Mind and Body

Break a low-impact, high-results sweat at new Crowbar Cardio fitness studio

Crowbar Cardio is the only studio in Dallas with RealRyder bikes.
RealRyder Indoor Cycle
Owners Karen Soltero and Molly Setnick believe in "wrecking your workout, notyour body."
Crowbar Cardio/Facebook
Crowbar Cardio focuses on low-impact, sweat-inducing workouts.
Photo courtesy of Crowbar Cardio
Crowbar Cardio co-owners Molly Setnick and Karen Soltero with barre instructorVlada Gorbaneva.
Crowbar Cardio/Facebook

Fitness studio Crowbar Cardio opened at Greenville and Belmont avenues two months ago — reminding us to squeeze back into our now-tighter workout pants.

At Crowbar, it's all about low-impact but intense exercise routines. Co-owners and longtime friends Karen Soltero and Molly Setnick believe in "wrecking your workout, not your body." That comes as a relief to people with joint issues or those of us who simply don't want to feel like we are killing ourselves during a workout.

"We were very aware of what impact sports can do to your body," says Soltero. "You should be able to do fitness your whole life, without damages."

And don't be fooled by the 70-year-old who, Soltero says, "comes to class and kicks everyone's butt." At Crowbar, you're in for a sweaty workout.

So how do they pull off this idealistic workout meant for just about everyone? The studio has some cool toys: RealRyder bikes, Indo-Row machines and a barre.

Here's the breakdown of the core classes:

Crowbar is the only studio in Dallas with RealRyder bikes, which are like stationary bikes, except they move from side to side. Cycling on one of these fun bikes, in a 55-minute class, provides an even greater heart-pumping workout than the standard stationary bike. And, instead of your body absorbing the shock of the ride, the RealRyder takes the heat.

In an Indo-Row class, you race at a high speed in teams. The Indo-Row goes through the same motion as a regular row machine, but you pull a cable that moves a blade through water, instead of a blade that turns a fan.

Barre classes are taught by professional dancer and fitness instructor Vlada Gorbaneva. Unlike most barre classes, which focus on sculpting and toning, each hour-long Crowbar class fuses dance and fitness for a fat-burning, energy-inducing routine.

Crowbar offers five to seven classes a day. You can register online, whether it's a core class, combo class — such as Triple Threat, which combines all three core classes, and Crow, which incorporates both the RealRyder and Indo-Row machines — or a circuit-training, boot-camp-style class.

Because we're sometimes weak at the knees but always in need of a sweat-inducing workout, we're adding Crowbar to our hot list of fitness studios.

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Daring to care

Kindhearted Plano ranks among the 10 most caring cities in America

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Plano is one of the happiest and most caring places to be.

Plano has some of the kindest, most generous residents in the country. So says a new report that ranks the Dallas suburb the No. 10 most caring city in the United States.

The personal finance website WalletHub compared 100 of the most populated U.S. cities across 38 metrics across three key dimensions for its study, "Most Caring Cities in America (2025)". They include caring for the local community, caring for the vulnerable, and caring in the workforce.

The north Dallas suburb made a big leap over its 2023 ranking as the No. 17 most caring American city.

Out of the three main categories, Plano performed the best for its "caring for the community" rank (No. 8), which was determined based on the city's crime rates, the civic engagement of its residents, the share of a household's income donated to charity, and more.

Plano also cares for its community in other ways, whether it's through maintaining its long-held family-friendly reputation or by maintaining a pristine park system. All of these reasons contribute to why so many people are choosing to live in the second-happiest city in the nation.

Plano also ranked fairly well in the overall "caring for the vulnerable" category (No. 12), which covers child and adult poverty rates, adoption rates, availability of paid family leave, the number of rehab centers per capita, pet shelters and rescue services, and the "disability-friendliness" of employers.

Plano still has plenty of work to do when it comes to caring for its workforce, however, as the city ranked No. 71 out of all 100 U.S. cities. This metric focused on the number of first responders, healthcare professionals, teachers, and counselors per capita.

WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says there are many factors that make cities like Plano a true "caring" and supportive place for its residents.

"The most caring cities donate a lot of money to charity and have high volunteer rates, but being a caring city overall requires much more than just giving time or money," Lupo said. "In addition, the top cities have low crime rates, environmentally-friendly residents and low rates of poverty and homelessness."

But small steps are important, too. Community care is as simple as helping an elderly neighbor unload groceries from their car, keeping a vigilant eye out for porch pirates or suspicious activity, and spending quality time with loved ones.

Plano was once again the highest ranked Texas city in WalletHub's list. Other North Texas cities that earned spots in the report include Irving (No. 36), Garland (No. 39), Fort Worth (No. 54), Arlington (No. 58), and Dallas (No. 77).

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin ranked No. 45, while San Antonio (No. 89) and Houston (No. 91) barely skirted onto the list.

The top 10 most caring U.S. cities, according to WalletHub, are:

No. 1 – Virginia Beach, Virginia
No. 2 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 3 – Boston, Massachusetts
No. 4 – Gilbert, Arizona
No. 5 – Chesapeake, Virginia
No. 6 – Fremont, California
No. 7 – San Diego, California
No. 8 – Madison, Wisconsin
No. 9 – Colorado Springs, Colorado
No. 10 – Plano, Texas

wallethub plano community care top 10 cities plano