Solidcore: New Boutique Fitness Studio Coming to Chestnut Street 

Solidcore | Photo via Anne Mahlum

“When you watch a Solidcore workout, you’re like ‘That doesn’t look that hard,” says founder and CEO Anne Mahlum. But it is — it really, really is, she promises. The studio, which currently has nine locations, mostly in DC, Maryland and Virginia, will be setting up shop in Philly — at 725 Chestnut Street, to be exact — come May, with their slow-moving (but killer) Pilates-inspired workout done on a reformer-like machine.

So, why might you think the workout isn’t as muscle-burning as it actually is? Well, as Mahlum, also the founder and former CEO of local nonprofit Back on My Feet, explains, the classes are done entirely on a spring-based resistance machine which they’ve designed specifically for their workouts, and the movements are really slow, which can be deceiving. As Mahlum, who sports a set of abs that would put Ryan Gosling to shame, says, “I have been doing this workout for two years and it’s still very challenging for me.”

The idea is that the slow movements — which center around three foundational moves: planks, lunges and squats — help to break down your slow-twitch muscle fibers during class, so up to 24 hours after class, you continue to burn calories while those muscles rebuild. And that’s on top of the 600 calories Solidcore claims the workout burns, on average, during a 50-minute class. So again, don’t let the slow movements fool you.

You can expect a club-y feel from the studio; blue lights and loud music are signature elements. And Mahlum says, like all Solidcore studios, the Chestnut Street studio will be on the small side, with 14 machines. A single class will run you between $25 and $33, depending on whether you opt for a drop-in or a class package, and the price for monthly memberships in Philly is still being determined.

And they aren’t going to stop at just one Philly studio: Mahlum says she’s also been looking at locations in areas along the Main Line and University City, and she’s hoping to open up to three Philly studios by the end of 2016. Considering Solidcore has grown from one studio to nine and counting since their launch in November of 2013, I wouldn’t doubt her. And pssst: to all the trainers out there, Mahlum says they’re hiring for the Philly studio, so if you’re looking for a gig, reach out to them here.

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