Best Fitness Studios

13 ways to get a killer workout in Dallas

Going to the gym is not for everyone. Perhaps you don't know where to start with the equipment. Maybe you can't commit to the terms of the membership. It could just be you don't like the lighting.

Luckily for the Dallas fitness fanatic, there are plenty of boutique fitness studios that offer a range of high-intensity, low-impact, sweat-inducing workouts:

Bar Method
The Bar Method started the whole ballet-workout craze in 2000, with a studio in San Francisco. Now there are locations throughout the country, including Texas. Classes focus on elongating muscles, reducing body fat, dance conditioning and intense interval training. There are three levels of classes (plus pre-natal modified classes) offered at the Park Cities locale. You can reserve a space online.

Barre Bee Fit
Barre Bee Fit's philosophy differs from that of a traditional barre studio in that instructors take a more spiritual approach. It started in Chicago, with the goal of providing a one-stop workout comprising cardiovascular training and body toning. Franchisee Alicia Hutton brought the concept to the Dallas Design District, where the mix of classes means you never get bored with the same old workout. The latest class, called Baryasa Stretch, is Barre Bee Fit's version of vinyasa yoga.

Beyond Studios
With founders nicknamed "The Assassin" and "The Accomplice" and a workout dubbed "The Killer," you know these people mean business. Beyond started in 2010 with the idea that diversity is the way to attain fitness goals. Plus they wanted to shake things up a bit. The first two studios offer classes such as PILATESremix, SWEATremix, BARREremix and STRETCHremix. The newest location in Snider Plaza, called Beyond Pedaling, is dedicated exclusively to cycling.

Bodybar
Bodybar provides Pilates-minded people with a new kind of exercise routine. Each high-energy 50-minute workout combines Pilates, resistance and cardio. All 10 classes work your muscles with dynamic movements, isometrics and cardio bursts. There is also an in-studio mini juice bar with raw drinks and healthy snacks for post-workout revitalization.

City Surf Fitness
Choose from four classes at this studio, which has special equipment from surfing innovators Surfset Fitness (one of Mark Cuban's companies) that combines a paddling element with a balance board base to mimic the feeling of surfing on water. It forces you to balance using all of your muscles, which increases flexibility, strength and endurance. As you break a sweat, high-energy music blasts through the speakers, and a video of ocean surfers get projected on the front wall.

Crowbar Cardio
Owners Karen Soltero and Molly Setnic believe in "wrecking your workout, not your body." That means if you have a concern — say, your knees — there is still a workout for you at Crowbar. This studio is all about low-impact, high-intensity workouts and offers classes with RealRyder bikes (a shock-absorbing bike that moves from side to side), barre and Indo-Row machines. Crowbar also offers boot camp-style classes.

Fitness With Insight
This is the only dedicated TRX® (Total Body Resistance Exercise) Suspension Training Studio in Dallas. TRX, which was invented by a Navy SEAL, is what it sounds like: a workout in which participants use a suspension system to shift and angle their body weights to challenge their endurance. If all of that sounds scary, there is a beginner's course that focuses on teaching proper technique and body alignment in a stress-free environment before you graduate to the trickier moves.

Exhale Spa
It's counterintuitive to think that one of the best workouts in Dallas occurs inside a spa — a space more inclined toward relaxation. But Exhale's Core Fusion classes — from barre to boot camp to cycling — have a cult following, because they produce results. The fitness regimen focuses on core strength, using weights, balls, bands and your own body weight as resistance. As your body begins to transform, so, too, will your mind.

Gym of Social Mechanics
Yes, the word "gym" is in the title. But this small studio, from the owners of next-door HG Sply Co., offers a different, social approach to fitness (hence the name). Classes offered Monday through Saturday incorporate foundational lifts, body weight movements, yoga, cardio and actions that simulate daily, real-life situations. Groups are small, and there are two coaches per class. A membership gets you unlimited sessions, and you can now practice yoga on the roof.

Flywheel Sports
There are 45 bikes at Flywheel Sports, ready and waiting for high-energy riders. Classes are all about intensity; you ride while climbing and working your arms to get full-body benefits. Flywheel is definitely for the competitive biker: You can compete with a classmate and see your stats on the TorqBoard at the front of the room. There are two locations, in Highland Park and Plano.

PilatesBarre
PilatesBarre, which now has two locations, offers three kinds of 50-minute classes and private sessions — all of which involve whole body strengthening, lengthening and toning. You can expect a full-body workout with the help of a Megaformer machine in the Pilates Barre class. Bootcamp Barre involves more cardio and ballet, and the Barrebody class incorporates yoga and band resistance. All of the classes, set to high-energy music, are taught by upbeat instructors.

Speedflex
Speedflex claims to burn 300 percent more calories than steady-state exercise such as treadmills, elliptical machines or stationary bikes. The efficient workout takes only 30 minutes, and the system relies on force applied by the participant, not the addition of weights, to provide resistance, which helps keeps muscles safe from damage. The first U.S. Speedflex center opens at Preston Center in June.

