For the record, I'm no fan of gym classes. The airless rooms, the harsh lighting, the sea of Lululemon pants - better for me the solitary, meditative practice of running. But after years of five-days-a-week jogs, ennui was setting in. So when a friend told me about a hilarious new class set to music from Glee, I had to try it. And it wasn't half-bad. In fact, it was as taxing as a 5K race (only with more Cee Lo). As it turns out, the city's gyms have been rolling out a barrage of classes that collectively represent the new norm in fitness: hybrids of old and new routines; high-intensity interval-training sessions; and odd variations on Jane FondaÐstyle aerobics. Armed with a Mio Motiva Petite - a heart-rate and calorie-counting watch that would tell me (approximately) how hard I was working - I set out to take as many classes in a month as I could handle. These are the twenty I liked best.
Cheerleading
Smart Workout, 124 E. 40th St., nr. Lexington Ave.; 212-661-1660; memberships from $145 per month
Kudos to all you cheerleaders: I hadn’t appreciated how much strength and stamina all that jubilation entails. This class set me straight with tight movements performed with lots of staccato snap. We worked our lower halves with kicks and grapevines and our arms and shoulders by making lots of V’s and T’s. (Novice that I was, I had to ask what they stood for: victory and team.)
Minutes: 45
Peak Heart Rate: 142
Calories Burned: 231
The Pain-O-Meter: 3
see the full article at
New York Magazine, July 17, 2011 issue
The Gym Class Guinea Pig
Smart Workout
124 East 40th StreetSuite 603 NY, NY
ph. (212) 661-1660
