Become a Personal Trainer at MINT!

We are looking for personal trainers who can provide a high-quality fitness experience for our members and clients.

MINT is unique: there are “gyms,” and then there’s MINT. Thus, trainers who have worked hard to gain education and/or experience, and want to work among a professional, fun, and reputable team, MINT is for you. We are an entrepreneurial organization. You will get what you invest in your job. Successful trainers at MINT are motivated, good at self-promotion, interested in meeting new members, and sharing their passion for wellness.

Applicant requirements:
BA/BS with a National Training Certification (example, NASM, ACSM, etc.)

OR

• a national training certification and 5 years of experience

AND:

• a desire to change people’s lives in a healthy, sustainable manner.

Personal Trainer Compensation (full time):

Competitive hourly rate commensurate with education and experience. Healthcare options available with a PPO after 60 days employment. To apply please submit a resume and letter of interest to: mzjmint@gmail.com

When a friend sends you an email that starts with “you’re a genius!” you know you might be onto something. I’m about to share with you the trick that I taught her and I hope you’ll love it as well.

For the past several months, I’ve returned home from the gym in the morning to a breakfast that’s already ready to go. Have I hired a personal chef? Has a neighbor snuck into my apartment and made my breakfast? Am I getting breakfast delivered? No, no and no. (But how fun would a personal chef be?)

Instead, I’ve been taking around 20 minutes on the weekend to create breakfast parfaits in advance. I start with my favorite yogurts and a bunch of reusable serving-size storage containers. I then get as creative as I want to be with other ingredients that go in. Usually I start with a layer of frozen blueberries on bottom. From there, anything goes! My ingredients have included chopped almonds, chopped walnuts, hazelnuts (so fancy!), frozen raspberries, frozen mango, strawberries, chopped ginger (fabulous for decreasing inflammation after a workout), chia seeds, cocoa nibs (hi healthy chocolate for breakfast), dried raisins, cranberries, more blueberries…you get the idea.

I set up a little assembly line and make as many parfaits as I have containers. Voilà! Into the fridge they go and breakfast is ready for the entire week. Since I do this all at once, I use a much wider variety of ingredients then I would if I had to assemble each one individually every single morning.

I’ll leave it to you to pick your favorite healthy additions, but let me add some tips about yogurt: I use two entire large containers for the week’s worth of parfaits. (Bonus win for the planet with fewer empty containers to recycle.) For my taste, I usually select one Greek and one regular yogurt for a nice consistency, but at LEAST one is always whole fat and both are PLAIN. The 80s are over and thank goodness they took their big hair and the anti-fat let’s-load-everything-with-sugar craze with them. (Sayonara SnackWell’s!) You don’t need to obsessively read nutrition labels, but next time you’re picking up yogurt, pick up one plain and one sweetened and just check out the grams of sugar in each. (I’ll wait while you freak out about the difference…) The sugar lobby what? Yeah, don’t get me started. Just pretty please put the one that should be labeled as dessert down and take the plain one home. Your body will thank you.

Enjoy your parfaits and the extra time you’ll save yourself each morning!

Stop by our Downtown location before work on Tuesday, March 28th at 7:30am to chat with Hyatt Place, one of our community partners. Rumor has it, breakfast nibbles will be available!

Mix and mingle with one of our nearest and dearest community partners, The Ellipse/Hyatt Place. Their rooftop bar just recently reopened for the season, so pop on over after work, enjoy your 10% off discount, as well as the downtown views!

All day Saturday, April 1st from 10am to 10pm The Cake Room will give a free cookie to MINT members with purchase. Raffle for FREE dozen of cupcakes open to all between 2pm and 4 pm.

Part V: Yoga and Breathing

The word “yoga” is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning “union.” Union of what? Well, many things, but at the top of the list is “body and breath.” While breathing is incredibly important for all of the activities covered in this series, I dare say that proper breathing is most important in yoga if you want to maximize the benefits of your practice. Paying attention to your breath is a wonderful way to be more present; you aren’t thinking about the past and you aren’t planning for the future when your attention is purely on the breath you are taking in that moment – and that’s a good thing.

Ensuring that you keep breathing is also a great way to ensure you aren’t overexerting yourself. The poses you consider most challenging are also the ones you’re most likely to hold your breath because you’re so focused on the pose. Keep that air moving and your body will move more easily to where it needs to be.

How to: Your instructor may suggest a variety of options for your yoga class, but here are two basics to which you can default if no other instruction is given: equal breathing and ujjayi (eww-jai- eee) breathing. Equal breathing (which is also called sama vritti) means your inhale and exhale are of equal length. Whether 3, 10 or 30 seconds, the length of time you breathe in is the same as the time you breathe out.

Along with the other many benefits of breathing, this style calms your nervous system, lowers blood pressure, and reduces stress. Ujjayi breathing (also known as “victorious breath”) is the one that sounds a bit like Darth Vader. To make this sound, whether during yoga or a screening of The Force Awakens, slightly contract the back of your throat as you breath through your nose. It might feel a little funny, but it should not hurt! With either option, you should find your abdomen expands on the inhale and relaxes back in during your exhale. This means you’re fully filling your lungs, not just breathing only into your chest.

Sadly, as fundamental as breathing is, it could be that years of stress, allergy seasons, smoking, sucking in your tummy or other factors may leave you unaccustomed to breathing properly. If you find yourself short of breath or dizzy, take a break and return to what feels natural to you. Like the rest of your body, your lungs and the muscles you use to breath may simply need some practice and strength training.

Lastly, like everything else in yoga, notice your breathing without judgment. Just keep practicing and keep breathing – thankful for each breath you are lucky enough to take on this beautiful planet of ours.

Not one, not two, but three MINT indoor cycling instructors are featured in this week’s Active Life DC poll:

• Piper Hendricks

• Nicolette Mueller

• Dru Ryan

Vote Here

Vote for your favorite playlist using the link above! Good luck to all. And thanks for the great music suggestions!