Bar Method Grand Opening This Weekend — Mimosas & Membership Specials

The Bar Method, Darien’s newest exercise studio, aimed at women and featuring ballet bars, has its grand opening this weekend and is inviting everyone to see the new place.

“@barmethoddarien will be open from 8 a.m. to  2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Join us for class, shopping, mimosas and more!” the studio’s two owners said in a Facebook post Friday morning. “This is your last chance to get a great deal on a month of classes — only $89 for 30 days. This special ends Sunday — hurry before it’s too late!”

Green & Tonic will be serving the mimosas and small deserts will be available.

Owners Anna Trepanier and Lara Meehan, who have been conducting free classes at the Darien YMCA for months as renovations continued in the 2,500-square-foot space, will be holding free classes at 8:30 and 9:45 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. The classes have already filled up, but there’s a waiting list.

“We’ve experienced a really warm welcome here,” Meehan said — more than she and Trepanier expected. At the YMCA classes, “so many people came and became regular students there, so we have a pretty significant following.”

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The Bar Method Darien can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.

See also: “The Bar Method, a New Exercise Studio, Coming to Downtown Darien“ (Feb. 17)

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“Our full schedule starts on Monday, the 19th,” she said. Classes last about an hour, and “we spend the hour working through every single muscle of the body, contracting them isometrically, and after we target a specific muscle, we stretch the muscle immediately, so the muscle is more pliable.”

If you go, you can still see the place, all shiny and new, grab a mimosa and decide if you want to take advantage of the discounted month of classes. (And, who knows, if somebody doesn’t show up for a class …)

The studio has ballet barres along two wall, large windows facing the Post Road and Sedgwick Avenue, exercise mats and light weights for use in classes.

Before renting the space at Patriot Bank’s old location, 800 Post Road (on the corner of Route 1 and Sedgwick Avenue),  Meehan and Trepanier taught exercise classes in a New York City Bar Method studio. The Planning & Zoning Commission approved their application last February, and renovations have been going on ever since.

Burgers, Shakes & Fries occupies the other side of the building’s first floor, and classes will be limited to 20 people during the restaurant’s lunchtime hours, from 12:15 to 2:30 p.m., under the terms of the P&Z approval. Classes will be limited to 28, including two instructors, from 6 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to closing time at 8 p.m.