Sports
Balance Gym offers sense of community
From CrossFit to spa amenities, something for everyone
The founders of Balance Gym offer customers a wide range of activities from CrossFit classes to yoga and more.
I sat down with Mark Crick, co-owner of Balance Gym for an engaging and insightful interview about his fitness philosophy and what makes the gym unique. Isn’t Balance just another “gym” and how can it compete with the plush higher-end fitness facilities that offer everything under one roof? They can and they do. What separates Balance is its inherent community that inevitably becomes a part of your membership package. And doesn’t everyone want to be part of a community and have fun?
Just how does a little engine, like Balance Gym get voted “Best Gym in DC” for 2011 by City Paper outshining those big guys? Let me tell you their story.
My introduction to Balance and co-owners Mark Crick and Graham King happened back in 2007, when I was living down the street from Balance. After hearing some buzz about these “two hot straight guys” operating a gym nearby, I went in looking for a place to hang my hat as a personal trainer. At first, I thought, OK where is the steam room and all the amenities that generally come with a gym membership? Nope, not at Balance. Back then you received complimentary towels and Balance water bottles (for the water fountain, no less), but what else comes in your membership package? Today’s Balance Gym membership gives you several additional membership benefits, including spa and personal training discounts. There was a spark at Balance that I could not quite put my finger on, but I knew that the Balance community would grow.
They have indeed grown to three locations, including Glover Park, Thomas Circle and the original in Kalorama. In addition, there are two CrossFit locations; Thomas Circle and Kalorama. But what has not been lost is the original formula: community, fun and a comprehensive and innovative approach to fitness. Notice I did not say exercise, because at Balance you get fit and you are encouraged to train like an athlete. There is no going through the motions here and you get this when you read the Balance tag line, “Train for Sport, Train for Life.”
Mark and Graham met back in 2004 when Mark was a professional rugby player working at a venture capital firm and Graham was a personal trainer at Washington Sports Club teaching his own boot camp in Kalorama Triangle Park. Graham was looking for another instructor that had the same passion for fitness and Mark was likely looking to get rid of his suit and tie. They quickly realized that not only did they share similar fitness values and philosophies, but they had the business acumen to put their belief system into action. Hence, Balance Gym, Kalorama was born and still exists as their flagship location today.
City Paper calls Balance Gym D.C.’s most unique and energetic gym, providing a truly comprehensive and innovative approach to fitness. But don’t put Mark, Graham or the Balance community into a one-size-fits-all box. The Balance World is much broader than that and they realize that we all have different preferences and Balance offers a wide variety of classes and exercise options.
Balance was one of the first gyms in D.C. to embrace and offer CrossFit, which is a strength and conditioning methodology that is now popping up everywhere. They also offer the ever-popular Zumba, yoga, boxing and the best pole dancing class in the city. And they have in-house physical therapy that most gyms do not.
They also have a team of highly competent, certified personal trainers who know fitness and know how to motivate their clients.
Still yearning for that spa-like atmosphere? Balance offers that in its Glover Park location, which was formerly Soma-Fit and is now SomaSpa, which offers that lap of health, fitness and wellness luxury in an intimate boutique like setting. (And they do have a steam room.)
The Balance community extends beyond the confines of any of their locations. From tubing, hiking and pool parties, to charity dodge-ball tournaments, CrossFit competitions, Cupid Undie Run for the Children Tumor Foundation, Bike to The Beach for Autism and the list goes on. You will have fun at Balance and you can’t help but get fit along the way.
But just how gay-friendly are Mark and Graham and what have they done for the LGBT community? Well, a lot. For several years they supported “gay volleyball” in Kalorama and currently support the Capital Tennis Association, the gay-friendly Washington Renegades Rugby team and the DC Furies. And we can’t forget that in 2009 all the shirtless trainers at Balance harnessed, roped and pulled two classic Volkswagens in the Annual Pride Parade.
“When you look forward to coming to the gym and fitness becomes fun, the results you desire come easy.” Add a fun community to the mix and you inevitably have a fitness formula for success.
