Get Fit. Be Healthy.

New fitness studios are popping up all over San Diego county ushering in fitness trends and workout programs that have made us realize there are better ways to achieve our daily sweat than the boring ol’ elliptical machine.

Here are some of our favorite workouts and studios in the area.  In the spirit of journalistic integrity, these recommendations come tried and true.  We sweat, we stretched, and we worked out to give you our experience, first-hand.

YOGA

We are no Yogi masters but we love the plethora of options available to us in North County, especially living in Encinitas, the yoga capital of the U.S. and birthplace of Ashtanga Yoga.  From various types of yoga practices to different temperatures and intensities our curiosity led us to Yoga Six in Solana Beach, which offers one of the widest varieties of Yoga classes available, from beginner to advanced.  We enrolled in the Y75 Vinyasa Flow in warm heat.  The combination of deep stretches, inversions and core strengthening postures left us feeling lighter and leaner.

Our concensus?  The studio has a cool, calming energy that contributed to our overall feeling of zen.  We never felt out of place in the class and left feeling refreshed and clear-minded.

Yoga Six is opening a new location in 4S Ranch and they are celebrating the grand opening with free classes on May 19th at 12 and 2pm. The event is open to the public. Yoga Six locations in Carlsbad, Solana Beach, 4S Ranch and Point Loma make it easy to get your yoga fix.

SPIN & PILATES

One of the newest and most buzzed about fitness trends is the evolution of the stationary indoor cycling bike into the RealRyder tilting bike.  The patented articulating bike frame and operations headset exclusive to the RealRyder Indoor Cycle allows you to lean, turn, steer and balance through three essential planes of motion.  This bike is one cool piece of fitness equipment and we wanted to experience it for ourselves.

This led us to the brand new pilates, barre and spin studio in Encinitas called PushHouse, which is one of few places in San Diego to house the RealRyder bikes.  PushHouse also has beautiful white Allegro2 Reformers for their pilates classes and in “the name  of research” we couldn’t help but try them out.

Our consensus? Spin on the RealRyder bikes is a challenging and intense strength building, entire body workout. Because the bike tilts, you have to use much of your own strength and you will leave this class sweating.  We also felt the burn with Pilates on the Allegro 2 Reformers and it is a great workout to tone and really target your core, legs and back.

BARRE

Barre classes are one of the most recent fitness regiments to surge into the mainstream.  While many claimed they were just a fad, we beg to differ.  Designed for the non-dancer, these classes can transform your body into the long, lean look of one.  The toning benefits are second to none.  Feel free to choose a barre studio based on your preference and location, there are numerous studios in the Carmel Valley and Del Mar/Solana Beach area and after trying almost all of them we can truly say no two are exactly alike.  We hopped on over to the Bar Method based in Solana Beach.

Our consensus?  This is one of the few workouts we’ve found that make a visible change in your body shape and tone in a short time.  If you feel you’re your workouts are stagnant or you are so, so close to reaching your fitness goal, but just can’t seem to get there, try introducing barre classes.  The small, repetitive movements bring out soreness in muscles you didn’t even know you had, lifting, toning and burning (in a good way!).

BEACH

San Diego is one of the most beautiful cities with the best beaches in the United States (we are a little biased) and we are lucky to have one of the best workout facilities on our doorstep!  Run, jog or walk, on the beach is a great way to soak up those vitamin D rich sun rays, clear your head and get that heart pumping.

You can’t go wrong with whichever method you choose to achieve your daily sweat, just get out there and get active.  Next on our list is Carmel Valley’s own, Fit in 60, which has created a program that will transform your body in 60 days in just 60 minutes per day.  Gotta love that!

We are not physicians or fitness experts, just avid enthusiasts.  As with any exercise plan, it’s important to check with a physician and most importantly listen to your body and only do what feels right for you.  Just like all these exercises, everyone is different!
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Katherine Randall is a Cardiff Resident and founder of Katalyst Public Relations, a full service PR and social media agency, based in Solana Beach that works with clients in the lifestyle, hospitality, new media and technology space.

Katalyst creates customized communication campaigns using a well-balanced mix of public relations, social media, digital publicity, blogger relations, event planning and promotion, community relations, marketing and reputation management. The agency’s specializes in restaurants and hotels, food and wine, travel and leisure, design and home decor, fitness and beauty, and accessories and retail.

With her superb connections and media relationships, Katherine is in the know about current San Diego lifestyle trends. A fitness enthusiast, Katherine enjoys taking barre classes and running on the beach. She also enjoys scoping out the newest and most buzzed about San Diego restaurants.