Ellipse at MINT Downtown – Dec. 7th

December 5, 2016 by mint-sk

Ellipse Rooftop Bar will be at MINT Downtown on December 7th from 5:30-7:30pm!

Come say “hello” and learn about their specials for MINT members, which we’ve also highlighted below.

Our community partner, Ellipse rooftop at the Hyatt Place across the street from the MINT downtown location, has just released their winter happy hour menu. Specials run daily from 4-7pm and they include bar bites ($4-$6), domestic beers ($4), house wines ($6) and signature cocktails ($7-$8).

If mother nature is under the weather and you don’t feel like braving the cold (though their heat lamps are great!), these specials apply to their indoor bar downstairs as well. Lots of options and your 10% MINT discount applies at both! Just be sure to bring your MINT card, and a few friends, to enjoy a post-work, or post-workout cocktail!

Ellipse at MINT Downtown – Dec. 7th

December 5, 2016 by mint-sk

Ellipse Rooftop Bar will be at MINT Downtown on December 7th from 5:30-7:30pm!

Come say “hello” and learn about their specials for MINT members, which we’ve also highlighted below.

6 Tips for Eating Healthy During the Holidays

December 2, 2016 by mint-sk

Photo credit: Kristina Servant on Flickr

Holidays are approaching, and that means one thing… holiday parties. At first, seeing your loved ones, coworkers, or friends gathered around an endless buffet and bar sounds enticing.

But after two months of nonstop celebrations, it may be a frustrating struggle to fit into your favorite jeans. Well, we have a couple solutions for you to avoid packing on those pounds throughout the holidays!

1. Eat Before Going to a Party.

Before you head out, enjoy a healthy snack (or meal) to curb your appetite. Eating a healthy, substantial breakfast in the morning can prevent overeating later on in the day. Right before a party, eat a filling snack with protein and complex carbohydrates, such as peanut butter with whole wheat crackers or hummus and carrots, to hold you over.

2. Everything in Moderation.

It is totally fine to indulge in a piece of pumpkin pie—just not the third or fourth slice. Feel free to enjoy the dessert, but try using a smaller plate. Studies have shown that when smaller plates or bowls are used, a smaller portion is viewed as “more filling.” Choose your indulgences wisely!

3. Keep Up the Exercise.

Even if you do not have time for your normal gym routine, try and fit in exercise wherever you can in your busy day. Shovel snow, clean for houseguests, dash through the stores in search of presents, or even just go for a walk after dinner.

4. Provide a Healthy Dish to the Party.

*Photo credit: Amazing Almonds on Flickr*

Instead of bringing yet another dessert, offer to bring a healthy dish to the party. There are tons of holiday recipes that are modified to be a bit more health conscious. For example, if your signature dish is “Green Bean Casserole,” slim it down with fresh mushrooms and vegetable broth—instead of the cream of mushroom.

5. Stay Away from the Table.

If engaging in conversation, try to stand more than an arm’s length away from the snacks that may be out before the meal. While chatting, you may not notice yourself even reaching for the nuts or chips on display. Therefore, stay as far away (as possible) to avoid temptation.

6. Colors First!

Fill your plate with vegetables and fruit first before moving onto the creamy mashed potatoes and honey-glazed ham. The fruits and vegetables may fill you up first, and remember—everything else in moderation!

These are just a few suggestions to keep you on track throughout the holiday season. It may seem impossible to prevent any weight gain, but all the more reason to stay active at MINT Health Club & Studio!

Johanna is a MINT Ambassador. Fitness as well as eating right have always been two major passions of hers — her first degree was even in Nutrition! After finishing up her Master’s this past summer, she now works as a Registered Nurse, but when she’s off, you can find her running or lifting at the gym.

Don’t Be Scared! Use Data to Maximize Your Indoor Ride

December 1, 2016 by mint-sk

There are a million reasons indoor cycling has become so popular in DC — tons of indoor riders are clipping in, riding hard, and rocking out with great beats for a 45 or 60-minute escape from everything that awaits them in the real world. Here at MINT you can do that with MINTRide, Rhythm Ride, Tour de MINT, Fuze, and Rise ‘N Ride.

While indoor cycling is based on outdoor cycling, many indoor riders prefer to ride solely inside, and the sport fits all kinds of fitness levels! Whether your goal is to train for a race, build endurance, lose weight, or just to find some zen, read on for some tips on heart rate monitoring, cadence levels and pedal stroke drills that will help you maximize your indoor ride!