Sports
Attitude! French ice dancers nail ‘Vogue’ routine
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry strike a pose in memorable Olympics performance
Madonna’s presence is being felt at the Olympic Games in Italy.
Guillaume Cizeron and his rhythm ice dancing partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry of France performed a flawless skate to Madonna’s “Vogue” and “Rescue Me” on Monday.
The duo scored an impressive 90.18 for their effort, the best score of the night.
“We’ve been working hard the whole season to get over 90, so it was nice to see the score on the screen,” Fournier Beaudry told Olympics.com. “But first of all, just coming out off the ice, we were very happy about what we delivered and the pleasure we had out there. With the energy of the crowd, it was really amazing.”
Watch the routine on YouTube here.
Italy
Olympics Pride House ‘really important for the community’
Italy lags behind other European countries in terms of LGBTQ rights
The four Italian advocacy groups behind the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics’ Pride House hope to use the games to highlight the lack of LGBTQ rights in their country.
Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano organized the Pride House that is located in Milan’s MEET Digital Culture Center. The Washington Blade on Feb. 5 interviewed Pride House Project Manager Joseph Naklé.
Naklé in 2020 founded Peacox Basket Milano, Italy’s only LGBTQ basketball team. He also carried the Olympic torch through Milan shortly before he spoke with the Blade. (“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie last month participated in the torch relay in Feltre, a town in Italy’s Veneto region.)
Naklé said the promotion of LGBTQ rights in Italy is “actually our main objective.”
ILGA-Europe in its Rainbow Map 2025 notes same-sex couples lack full marriage rights in Italy, and the country’s hate crimes law does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. Italy does ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, but the country’s nondiscrimination laws do not include gender identity.
ILGA-Europe has made the following recommendations “in order to improve the legal and policy situation of LGBTI people in Italy.”
• Marriage equality for same-sex couples
• Depathologization of trans identities
• Automatic co-parent recognition available for all couples
“We are not really known to be the most openly LGBT-friendly country,” Naklé told the Blade. “That’s why it (Pride House) was really important for the community.”
“We want to use the Olympic games — because there is a big media attention — and we want to use this media attention to raise the voice,” he added.
Naklé noted Pride House will host “talks and roundtables every night” during the games that will focus on a variety of topics that include transgender and nonbinary people in sports and AI. Another will focus on what Naklé described to the Blade as “the importance of political movements now to fight for our rights, especially in places such as Italy or the U.S. where we are going backwards, and not forwards.”
Seven LGBTQ Olympians — Italian swimmer Alex Di Giorgio, Canadian ice dancers Paul Poirier and Kaitlyn Weaver, Canadian figure skater Eric Radford, Spanish figure skater Javier Raya, Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson, and Irish field hockey and cricket player Nikki Symmons — are scheduled to participate in Pride House’s Out and Proud event on Feb. 14.
Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood representatives are expected to speak at Pride House on Feb. 21.
The event will include a screening of Mariano Furlani’s documentary about Pride House and LGBTQ inclusion in sports. The MiX International LGBTQ+ Film and Queer Culture Festival will screen later this year in Milan. Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood is also planning to show the film during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Naklé also noted Pride House has launched an initiative that allows LGBTQ sports teams to partner with teams whose members are either migrants from African and Islamic countries or people with disabilities.
“The objective is to show that sports is the bridge between these communities,” he said.
Bisexual US skier wins gold
Naklé spoke with the Blade a day before the games opened. The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will close on Feb. 22.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are competing in the games.
Breezy Johnson, an American alpine skier who identifies as bisexual, on Sunday won a gold medal in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, on the same day helped the U.S. win a gold medal in team figure skating.
Glenn said she received threats on social media after she told reporters during a pre-Olympics press conference that LGBTQ Americans are having a “hard time” with the Trump-Vance administration in the White House. The Associated Press notes Glenn wore a Pride pin on her jacket during Sunday’s medal ceremony.
“I was disappointed because I’ve never had so many people wish me harm before, just for being me and speaking about being decent — human rights and decency,” said Glenn, according to the AP. “So that was really disappointing, and I do think it kind of lowered that excitement for this.”
Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga
Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show
Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.
Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”
La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.
“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”
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