Terlingo Cycle
Cycling instructor to the stars John Terlingo returned to his hometown after spending 10 years in Los Angeles. Enthusiasts flock to his Oak Lawn studio, where they sweat it out alongside the city's elite. The 45-minute, calorie-blasting, full-body experiences incorporate weights and core exercises. But Terlingo would tell you that he takes his clients on a journey toward self-improvement.

Terlingo Cycle

Photo by Teresa Rafidi Gecko Media

Terlingo Cycle

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Texas Politics

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett to run for U.S. Senate in Texas

Jasmine Crockett / Facebook

Jasmine Crockett

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett launched a campaign Monday for the U.S. Senate in Texas, bringing a national profile to a race that may be critical to Democrats’ long-shot hopes of reclaiming a Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections.

Crockett, one of Congress’ most outspoken Democrats and a frequent target of GOP attacks, jumped into the race on the final day of qualifying in Texas. She is seeking the Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn, who is running for reelection in the GOP-dominated state.

Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats to wrest control from Republicans next November, when most of the seats up for reelection are in states like Texas that President Donald Trump won last year. Democrats have long hoped to make Texas more competitive after decades of Republican dominance. Cornyn, first elected to the Senate since 2002, is facing the toughest GOP primary of his career against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Crockett’s announcement came hours after former Rep. Colin Allred ended his own campaign for the Democratic nomination in favor of attempting a House comeback bid. She faces a March 3 primary against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, a former teacher with a rising national profile fueled by viral social media posts challenging Republican policies such as private school vouchers and requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

“It’s going to be a sprint from now until the primary, but in Texas you have to think about the voter base overall in November, too,” said Kamau Marshall, a Democratic consultant who has worked for Allred before and worked on other campaigns in Texas. “Who can do the work on the ground? After the primary, who can win in the general?"

Crockett's style
Talarico raised almost $6.3 million in the three weeks after he formally organized his primary campaign committee in September and had nearly $5 million in cash on hand at the end of the month, campaign finance reports showed. Crockett raised about $2.7 million for her House campaign fund from July through September and ended September with $4.6 million.

Crockett could test Democratic voters’ appetite for a blunt communicator who is eager to take on Republicans as Democrats pursue their first statewide victory in Texas since 1994. She did not issue a statement ahead of a formal announcement of her candidacy Monday afternoon in Dallas.

Republicans were quick Monday to try to turn Crockett's penchant for public clashes with opponents into liabilities. Paxton called her “Crazy Crockett,” and Cornyn described her as “radical, theatrical and ineffective.”

Talarico welcomed Crockett to the Democratic primary but pointed to his fundraising and said he has 10,000 volunteers.

“Our movement is rooted in unity over division,” he said in a statement.

Democrats see their best opportunity to pick up the Texas seat if Paxton wins the Republican nomination because he has been shadowed for much of his career by legal and personal issues. Yet Paxton is popular with Trump’s most ardent supporters.
Hunt, who has served two terms representing a Houston-area district, defied GOP leaders by entering the GOP race.

Viral moments
Crockett, a civil rights attorney serving her second House term, built her national profile with a candid style and viral moments on Capitol Hill. Trump has noticed and called her a “low IQ person.” In response, Crockett said she would agree to take an IQ test against the president.

She traded insults with Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who announced last month that she would resign in January, and had heated exchanges with Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

She also mocked Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — who uses a wheelchair — as “Gov. Hot Wheels.” She later said she was referring to Abbott’s policy of using “planes, trains and automobiles” to send thousands of immigrants in Texas illegally to Democratic-led cities.

Democrats' best showing in a statewide race in the past three decades was in 2018, when former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke came within 3 points of ousting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. It was the midterm election of Trump’s first administration, and Democrats believe next year’s race could be similarly favorable to their party.

A former professional football player and civil rights attorney, Allred was among Democrats’ star recruits in 2018.

Allred lost to Cruz by 8.5 points last year. He is running for the House in a Dallas-Fort Worth area district under a new map approved this year by the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature to meet Trump's call for more winnable Republican seats. The district has some areas Allred represented for six years before his run for the Senate in 2024.

Primary election
An internal party battle, Allred said, “would prevent the Democratic Party from going into this critical election unified against the danger posed to our communities and our Constitution by Donald Trump and one of his Republican bootlickers.”

Marshall said Crockett is a “solid national figure” who has a large social media following and is a frequent presence on cable news. That could be an advantage with Democratic primary voters, Marshall said, but not necessarily afterward.

Talarico, meanwhile, must raise money and build name recognition to make the leap from the Texas House of Representatives to a strong statewide candidacy, Marshall said.

A winning Democratic candidate in Texas, Marshall said, would have to energize Black voters, mainly in metro Houston and Dallas, win the kind of diverse suburbs and exurbs like those Allred once represented in Congress, and get enough rural votes, especially among Latinos in the Rio Grande Valley.

“It’s about building complicated coalitions in a big state," Marshall said.

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