Heart Rate:

MINT offers free PIQ monitors for all indoor cycling classes. These devices track your heart rate and calories burned throughout the entire ride, so not only do you get to monitor your work class, you get an email summary of your workout at the end so you can track your progress and tally up those calories burned. We promise you won’t have to do any math at all, really — we’ve put charts up in all of our cycle studios that list the target heart rate ranges for every age, so as your ride, you can monitor your range accordingly.

Your best training is when you’re working at about 80% of your maximum heart rate (roughly 220-your age x .80)

So if you’re cycling regularly, the challenge is to:

See how long you can stay in that target range, even when you’re adjusting the resistance and the cadence.
How quickly your heart rate can recover when it goes above the 80% threshold.

Your instructors and MINT staff are here to make the information as accessible as possible, so if you have any questions about the system or your heart rate levels, just ask!

Cadence:

We measure our cadence using RPMs (revolutions per minute) because that’s how many times you’re completing a full revolution with your pedal (instead of miles per hour, MPH, which is just how fast you’re pedaling forward).

Different RPMs and speeds engage different muscles, which is why cycling can be such a great workout. As you’ve surely seen during class, maintaining the same cadence while increasing or decreasing the resistance makes dramatic changes in the intensity of your workout (and heart rate range too)! Generally, some cadence guides to keep in mind are:

RPMs lower than 50-60 are bad for the back and knees.
RPMs higher than 110-120 are too fast to remain in control of the pedals.
If you’re riding all the time, the goal is to find your preferred flat road cadence — for most people, it’s somewhere between 88 and 94 RPMs indoors — and then try to challenge yourself a little bit each week to improve from there.

Pedal Stroke Drills:

Even if you’re never planning to take your bike outside, a quicker pedal stroke will help you burn more calories indoors.

One drill you can try to further refine your pedal stroke is to make it more efficient. Here’s how: Think of the circular motion of your stroke as a clock. You want to spend the least time between four and six, or on the “sweep” — think of that as hot lava that you don’t want to touch. If you set-up your stroke between 12 and 3, try to start your pull-up earlier — instead of pulling up at 5 or 6, start your pull-up 4 or 5. You’ll find that a faster pull-up makes for a quicker stroke, and soon you’ll be on your way to faster RPMs!

Putting this all together with heart rate monitoring and a more attentive eye on your cadence computer will help ensure that you’re not just coming to class and sweating out everything you have, but really maximizing your effort and improving your overall health over time.

If you haven’t tried an indoor cycling class at MINT yet, or are a regular rider and want to test out some of these new tricks, come visit us soon — each class and instructor offer something different and we’re looking forward to seeing you on the bike!

True story: Ori (a MINT cycling instructor) walked out of her first indoor cycling class five years ago midway through the second song. Ori has been teaching rhythm-based rides in DC since 2014. Follow her on Instagram (OKorin) or Spotify at (OKorin10) for good jams and photos of her late rescue pup, President Josiah Bartlet the Beagle.

Yoga Alignment Workshop Series: Child’s Pose, Balasana

November 30, 2016 by mint-sk

Disclaimers: Consult a doctor before beginning an exercise regime. Never force a pose. Stop if you feel pain or intense discomfort. Yoga is meant to be yummy.

I love vinyasa yoga and I am obsessed with good alignment. This obsession doesn’t stem from a need for perfection, which would be very “un-yoga-like” of me, but from a passion for protecting the body from injury. Most bodies can safely practice yoga on a daily basis, but maintaining sound alignment is essential to your physical wellbeing. In this series, I will break down some common poses—explaining how to stay safe and fully enjoy each posture. Finally, remember to BREATHE consistently while practicing yoga to receive the full benefits of the practice … otherwise, you’re just stretching in Sanskrit. Today’s pose is Child’s Pose, or Balasana.

This pose is amazing. It is a resting pose in most vinyasa classes (you can take it at any time you need a break during class!), and is also frequently employed in restorative yoga sessions. If you suffer from anxiety or insomnia, a few minutes of deep, calming breaths in child’s pose really helps support the parasympathetic nervous system and relax your body and mind.

Bring your knees mat-distance apart, big toes touching.

Gently fold forward, allowing your heart to sink towards the mat.

Stretch your arms out in front of you, fingers spread wide and fingertips gently gripping into the mat.

Forehead rests on the mat.

Close the eyes.

Release any unnecessary tension in your neck and face.

Practicing yoga on your own can be a ton of fun, but taking a class is a great way to explore new poses under the tutelage of a trained yoga instructor; check out MINT’s yoga offerings, here.

Ashley Binetti received her 200-hour vinyasa yoga teacher training at Saraswatis’s Yoga Joint in Norwalk, CT in 2011. Her favorite pose is Triangle. When she’s not doing yoga, Ashley works as a nonprofit attorney. She is also a MINT Ambassador.