During the month of August, Modern Market is offering MINT members 20% off! Stop by MINT Downtown on August 16th from 5:15-6:45pm where they will be giving out food samples.

 

There are a lot of contemporary variations of Barre classes, but most all styles you’ll find today have their roots in Lotte Berk Method. But who was Lotte Berk, and what’s the story there?

Lotte Berk was born in Cologne, Germany in 1913 and trained in ballet and modern dance in her youth. By the age of 18, she was dancing professionally, and she performed with prominent German companies up until the 1930s when the rise of Nazism forced her to flee the country with her husband and young daughter. The family settled in England, but while she tried to pick up her dance career, she found her contemporary style was not appreciated by the British at that time. She found work as an artist’s model, but ultimately knew she would have to make a career change. With the help of an osteopath, she developed an exercise method based on her dance training that combined principles of ballet with rehabilitative therapy. The method focuses on isolating specific muscle groups and combines both strength and flexibility training. In 1959, the 46-year-old Berk opened the Manchester Street Studio for Exercise, a studio that was exclusively for women. And while you might imagine a ladies exercise studio in England at that time to be somewhat prim and proper, a few of the original exercises in the method had some decidedly improper names, such as “the Prostitute”, “the Peeing Dog” and “the French Lavatory.” In 1971, her student Lydia Bach brought the method to the United States, and the rest is Barre history.

If you’ve been curious about Barre, just try it! One of the best things about a MINT membership that includes classes is that you can jump into a studio-quality Barre class without paying any additional fees. And while all of our Barre classes at MINT are appropriate for all levels and welcome both women and men (yes, guys can do Barre too!), we’ll be offering a new Barre Basics class designed for beginners to get a full 50-minute Barre experience in a small-class environment. These will be offered on Sundays in September at 1:30 PM at MINT Dupont, and attendance will be capped at 8 participants, so make sure to sign up in advance!

Mark your calendars! Our community partner, Mellow Mushroom, will be hosting a happy hour for Mint members on August 22nd from 5-7PM! After your workout head on over for delicious food and drink specials: 1/2 off wings, $3 cheese bread, $4 bruschetta, $5 house wines/liquors and $2 off drafts!

RSVP here

A friend of mine lives on diet soda. And I mean lives on it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this friend drink a glass of plain water and it pains me to think how the artificial stuff she is dumping into her body is impacting her health.

Whether you drink soda (or “pop,” depending on which part of the country you’re in) on the reg or just as a “treat” and whether you drink fully-sugared or “just” options with artificial sweeteners, here are a few things to consider before you next choose soda over any other option:

1) Extra sugar can lower your HDL cholesterol (that’s the good kind).
2) NUMEROUS studies have linked sugary drinks with obesity and Type 2 diabetes. You know this. All of New York knows this.
3) Artificial sweeteners can increase your risk of diabetes, too.
4) Studies suggest that diet soda does NOT promote weight loss and does NOT lower the calories you take in.
5) A recent study linked diet soda to an increased risk of dementia and stroke. Yes, I know the results are complicated and an absolutely 100% clear link hasn’t been established yet. But stroke and dementia? Why take the risk?
6) Artificial sweeteners impact how your body responds to other food and sweeteners. (You didn’t think we could just dump chemicals down our gullets without any impact, did you?)
7) You may not think about your skeleton very often, but your bones are important if you want to keep moving – and drinking soda is bad for your bones.

You only get one body. Why not treat it right?