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Mountain Mayhem: Fit Club, Part 1

Aspen Times Weekly Aspen-times-weekly |

May Selby
Mountain Mayhem

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Keeping fit is a boost for physical, mental and spiritual health, especially during the pandemic. With gyms and fitness studios currently closed, thankfully, the virtual world of workouts has opened up with a wide range of online classes. As a two-part series, I’m spotlighting several local offerings that continue to grow audiences — here and around the world — starting with Ritual, Pure Barre and King Yoga in this edition and additional studios featured next week. And please keep in mind, to support instructors for these online workouts, it’s an easy click via Venmo to make a donation in appreciation.

Aspen fitness studio Ritual, owned by Jen Metcalf, is known for their Lagree Method, HiiT, and Sculpt workouts. They’re offering free, live classes on Instagram @ritualaspen that “can be done at home using minimal equipment such as sliders, bands, light weights (even water bottles work), or a set of towels to mimic moves that we perform on the Megaformer,” said Metcalf, who’s also a physical therapist. 

“Movement is medicine,” she continued, “and I believe that doing at least 30 minutes of exercise daily is essential for both physical and mental health.” 

When Ritual reopens, they’ll introduce their rebranded name of Higher Terrain “with even more Lagree Method, and high-intensity workouts for the athlete in you to keep you fit for the outdoors!” See http://www.ritualaspen.com for details. 

Pure Barre Aspen is currently offering one or two classes a day with a choice of three formats “to keep people on their toes — pun intended!” said owner Jordan Bullock. 


Workouts can be done without a barre by using a chair or couch for support. Hand weights and resistance tubes are helpful, but not needed. 

Pure Barre Aspen’s virtual classes can be streamed on Instagram @pbaspenlive and on Zoom. “Since our technique is very unique, we have to keep our pages private” so please contact the studio to request access. 

“We are loving the live classes because you can interact with clients and talk to them,” Bullock added. “We also save the classes to DropBox so people can access them after classtime. Every day, we get emails and text from clients who are very grateful — it makes me realize how much these boutique fitness studios mean to people’s lives; it’s a community for them.” 

Visit http://www.purebarre.com/location/aspen-co for more information. 

Yoga instructor Aaron King has a brand new 1,250-square-foot studio that’s ready to open in Snowmass Village once it’s safe to teach classes. Until then, he’s “keeping the King Yoga vibe alive through online yoga,” he exclaimed, leading all the classes from his living room. The free, live classes are offered daily on Instagram @_Kingyoga while an on demand program is coming soon, offering a subscription-based program with a library of classes. 

For the virtual sessions, King has heard from “people from all over the country, as well as from Mexico, Australia and Europe” who are tuning in and sending photos in their poses. Visit http://www.king-yoga.com for more information. 

Aspen Times Weekly

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