The Bar Method Back Bay is located on the second floor of 234 Clarendon Street above Drybar. We tell you this because the entrance is not clearly marked, making it difficult to actually get to class. You have to enter through what appears like an apartment building entrance and then follow the discrete signage directing you to the second floor.

When we walked in and asked the receptionist if we could sign up for class.
She responded, “Are you already signed up?”
“No.” We replied.
“Are you using Class Pass?”
“No.” We said.
“Do you want to just buy a single class?”
“Yes.”” We said. And she directed us with a head nod to the locker rooms.

After navigating our own way to the locker room, we waited in silence for class to start with a group of 25 girls. Some browsed gossip magazines, while others posted selfies – not our idea of a pre-class warmup, but to each his own.

Surprisingly, the class flowed seamlessly from start to finish but Sara failed to motivate us to push into that famous “shake zone”. Our heart rates remained low and unfortunately our muscles only started to hit the “shake zone” at the end of each series rather than in the middle where the magic happens.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

The flow of class is similar to other barre classes around town, each muscle group is segmented into their own section. We started with a warm up consisting of stepping in place, high knees, arms flailing around, and ended with a minute plank. We proceeded right into an arm series with light weights (3-5lbs) and followed that with thigh work at the barre with a medicine ball. We finished with a series of glutes and ab exercises capped off with a short stretch.

INSTRUCTOR

Sara Gaynor looked more like Eva Marie from the WWE then a barre instructor. She made us feel welcome right away by introducing herself to all us first timers. But after hearing our names five more times through the class with that bubbly chipper upswing in her voice we wished we hadn’t let her know it was our first time.

STUDIO

The layout of The Bar Method Back Bay studio is not ideal. We found myself bumping into people between the entrance, locker rooms and studio space. Be prepared to say “oh sorry” a few times as you navigate around the not so friendly crowd.

The Barre room is large compared to the tiny waiting area and locker rooms. The fluffy flooring doesn’t keep the cold out. Make sure to grab a hot complimentary coffee to warm up before heading into class. The locker room, although small, are clean and have showers, towels, hairdryers and spa bath products (for purchase via a dispensary).