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Fitness, Health

Mint Studios Pilates

July 29, 2014

So although I am not completely new to Pilates on the mat, I was completely new to Pilates reformer up until a few months ago. Some of you may remember when I talked about Mint Studios and their spring open house, and how much I LOVED my first ever Pilates reformer experience.

review of Mint Studios Pilates in San Francisco, the best pilates studio

review of Mint Studios Pilates in San Francisco, the best pilates studio

I was kindly invited to try a longer Pilates reformer session at Mint Studios recently (which meant sore everything the day after haha) and this time round I bumped into the gorgeous owner of Mint Studios, Elaine Hayes. Elaine was kind enough to agree to an interview, which I thought would be a fun way to introduce all of you lovely people to the brains behind the studio.

owner of Mint Studios Pilates Elaine Hayes

 Hi Elaine! Tell us a little bit about yourself

Hi, I’m Elaine Hayes and I’m the owner and founder of Mint Studios. I was born in California but grew up in Brazil as a child and also lived in England until I was 15. I came to live in the San Francisco bay area where I went to college at Berkeley. It was at Berkeley that I met my now husband Michael. We now live in the SOMA area with our four legged baby, Zoey.

What sparked your interest for Pilates?

I grew up dancing ballet and when I was in high school, my dance teacher introduced us to Pilates as part of our conditioning. I quickly noticed the benefits of Pilates: I could jump higher, stretch a little further, my core was stronger, and the aches and pains that come with lots of ballet were incredibly reduced. It wasn’t until after graduating from college and embarking on a whole different career path that I decided that Pilates was what I really wanted to pursue.

Where did the inspiration for Mint Studios come from?

I had been teaching in San Francisco for a few years and started to realize there was no single studio that offered everything I wanted. This city needed a space where you could be in a beautiful, positive environment and take classes that consistently challenge you with a fun and energetic flair. I wanted the studio to make you feel like you had stepped into a spa rather than a normal gym.

What makes Mint Studios stand out from other Pilates studios?

Mint Studios offers a new kind of Pilates, Barre and Yoga: a no-nonsense approach to working out that gives you results in the most direct and efficient way. Our classes are creative, effective, and fun and our studio is beautifully designed. At Mint, you can rest assured that you are going to see results and quickly if you stick with it.

review of Mint Studios Pilates in San Francisco, the best pilates studio

What does a typical day in the life of Elaine Hayes look like?

I usually wake at 6am and am off to bed around 11pm. I teach classes from 6:30am to 1pm then back again from 4:30pm to 8:30pm. During my break I love to grab lunch or even a quick spot of retail therapy!

What does your current workout routine look like?

Finding time for a workout can be tough with my schedule! I do teach Booty Barre and Mat Pilates quite a few times a week so I do get a workout while teaching, which is a bonus. I then try to find 30 minutes between clients to kick my own butt! I also love going for a run along the Embarcadero and walking my dog Zoey.

 Favorite healthy restaurant or smoothie/juice bar in the Bay Area?

For cleanses, CAN CAN Cleanse is hands down my absolute favorite. The cleanses are so doable and you really feel supported throughout the experience especially when the founder, Teresa sends you daily motivation. My favorite healthy lunch spot is Judahlicious, a vegan and organic café in the Outer Sunset. It’s a bit of a trek but so worth it!

What are your thoughts on quick fixes and fad diets?

I personally don’t think they work. A healthy life is all about everything in moderation. Exercise daily and eat well and you will see results. “Quick Fixes” might show a result at first, but it is not long term. Once you stop, all your bad habits come back. I like to think of it as more of a lifestyle than a diet.

What can we expect from Mint Studios in the future?

My plan is to be able to expand Mint Studios into a few locations around the Bay Area. We are just about to celebrate our One Year Anniversary in August, so you never know where you might see a new Mint Studios pop up! 

review of Mint Studios Pilates in San Francisco, the best pilates studio

Elaine (owner of Mint Studios Pilates) and Lisa (one of the fabulous instructors at Mint Studios Pilates)

I cannot wait to go back and do some more classes at Mint Studios Pilates! Luckily for me, they have a 15% discount for students which is a great help.

review of Mint Studios Pilates in San Francisco, the best pilates studio

Ooh, I have some exciting news – Mint Studios Pilates will soon be celebrating their 1 year anniversary on August 21st and will be throwing a party for the occasion! There will be a complimentary Booty Barre class, Can Can cleanse juice tasting, a Lorna Jane trunk show (LOVE LORNA JANE) and more! This event is not to be missed so save the date.

