Photo courtesy of Offbeat Boxing and Cycling Studios.
M Streets neighbor Mark Willey and his team are making final preparations to open a new location of Offbeat Boxing and Cycling Studios.
The fitness studio was previously at the shopping center at N. Buckner Boulevard and Northcliff Drive, but after a disagreement with the landlord, the studio closed in October 2022 and left the shopping center. Offbeat’s new location is slated to open Feb. 4 at 7330 Gaston Ave. next to Cane Rosso.
Willey, who has an MBA and a JD from Northwestern University, has a background in the business world. Though he had always wanted to start his own business, he spent most of his time working as a consultant, which allowed him the flexibility to train for marathons.
While training for the 2019 London Marathon, Willey added boxing and cycling to his routine, along with running. That’s when saw the benefits of blending different kinds of exercise, and it gave him a business idea he’d always been looking for — a fitness studio offering “a really cool combination” of cardio-based, upper-body and lower-body workouts.
The name for Willey’s studio, Offbeat, came from a conversation with Dan Bradley, who owns Bullzerk.
When Bradley asked Willey to describe his brand, Willey said it’s a response to other fitness studios, which he sees as more image-driven. He wanted something that better reflects East Dallas and down-to-earth people.
“Almost like an offbeat sense of humor,” Willey said to Bradley.
“And he [Bradley] goes, ‘Oh, Offbeat. Why don’t you just call it Offbeat?'”
After the first location closed, Willey knew he wanted to keep his business in East Dallas, and specifically near White Rock Lake, to continue serving the members from the old location and be close to the park, a local hub for outdoor activity. The former Uptown Yoga space next to Cane Rosso was available, and Willey took it.
“Along with the shopping center across the street, there’s just a ton going on right there,” he says.
Offbeat has 15 instructors who teach boxing and cycling classes. The cycling classes are rhythm-based and music-driven, Willey says, while the boxing classes emphasize the physicality of the sport and punching the bag.
“Cycling and boxing are both really hard to do, but we really work hard to make it fun as well,” Willey says. “We’re all learning together.”
