Posts tagged healthy living

Who knew a soda a day would impact your health in such a detrimental way! 

Via: Term Life Insurance

I’ll never call myself a “New Yorker” in the permanent sense (always a Seattle-ite!) but as I live here longer I find myself participating in things that are very “New York-y” (if that makes sense).

Among cupcakes and specialty cocktails, something I think is very New York are the studio work outs offered here (Soul Cycle, Bar Method and Physique 57 are among them). I never thought I’d join one (thinking they were too overpriced to frequent often), but when I read about The Refine Method, in Inc’s Top 30 Under 30 Entrepreneurs, I instantly wanted to try it.

Located on the Upper East Side, it is a small class of up to 12 people (though I’ve been in a class of as little as four). The workout is a unique circuit style technique called Metabolic Resistance Training which combines everything from stretching to cardio to strengthening in your natural body movements. 

The reason I was so keen on trying this is because I love the story of how the founder Brynn Jinnett created it. I also admire and like to support young woman entrepreneurs. As a Harvard graduate and a professional ballerina who danced in Black Swan, she’s taught at several studios in NYC. Yet, after frustration for the trend of barre method fitness classes, Jinnett decided to take a year off and study kinesiology as well as how professional athletes train and how it could be applied to normal people.

After attending a few classes, I like it so far. I’ve always wanted personal training to better tone my body, but at $75-120/class in most places, it always seemed financially unreasonable for a 22 year old. What’s nice about Refine is that because it’s so small, it’s personal. The instructors know your name, encourage you, and fix your form when you’re off.

Furthermore, her class appears to be a one of a kind work out. She’s currently patenting the pulley-system that is a unique component to her class. Thus, the reason I started going to this lesser-known studio (rather than Physique 57 or Bar Method) isn’t because I’m jumping on the bandwagon of studio workouts, but because it seems that this young woman has done her homework to break down how the body works and changes. She makes you train like an athlete for the full 60 minutes that you are in the class. 

And while I still can’t do the splits and struggle with push-ups, it has only been four classes. Yet, I feel stronger and better about my body. Plus I think it’s so great that someone so young has created something like this for people’s health and fitness.

Brynn Jinnett’s profile on Inc.