What started as a dream five years ago is now becoming a reality for Brazilian native turned Baltimore resident Lola Manekin. She will open Movement Lab this August on the top floor of the highly anticipated R. House in Remington, an auto-repair shop being revamped by Seawall Development.
“The idea for Movement Lab was born from my own experience of not fitting into the typical gym scene, but still loving to move my body. The word ‘workout’ was never part of my vocabulary,” says Manekin, whose husband is Thibault Manekin, founder of Seawall Development. “Most people go to the gym but are disconnected from their bodies, which leads to injuries and people that are just bored with their routine.”
Movement Lab will invite people to rethink their current work out practices and experiment with alternative fitness routines. With a playful and fun approach to health and fitness, Movement Lab will offer a wide array of classes and workshops for people of all fitness levels, such as trendy cardio-dance workout the Nia Technique, Jumping® Fitness, and yoga.
“By rethinking how we approach health and fitness, we hope to empower everyone including children, adults and seniors to regain ownership of their bodies and their lives,” Manekin says.
They will also be the only studio in Maryland where you will be able to practice AntiGravity Fitness, which offers aerial yoga and fitness classes with sessions ranging from doing pulls and flips in the suspension hammock, to more restorative classes where you do smaller healing movements with the hammock lower to the ground.
Movement Lab will also be partnering with nonprofit The Baltimore Dance Crews Project, which will offer hip-hop classes for adults and children in the space, as well as with martial arts class in Muay Thai, Tai Chi, Aikido, and Taekwondo.
The 4,350-square-foot space will feature two large studios, spa-like bathrooms, locker rooms, 14-foot floor-to-ceiling windows, sprung wood floors, and a treatment room for therapies like massage and acupuncture.