I hope you enjoyed this post and hopefully you will try out some classes at Mint Studios Pilates soon 🙂

Honestly yours,
Alice xxx

Fitness, Health, Sunday Summary

Sunday Summary: Kayla Itsines Week 9

April 27, 2014

What a wonderful week this was! I hope the same goes for all of you lovely people too.

Kayla Itsines Week 9

I have now finished week 9 of Kayla Itsine’s bikini body workout and OMG .. I do not understand how I got through it. Weeks 9-12 differ from the first 8 weeks because now you incorporate 1-1 HIIT session (for an explanation of what HIIT is, click here) and the strength circuits are now fully targeted on certain parts of the body. It is such an amazing feeling to have such sore legs, arms and abs every single week. You get through one week and you think ‘surely next week, I won’t be as sore’ but you are, every single time. I love it, and I cannot wait to show you all my progress at the end of the 12 weeks. It may not be as dramatic as some of the others, but I am noticing the difference, and that makes me happier than you could know.

Whilst I am on this fitness thread, I went to a fabulous spring open house held by Mint Studio’s in San Francisco! I am planning on writing a dedicated post to the event, so for now I will give you all a quick recap. Mint Studio’s offers pilates, barre and yoga classes, and were offering free classes for the night, and had partnered with vendors such as Project Juice, Ensoma and Premier Nutrition to bring a host of complimentary goodies. I was particularly enamored with the healthy juices offered by Project Juice and definitely plan to try more! I tried my first everrr pilate’s reformer class and now I know what all the fuss is about … my abs are SORE, even now two days later, and it was such a fun and new way to workout. Can’t wait to try it again. Who wants to go with me?!

Kayla Itsines Week 9 BBG

This photo is from Mint Studio’s website and is an example of the hardcore Pilate’s Reformer class I did

Kayla Itsines Week 9 BBG

 Mmm, all the juices I got to sample from Project Juice!

My relationship with food has also become so, so much healthier. Instead of constantly worrying about the occasional slip up, I have a much more balanced approach to eating and just living life in general. I do not binge anymore (everytime I was presented with a tasty and ‘bad’ food I would eat it until I felt ill) and I genuinely look forward to making healthy meals and doing my food preps at the start of the week. Obviously I still have moments where I feel a little guilty, but I am usually able to stop myself eating more than I need too. I love how I have been able to shape this aspect of my life and I am so grateful for it; your body deserves to be nourished with the correct foods and kept active and in shape. I am not a fan of the whole ‘food is fuel’ thing because come on, our bodies are not machines. They are unique and INDIVIDUAL creations that require personalized attention, and only you can know what foods and exercises truly make your body flourish. That being said, I think that I do tend to eat a bit too much sugar (foods with sugar in them, I’m not knocking back tablespoons here lol) so I think I may post some of my meals in next week’s Sunday Summary as a way to keep me on track .. we will see.

That’s all from me this week! I am curious to see how many of my readers are living in the Bay Area, so please leave me a comment below if you are. I would love to meet up with you all at some point, maybe for a gym date 🙂

And as always, if you have any questions or requests for posts please either leave me a comment below or shoot me a message at honestlyfitness@live.com

Honestly yours,
Alice

Fitness

Common workout mistakes: Squats

March 4, 2014

Hey everyone!

So a friend recently asked if I could do a blog post about how to do squats with proper form .. what a great question!! Having correct form in any exercise, and particularly squats, is crucial to ensure that you activate the correct muscles and that you do not injure yourself.

The following is a short video where I show you how to do a squat with proper form and various ways of how not to do a squat! I am sorry the audio is quite static-y but alas, I have yet to get any professional editing software. Hashtag #brokeunistudent

[embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxB7ZD7YyoU[/embedyt]

Key things to take away from this video are …

1. Make sure your knees are not flying over your toes. Keep your knees in line with them.

2. Keep you back straight. Pleaaase do not hunch over.

3. Try and squat so that you are parallel to the ground. This all depends on your hip flexibility though, so do not force yourself to squat lower if you simply cannot.

4. Do NOT lock your knees when you come up. Keep them slightly bent.

Hope this helps you all! Squats are an amazing exercise because they work multiple muscles and challenge your stability. A great compound move that can be added to your routine, in a variety of different ways.

Honestly yours,
Alice