Review: Everyday Athlete- everything rolled into one studio
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The main studio at Everyday Athlete ©Everyday Athlete
I try to keep my ear to the ground for everything “Brooklyn” and “parenting”, and recently my ear has been buzzing with accolades about Everyday Athlete Studio in Carroll Gardens. My friend/fellow blogger Jesse at Word on Columbia Street raved about it recently and it piqued my interest: Dude Yoga? Mommy Boot Camp with on-site daycare? A son who had been tumbling there for 2 years straight? (I know how rare that kind of commitment can be for a kid!) I hadn’t been in to visit Everyday Athlete since it first opened when I got a delicious prenatal massage. It was time for me to make a return visit.
What strikes you initially about Everyday Athlete: it isn’t your typical “gym” or kids’ fitness studio. Forget mirrors, rows of machines and dirty floors. Forget dank locker rooms with rows of hard metal. This sun drenched studio has a wood paneled ceiling and floor (that is sprung), a cubby full of neatly stacked tennis shoes, two private changing rooms that reflect a spa-like environment and plants growing everywhere. This is a well-cared for studio with dedicated on-site owners (they actually live upstairs with their daughter).
The massage room ©Everyday Athlete
My daughter Willow and I sat on the “zen bench” and settled in to check it all out. We arrived while a Mommy Boot Camp class was going on, led by co-founder Alejandra Belmar. Five well sculpted moms (jealous!) sweated away on their mats while their tykes played in a separate area with doting caregivers. A female client emerged from a changing room: massage? private training? Whatever she was doing, she was definitely a seasoned client: muscular, refreshed and comfortably chatting with the personnel. Mommy Boot Campers finished up and claimed their little ones, strikingly familiar with the caregivers: this is obviously a family studio with many repeat clients.
Just as soon as that class ended, another one was about to begin. With smiling swiftness, Alejandra and her assistant rolled out custom tumbling mats to prepare for the next class: “Tumble Tots” for kids aged 18 months to 3 years. Since Jesse had mentioned how much her son loved the tumbling there, I was curious to see this class unfold as well.
Tumbling class ©Everyday Athlete
Jesse isn’t the only fan of Everyday Athlete. Yelp! reviewers say, “they’re my first recommendation when people ask about kids fitness classes”, “the facility is pristine,” they are “extremely knowledgeable about the human body”, and “the Pre & Post Natal classes and private training are incredible” and lastly, and most importantly to me right now: “they are known to have some of the best massages”.
As the tumbling class was getting set up, fellow co-founder of Everyday Athlete, Tomas Anthony, bounded down the stairs and showed me around the studio. Somehow this compact facility manages to house all their offerings and their future ambitions too. Though they do offer the more typical fitness classes like tumbling, Mommy and Me, yoga and cardio there are some really unique offerings too: Salsa for couples, adult and kid Capoeira, Dude Yoga, Intro to Skateboarding, Prenatal and Postnatal Fitness, small group training and Baby Bungee! Wellness is also an important part of their offerings with massage, meditation and nutritional counseling. Tomas’ excitement for their studio is evident: he’s intensely interested in how the combination of physical fitness and play has a lifelong positive effect on adults and kids. He is an engineer at heart, not only of the body but of the program itself.
Mommy and Baby Bungee Class at Everyday Athlete Studio ©Everyday Athlete
As Alejandra was pulling out an obstacle course for the tumbling class, I realized I had to pick up my son from school. Though I wasn’t able to see the tumbling class in motion, I will visit it next week and give it a try with my daughter…and maybe I’ll fit a massage in too.
After all, when there’s a buzz, there’s usually something sweet in the middle of it all. This time it’s Everyday Athlete: a studio that has the tight energy of true athletes, the heart of dedicated owners and a dose of familial support- all rolled into one honey of a package.
Here are some of their current specials:
Holiday Special: Jump Start program – 16 private sessions and 4 hours of bodywork – $1600 ($15 less per session)
Birthday Parties: Choose a Dance or a Tumbling Party and enjoy 2-hours of non-stop fun – $350 for toddlers (up to 15 children) / $400 for 3 years old and up (up to 15 children)
Winter Holiday Camp 12/27 to 12/30: Tumbling and Art starting at 2 years old. More information to come.
Everyday Athlete Studio
136 Union Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: 718 852 6300
[email protected]
I have been training with Alejandra for over 2 years. I am in the best shape of my life and have great friends I’ve met through the Mommy Boot Camp classes. I started training with Alejandra 6 weeks after I had my first baby. She trained me through my 2nd pregnancy and post baby as well. She is the absolute best trainer I have ever worked with and has a heart of gold. I consider her my friend, not only my trainer, and the EA studio is a second home to me. Everyone that works out there regularly is like family, and I am so thankful to Alejandra and Tomas for creating such a wonderful, unique environment for us to feel healthy and strong.
I would recommend the Everyday Athlete to everyone!
Alejandra and Tomas are amazing people and true community builders. Everyone who works at and attends EA is friendly and down-to-earth. I immediately felt comfortable despite my lack of physical conditioning when I joined. At the time I was also struggling with my post-natal recovery.
With their encouragement and extensive knowledge, I now have the energy and strength to keep up with my kids. I also love the studio’s philosophy – getting fit so you can live your life more fully, whatever your goals may be.
Our whole family goes now – from tumbling, yoga for dudes, massage, private instruction, and group classes. They have really transformed my life.
Alejandra and Tomas are amazing people and true community builders. Everyone who works and attends EA is friendly and down-to-earth. I immediately felt comfortable despite my lack of physical conditioning when I joined. At the time I was also struggling with my post-natal recovery.
With their encouragement and extensive knowledge, I now have the energy and strength to keep up with my kids. I also love the studio’s philosophy – getting fit so you can live your life more fully, whatever your goals may be.
Our whole family goes now – from tumbling, yoga for dudes, massage, private instruction, and group classes. They have really transformed my life.
I found Tomas/Everyday Athlete in a quest to gift some personal training sessions to my boyfriend. After emailing and then speaking with Tomas, I chose EA because I was impressed by the more sophisticated understanding of biomechanics as their training philosophy is focused on functionality (useful movements); after hearing my bf’s rave reviews, I subsequently started going there with him, and we have both greatly enjoyed and benefitted from our training time with Tomas–definitely recommend!
I couldn’t live with out everyday athlete! my husband and I have been going there for personal and group training for about 6 years. The is no place like it in the city or brooklyn, we feel so lucky to live near by!
Everyday Athlete is the greatest! Just the right atmosphere for us, and we are in great shape inside and out!
My wife and I have gone out of our way to train with EA for years. They are the real deal!
My wife did prenatal training and got back into great shape after each kid.
I went there for 6 months or so – what I learned from Tomas and Alejandra is constantly in the back of my head: I was having frequent back spasms and sharp pain for over a year, but they are no more. They taught me simple stretches (I hate stretching) and general knowledge about the mechanics of my body (why don’t they teach this stuff in gym class) that have profoundly altered my experience of being an animal that moves.
I can’t recommend them enough… and the massages are insane!!!! They are my go-to gifts for my wife.
And it’s true – the space is really great… not out-of-balance masculine or feminine… great wood features. I feel like I’m in another country a little. I don’t like “spas” that make me feel like a little lady getting her nails done… I do like relaxing though.
LOVE THESE GUYS!