited by my pregnancy.  She even let me keep the book next to me while we worked out!  Admittedly, I ended up spending most of the abs section looking at the book with excitement trying to determine what to do and not actually doing anything.  But next time, just wait, I will be a machine...or get super excited looking at the picture book again.  Regardless, it is exciting to know they have the book.

Xtend Barre was a pretty traditional barre class.  You use the barre and ball, as well as body weight.  To me, what set the class apart, and one of my favorite parts of the class, is the use of small, circular resistance bands in creative ways.  See the bands around the participants in the picture for a visual (best picture I could find on Google images of the bands).

For example, we started the class by taking the resistance band and holding it like a bow and arrow.  We would pull back with one arm as if about to shoot. We repeated that motion, and then we switched the stationary hand and the pulling hand. I have no images, but the first thing that came to mind was Katniss Everdeen (because I am a mature adult and she is the closest I've ever come to archery). 

We eventually moved the bands to our lower half.  One of the hardest things we did was put the resistance band around our thighs and do side squats and curtsies. Uli, who is now quite the barre badass placed two
resistance bands around her thighs for the plié squats and curtsies. I only used one, and it was so hard.  Also, who is the person who was like, "I like curtsies, but I think we should make them more aggressive?"  And then proceeded to wrap multiple massive rubber bands around their legs.  Some sadistic genius, thats who. I never really knew the huge advantage to resistance bands until Xtend Barre.  And by advantage, I mean pain they can induce for days.

I really liked the use of the resistance bands because they incorporated exercises you could do independent of the barre. Don't get me wrong I love the barre aspect of barre, but it was really nice to have workouts that if I felt so inclined I could do at home.  Admittedly, I don't own resistance bands, so there is still a major hurdle to doing these exercises at home, but I do love that if it ever strikes me to purchase bands, I can now torture myself with archery and curtsies.

Thank you, Uli. I cannot wait to go back to Xtend Barre!  It is currently my favorite studio in the DMV.

The Bar Method - I secretly own fancy socks

I have a theory that for every cupcakery in the D.C. Metro area there is a yoga studio, and for every donut shop, a barre studio.  This symbiotic relationship to keep these places in business.  It is like my dentist who serves cookies in the office, or the podiatrist I recently went to who told me he owned six shoe stores that sold high heels.

If my theory rings true, then the bar method is the Dunkin' Donuts of barre. It was here first.  I say that based on nothing except that it was the first barre studio I went to after I moved up to D.C. many years ago. My friend Yasmeen dragged me there. She is a barre guru.

Timing and Classpass worked out, so I decided to make my triumphant return to the bar method in 2017.

I must say that everyone at the bar method is incredibly nice, from the instructors to the class participants.  I did have to laugh to myself when a friendly woman in my class noticed my socks (see right) while we were waiting to go into the class and struck up conversation with me.  She asked me if my fancy webbed socks kept my feet cooler. She said she noticed they were in fashion this year and asked me if I was pleased that I purchased my socks.  I politely told her yes and changed the subject.  I kept it short because my socks are probably 6 years old and likely were purchased on super sale at the Reebok outlet.  They probably look "webbed" because they are cheap and faded.  They were chosen because they were the only pair I happened to have in my gym bag that day, and I was not spending $15 on another pair of barre socks. 

It was a delightful surprise to know that I looked incredibly in fashion during class, rather than like some lady who clearly forgot her socks.  After five-second internet search, I determined she mistook my socks for something like these:

The nice lady may need her eyes checked because these are much sleeker.  My five-second Google Images search of mesh barre socks also revealed there are numerous awesome socks out there.  Who knew?

And yes, the bar method requires socks.  The studio is carpeted, so you might want them for your own comfort/sanitation. I know I usually tout free feet, but carpeted studios are the exception for me.   

The workout was great! My butt and my triceps were particularly sore for days after the workout.  All barre workouts are challenging, but not too many leave you sore for days. The bar method has been around a long time, and they obviously know what they are doing.

One of the exercises that I didn't feel so much at the time, but secretly must have been crushing me went like this:

1.  Fold up a thin mat (so it is about 3 inches thick)
2.  Kneel and put your left knee on the mat (hold the barre for balance).
3.  Your right leg is also in the kneeling position and should be hanging about 3 inches off the ground over next to the mat.   Move your right leg forward and backward an inch. Repeat.  Sore. For. Days.

I'm not sure if that makes sense, but that is the best that I can do for a description.  Maybe I should start videoing or photographing various exercises because sometimes my words just don't cut it.

I returned the following week, and I had another awesome workout, but I won't be returning for a while. 

I'm in my second trimester of pregnancy. The first time I attended the class I let the instructor of the class know as soon as I walked into the room. Well, to clarify I let an instructor that was near me taking the class know. I told the actual instructor when she asked my name because she had never seen me before and she wants the name of all new participants, which  is semi-common in workouts.  Both instructors were tremendously helpful to myself and three other pregnant ladies in the classroom. They showed us alternative exercises for everything.

I immediately signed up for the same class the following week.  When I checked in the woman at the front desk informed me she was teaching the class.  I was a little surprised that the instructor was different since it was the same date/time/class as the previous week.  I informed her that I was expecting and would need alternatives pointed out (eventually, I'm sure I will learn them all).  She then asked me for my doctor's note.  I was really surprised.  To date, no workout studio has asked for a note from my doctor.  I'm sure it is just an extra precaution, but I already signed the waiver to workout. The instructor did allow me to workout that day, but was adamant that if I came back I needed a doctor's slip. 


For me, finding time to workout can be difficult.  I am not going to schedule a special doctor's appointment to get a note, or wait until my next appointment in hopes that I remember to ask for a note for a barre class.  There are too many other options for barre that I can drop into  just letting them know I'm pregnant.  I am sure if I was a member of the bar method it would be more worthwhile for me to submit the note, but for someone who might randomly drop in a few times per month, it is not worth the hassle.  I wonder how they monitor those whose medical situations have changed.  I would assume a pregnant woman who is no longer able to take barre would just stop going and not keep it up because they had a dated note? 

I recommend the bar method if you are looking for an exceptionally tough barre workout.  I'm sure I will catch a class at the bar method again when I'm not pregnant.  In the meantime, I will hit up one of the other many studios in the area that are on Classpass for my weekly barre fix.