This winter alone, Dallas is welcoming celebrity-loved Barry’s Bootcamp (the company’s first Texas location), multiple Orangetheory studios (Dallas proper will be tackled this year,” said the company’s North Texas marketing manager Hilary Vitale back in October), and the indoor spin studio franchise CycleBar in Uptown. But that barely scratches the surface of the city’s booming boutique fitness industry in 2017. “I would guess we added just above forty new studios to the Dallas-Fort Worth area this year alone,” says StudioHop founder Natalie Wolfe.
As we head into 2018 with a few major studio openings already on the horizon (who’s psyched-slash-terrified about Rise Nation?) we caught up with Wolfe to get a feel for new ways Dallas studios will be helping us keep our New Year’s resolutions.
Shorter Classes
Quick classes used to be reserved predominately for HIIT, but barre and spin studios have been jumping on board as well. Pure Barre now offers a 45-minutes session, while Flywheel recently launched class options with run times as short as 20 minutes, though those haven’t made it to their Dallas studio just yet. Dallas-based Grit Fitness is actually ahead of the curve with three different 30-minute class options already on their roster. The workouts are intensified and the intimidation factor is dramatically reduced.
“I think we can definitely expect to see shorter classes,” says Wolfe. “It’s so much more convenient for lunch hours or tight schedules. An hour is a big commitment when you factor in travel time, traffic and showering afterwards.”
Specialty Equipment
In keeping with swanky studio machines such as One Lagree’s Megaformer or City Crew’s sleek Indo-Row mechanism (definitely not ruined by Kevin Spacey), many of Dallas’ incoming classes will have a top-of-the-line edge. “There are a lot of studios opening in 2018 that are focused on specialty equipment,” says Wolfe. “The VersaClimber will be a big part of Rise Nation and District Climb. That machine is really intense.”
A Focus on Recovery
Expect to see the word “stretch” make its way into more class titles at your favorite local studio, or even just a few final minutes dedicated to yoga or foam rolling. “I think trainers and studios are realizing that they need to incorporate more recovery options so that people aren’t too sore to keep coming back to classes,” says Wolfe.
