Rituel

TL;DR: OK Xtend Barre class, didn’t leave feeling exhausted. Expensive for what it was.
Rituel Studio is situated on the other side of a courtyard and not visible right from the street (except for a portion that doesn’t seem to be connected to the main studio that is sometimes used for spinning classes). I arrived in front of the door and all I saw was a digicode and a sign with the studio’s name and number. I checked my email to see if the code to open the door was in the confirmation email but it was not. I guess you have to ask them for the code? Anyway, I was about to call the studio to open the door when some guys were leaving, so I slipped in before the door shut and saw the beautiful studio across the courtyard. It had a couch, some merchandise for sale and cubbies to store your shoes.
Upon arriving, I let the woman at the front desk know it was my first time and she showed me where to put my things and directed me to the studio. It was a nice space with a mirrored wall and ballet barres on the wall similar to barre studios in the US. I chose a spot at the back (non-​mirrored wall). Also, something I found different was that the floor was not carpeted like barre studios in the US. I had socks on but some people were barefoot.
The instructor was English and most of the people in the class seemed to be native English speakers as well. Being American, I had no problem with a class in English. But this wasn’t noted on the website when I signed up, so if I was a French woman who had no English skills, that might put me off if I walked into a class taught in English without knowing ahead of time.
It was my first time doing Xtend Barre so I don’t have anything to compare it to. We started out with a warm-​up, then used light hand weights for upper body work (I grabbed 1.5 kg after the instructor’s suggestion), worked our legs, butt, abs and all the regular things you do in barre class.
I noticed the instructor didn’t point out any modifications for the exercises so if you weren’t able to do a particular move, you just tried your best or modified it on your own. Our instructor had perfect technique and was really fit. The music was fun and fit nicely with the flow of the class, but the instructor didn’t use a mic and sometimes it was hard to hear over the music despite the room being small.
As I mentioned, I chose a spot on the back wall without a mirror. This wasn’t the smartest move because I found myself having to turn around when we were doing moves facing the wall to see the instructor. If my wall had been mirrored I could have seen her in the reflection without having to stop and look behind me.
While I had sweat dripping off my face (room was really hot) and enjoyed myself, the class wasn’t super difficult. I wasn’t sore at all the next day and was disappointed about that! I never found myself looking at the clock and really liked the pace of the class and that we didn’t stay on one exercise too long — each move was maybe only 10 reps so I never got bored. I feel like we only pushed ourselves 70% of the way, though. I never felt like I was pushing myself until failure.
Overall, I felt I did work my muscles — the class wasn’t easy and I found myself taking a quick break and then jumping back into a few exercises. There were challenging moves, but I don’t feel we did enough reps to get a real burn going. I wanted more!

Nice studio with a strange but charmingly Parisian setup. BIG forbidding door, cute courtyard then studio is in the back in a weird little dungeon-​ey warren of rooms. But the spin studio is back outside the big door, maybe 5 doors down the street. Weird arrangement, but the spin studio is in a bright, lovely storefront that was quite nice — cobblestone walls, etc. Bikes weren’t the newest, but were totally serviceable.
The French don’t seem to love the concept of spinning (they’re like — go outside, ride a bike, d’uh) so this was the only studio I could find where you could just take a class without a full-​blown gym membership. Charming street, studio was clean, teacher didn’t really speak English but he tried very hard and, btw, the studio IS in France, so I give him credit for even trying.
Less cool was that the teacher was late, and I understand that’s pretty much a regular occurrence, per the other student. There were only two students in class, including me, which was actually just fine. Class was a pretty decent workout, with good music and a nice interval training section, though no upper body work like I’ve grown to expect from spin classes.
Super nice perk was that the studio has a nice private shower and the people at the desk, etc. spoke perfect English.

Très bonne surprise pour ce petit studio discret sur la Rue des Grandes Chaumière! Ici, on n’est pas dans un de ces grands centres de sport/​fitness un peu «usine» (quoique ces derniers né me rebutent pas outré mesure) mais cela n’empêche pas d’offrir des services de qualité! Le personnel est sympathique et souriant, les locaux sont propres et bien aménagés, et pour celles qui veulent, des douches avec produits (gel douche, shampoing, crème, déo…sèche-cheveux dispo aussi) sont disponibles! Je n’ai testé que l’Xtend Barre mais j’ai adoré! C’est d’ailleurs le seul studio à Paris qui offre cette discipline, entre fitness et danse classique… mais né vous méprenez pas, ça travaille beaucoup et dès les 5 premières minutes! Les tarifs sont également assez raisonnables, notamment dans ce quartier du 6e. Après, le studio reste relativement petit, ce qui lui confère une certaine ‘familiarité’ et les classes ont un effectif plus restreint (pas plus de 10) mais cela gênera peut-​être certains, vu qu’une des salles est à côté des douches et vestiaires, et qu’il n’y a pas beaucoup de douches (queue possible mais de mon expérience, peu prennent leur douche sur place donc je n’ai pas eu de souci de ce côté là)