Time Out New York / Issue 641 : Jan 10–16, 2008
Get fit
New ways to work out
Where to lift weights—and compete in a cage match, cheerlead or train like Randy Moss. Your localized guide to the freshest gyms and techniques, with programs low-key, intense, hard-core or your choice of all three.
New York Sports Club The spanking-new fitness outpost (which opened in November) adds Preseason Sports Conditioning this year. Make like a pro and train the way professional football, baseball and basketball teams do: with drills, agility work and plyometrics on the kind of equipment you see in ’80s movie montages. “It’s challenging, but also a lot of fun—which is why participants are so committed to it,” says Jill Venezia, the gym’s director of group exercise.
Rates: See info under Upper East Side.
1601 Bronxdale Ave at Pierce Ave (718-828-0611)
Bally Total Fitness
The Jorge Cruise Total-Body Class, which rolls out this month, is inspired by the fitness guru’s slooow repetition method (he advises 12 painful seconds of holding each time you lift a weight), elaborated into an hour’s worth of workout. Don’t worry, it’s not all slo-mo action: Part of the class includes a fast-paced cardio workout, which blends kickboxing and basic capoeira moves. Then there’s the resistance training, and finally, yoga stretches. “It’s really a total-body workout,” says senior group-exercise director Susan McGurn. “You get cardio, flexibility and resistance training—and you get it all in one hour.”
Rates: From $18 per month (for access to the gym three days a week) to $67 per month (nationwide unlimited access and four personal-training sessions); initiation fee $18–$175.
298 W 231st St at Tibbett Ave (718-796-9000)The Rock
Hey, Queens-dwelling tube addicts and CrackBerry heads, you now have no excuse not to work out: This 30,000-square-foot fitness center has installed televisions on all 70-odd cardio machines. “It’s the flat-screen plasma that really attracts ’em to the treadmill,” laughs general manager Dora Arsenis, “and the fact that we just installed the Internet for the members who want to check e-mail while working out.” Just for the record, we don’t approve.
Rates: Initiation fee $99 (instead of $199) through January. Sign up for one year and pay $83 per month (two years is $73 per month).
2215 31st St between Ditmars Blvd and 23rd Ave (718-204-1400)
