If you’ve visited MINT since the start of the new year, you might have noticed some exciting changes to the club’s layout, look, and class offerings! 

New paint, concrete, and wood floor finish give a refreshed look to the entrance area and studios. These spaces are spruced up and ready for you to sweat in. Be sure to take a pre- or post-workout selfie in front of the new MINTy leaf wall and tag us @mintgymstudio! 

Our member lounge to the right of the front desk has also gotten some upgrades, including new seating by the coffee machine for you to relax and enjoy a jolt of caffeine, mix and mingle with members, or kick back and relax before or after your workout. 

Just past the member lounge, the Stretch studio offers a quiet enclave to create your own routine. In addition to the existing wood barres lining the walls, the space now has a stretch cage to assist with those deep muscle stretches. Foam rollers, light weights, and barre balls and rings also fill the space, providing lots of options for your personal workout or stretch sesh. 

Upgraded equipment on the floor (new CrossTrainers and Steppers arrived in January!) ensures that your workout goes smoothly with plenty of machines available for use. New class offerings give members something new to try this year – check out a Full Body Burn or Mat Pilates class! 

As always, MINT remains committed to providing a safe and sanitized environment for your workouts. HVAC, AIRPHX, and improved air filtration systems keep clean air flowing throughout the club, and all spaces are cleaned from top to bottom every night, with special attention to high-touch surfaces. 

Registration is still required for entry to the club, so be sure to sign up online or via the Mind Body app, whether for a class, general gym time, or a personal training session. Walk-ins are accepted depending on available space. 

We hope you’re enjoying these changes! Over the next 4-8 weeks keep an eye out for even more exciting upgrades to the cycle studio, front desk, and more. 

Molly is a long-time yogi who has been practicing yoga seriously since 2008 and began teaching yoga in 2013. She started by offering yoga classes to children in schools, then later earned her RYT-200 and began teaching adults. She’s spent the past decade teaching at MINT and other gyms and studios in DC.

She’s a firm believer that we should take yoga seriously, but not take ourselves seriously when we do it. She doesn’t have a particular specialty, instead, she brings a mix of different styles to class to create a flow that feels good for all bodies and experience levels! Each class features a creative flow to help build strength and flexibility set to a carefully curated soundtrack. Molly’s goal is to share the physical and mental benefits of practicing yoga with everyone who takes her class.

Whether it’s your first class or your 50,000th, she will help you find ways to move that feel good in your body. All are welcome in her classes and to those who may be new to yoga, she recommends “just show up”! Getting on your mat is usually the hardest part of any class. And remember that the instructor is there to help you.”

When she’s not teaching yoga, Molly loves taking long walks at the Georgetown waterfront and dog-sitting multiple days a week for her neighbor’s pup. Check her out on Instagram @yogamolls and visit our class schedule to sign up for her class!

Cycling has many benefits for you as an individual, for our community, and for our planet. It is a low-impact aerobic exercise that offers a wealth of benefits. Adding regular cycling classes to your fitness routine can help shape a healthy lifestyle, both physically and mentally.

Although indoor cycling is typically not as intimidating as outdoor cycling if you find yourself intimidated or nervous to jump on a bike and take an indoor cycling class you’re not alone! We asked our long-time MINT cycling instructor Chuck Harney for some tips for those who are new to indoor cycling to help make their ride more effective and comfortable:

• Wear bike shorts with padding, they are formed to fit the contour of the bike seat which makes the ride much more comfortable than wearing gym shorts. In addition, the shorts are fitted tight to your leg to avoid chafing.
• Get bike shoes with cleats that clip into the pedals. This addition will change your life on the bike. By being clipped in, you are literally one with the bike. Your pedal stroke is perfectly circular, avoiding the mashing of the pedals, especially on a climb. You are also in a fixed position on the pedal, which means your foot is not moving around as you pedal, which means you are much less likely to have a knee injury as a result.
• Get a proper fit before you ride. What do we mean by that? Unless you know the exact position of your saddle and handlebars to your body, you’ll want to ask your instructor to fit you on your bike. The most important parts of bike fit are your saddle height and your handlebar height. 
• Training on an indoor bike can benefit you physically, mentally, and emotionally by improving the overall function in your lower body and strengthening your leg muscles without overstressing your joints. It targets your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.

• Cycling improves your endurance for any type of physical activity and is great for all levels and experiences. 
• It increases your anaerobic capacity and peak power while strengthening your core which helps to improve posture.
• Increased production of endorphins can help boost your mood. 
• This type of aerobic exercise can Increase mental toughness while decreasing  stress levels. 
• It helps to regulate blood pressure and blood sugar levels

Cycling is a really versatile form of exercise that can be scaled to different fitness levels, lifestyles, and goals. You can go all-out for an intense ride and really challenge yourself, or you can pull back, and go at a pace that works for you. However you choose to ride, know that you’ll be doing your body—and your mind—some serious good.

We encourage you to join Chuck and sign up for his classes on Sundays at 11am.