The month of May is filled with tons of new fitness classes in DC to try, including My Bootcamp's "Ruck"-style bootcamp sessions in Bethesda. Photograph courtesy of My Bootcamp's Facebook page.
Last month we rounded up some awesome specials gyms and studios were offering in honor of spring. Even more awesome: Since then, more new classes have popped up, and we’re really excited to them give a whirl. From a Bethesda boot camp to the newest barre studio to a cycling class geared toward triathletes, these fitness studios will help you get in tip-top shape in time for Memorial Day weekend.
Great Gatsby Classes at Washington Sports Club
Washington Sports Club is back again with its movie-themed classes. For the month of May, members and nonmembers can dance their way through this Great Gatsby-inspired Zumba class called Speakeasy Sweat. Expect lots of doing the Charleston to an electro-swing playlist. Free at Columbia Heights location.
DC Yoga Week 2013 begins Monday, April 29. Close to 40 participating yoga studios will offer free and $5 classes throughout the week. Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.
Fitness fads may come and go, but there’s no doubt that yoga is here to stay. The eighth annual DC Yoga Week returns on Monday, April 29, offering free and $5 classes at various studios all week long.
This year almost 40 studios will participate in DC Yoga Week. Simply visit a participating studio’s website and sign up for a free or $5 class offered throughout the week. Some of our favorite classes and studios are on the list, including Epic Yoga DC’s barre yoga class on Wednesday, May 1, at 12:30 PM; a prenatal yoga class at Tranquil Space in Arlington on Saturday, May 4, at 2 PM; and intro to power yoga classes at the new CorePower Yoga studio in Georgetown.
BodyShred by Jillian Michaels is a 30-minute workout offered at Crunch that aims to continue burning calories post-class. Photographs courtesy of Crunch.
Since I became a fitness blogger, I’ve found myself asking more often than I expected, “What have I gotten myself into?”
There was the time I tried out CrossFit and waddled around in pain for days after. Or that one class that required me to shimmy around next to a beautiful exotic dancer.
But last night’s BodyShred by Jillian Michaels class at Crunch DC might take the cake.
We all have our preferences when it comes to fitness. Favorite running trail. The best personal trainer in DC. The indoor cycling instructor with the best music.
And we want to hear your picks.
Fill out our survey to help us determine Well+Being readers’ choices for best barre studio, local race, healthy restaurant, and more. A randomly selected participant will win two tickets to see New York Times columnist Mark Bittman at Sixth & I Synagogue on Saturday, May 4, as well as a copy of his book Eat Vegan Before 6.
The winner will be announced May 2. Good luck!
Take the Washingtonian Best of Fitness Survey.
Free Pilates in the Park at Farragut Square Park returns for the next ten weeks. For the first time free yoga classes will be offered. Photograph courtesy of the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District.
Free Pilates in Farragut Square Park is back this year beginning with tonight’s 5:30 session. Only this time, the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District has added free yoga to the schedule. The Pilates classes will include yoga movements, as well.
All classes last one hour, are open to the public, and will be run by instructors from Yoga District. Participants must bring their own mat.
Pure Barre opens in Dupont Circle tomorrow, becoming the first DC location for the franchise. Photographs by Melissa Romero.
There have been more DC barre studio openings in the past year than we can count, and this Friday we get one more: Pure Barre, coming to Washington for the first time with a new outpost in Dupont Circle.
Pure Barre was founded by Carrie Rezabek Dorr in Birmingham, Michigan in 2001. Since becoming a franchise in 2009, it’s already spread to 33 states, now including DC. Michelle Davidson, the Dupont Circle owner, left her career as a lawyer in New York to open a franchise here after realizing the DC market was missing out on the popular workout.
To support the victims and families of the Boston Marathon, Washington running groups are hosting free, donation-based runs this weekend. Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.
The senseless tragedy that occurred on Monday at the Boston Marathon has left all of us shaken. But if we’ve learned anything from it, it’s that the running community is as strong and united as ever. Washington running groups are hosting free runs this weekend in honor of Boston, many of them donation-based.
Boston Support Run and Charity Raffle
Friday, April 19 at 7 PM
Runners are invited to a Friday fun run starting at the Mighty Pint on M Street. The course is 2.62 miles, although participants are welcome to run the loops as many times as they'd like. Raffle tickets will be sold and donations will be donated to the Boston EMS.
Solidarity 5KSaturday, April 20, at 10 AM
For the Amish workout, personal trainer Bucky Mitchell uses gym equipment to mimic movements his family did every day while living in an Amish community. Here, he uses TRX suspension trainers to swing his arms and torso from right to left, and a nine-pound bar and BOSU ball to simulate chopping wood. Photographs by Melissa Romero.
On a Tuesday afternoon I found myself in Pennsylvania’s Amish country, chopping wood with a nine-pound ax, a view of rolling hills and farmland in front of me.
I then heaved ten-pound bales of hay over to my partner, Bucky Mitchell. Next I ran across the fields with a 25-pound sack of feed on my shoulders to feed the farm animals.
Okay, fine: I was actually in a studio room at Vida Fitness on U Street on my lunch break, and my view was of a man working on some electrical wiring in someone’s backyard. But Mitchell, a personal trainer, really was there, coaxing me through a condensed version of his increasingly popular Amish workout.
From free outdoor yoga classes to donation-based indoor cycling fundraisers, there are tons of fitness events happening in Washington this weekend. Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.
Happy Friday! There are so many fitness events happening this weekend we had to share them all. Even better: Tons of them are free! The launch party of fitness company FitDC will be hosting lots of free classes, and other studios will be donating proceeds from their classes to certain organizations.
And don’t forget to take a snapshot of your workout this weekend. Send it to wellbeing@washingtonian.com and you could win free workout gear and tickets to Jillian Michaels’s show at the Warner Theatre later this month.
FRIDAY
Date Night at Bar Method
If you and your significant other are out of date ideas, why not stay fit together for a good cause? Tonight Bar Method DC in Chinatown is hosting a date night to raise money for the National MS Society. 7:30 PM. $50 per couple.
Bender Barre at Rock Creek Sports Club
Head straight to Rock Creek Sports Club in Silver Spring for their one-hour happy hour Bender Barre class, a mix of ballet, strength, yoga, and Pilates. 6:30 PM. Free for non-members.
CorePower Yoga recently opened its second Washington location in Georgetown. It features two large studios, locker rooms, and a lobby with yoga mats, clothes, and other merchandise. Photographs by Jeesoo Park.
“I call it yoga on steroids,” said Ona Pappas, my instructor at CorePower Yoga in Georgetown.
She was talking about her class, CorePower Yoga Sculpt—Heated Power Yoga with Weights. I showed up for the 9:30 AM session feeling slightly anxious about what was in store. Sculpting? Weights? Heat? These were things I did not typically associate with my usual vinyasa flow practice, which always helped me to feel calm, relaxed, and self-aware.
But I kept an open mind as I walked through the studio, taking in its newness and the array of colorful yoga clothes and mats for sale in the lobby. CorePower was clean and sleek—and extremely spacious. The Georgetown branch may only have two rooms, but one fits as many as 70 students, while the other holds 60. The locker rooms are just as generously sized.
