#fhitting room

This week really did me in. It was one of those jam-packed weeks, with fun things, but it has left me completely exhausted; thank goodness the weekend is nearly here.

Here's a look at the last week and a sneak peek of this weekend.

Sunday I hosted a charity ride to raise funds for my Cycle for Survival team. We had an awesome turn out with nearly 40 riders; the energy is amazing when you've got a spin room filled with friends. The actual Cycle for Survival event is next weekend, you can still donate HERE!

I was invited to a preview workout at Orangetheory Fitness, opening soon in Chelsea. This was a seriously solid workout, full recap coming here soon.

I've been trying to get more miles in as I gear up for some big races on the horizon. Sometimes that means sitting in an empty spin room once all my students have gone. Gotta do what I gotta do because you know I'm not riding outside for quite some time (winter, you can go now, we've all had enough).

The Fhitting Room has been on my workout radar for a while and I finally got there! Had a good sweat and got to hang (literally) with some fellow bloggers. Full recap on this workout coming soon as well. 

Ok so maybe now I know why I'm exhausted, everything so far on my Friday Five is workout related. To give myself a little break, my mom and I are heading to The Lodge at Woodloch for a mini spa getaway. 

For months I'd been hearing mixed reviews about ClassPass and finally gave it a try so I could form my own opinion. I'll get into the details but I'll give you an overall statement for those that only sort-of care: I did not like ClassPass. It is definitely not for me but I can see why some people love (and why other people hate it).

The basic idea is that for $99 a month you get access to a ton of studios throughout the city. You can go to an unlimited amount of classes in a month but to each studio a max of 3 times (and this is for all locations, so you can go to any FlyWheel a total of 3 times even if it is different locations). This does not give you full access to studio schedules, you must sign up for classes via ClassPasses website or app (which JUST launched so I didn't even use it). There are a limited number of spots open to ClassPassers, making it very competitive to get in.

I was unaware of this but it is a huge game to get into popular studios. Classes open up at noon on Sundays and you literally have to be glued to your computer or phone to get a spot. So if you are like me and happened to sign up for a noon class on Sunday, you are out of luck because by the time you get out of class, everything popular is full. I'm not sure how quickly these classes fill up but I had a list of studios I was interested in and literally every single time I checked their schedule, zero spots were available. 

The popular studios I wanted to go to but couldn't get a spot in because I was busy on Sundays at noon are: Barry's Bootcamp, Uplift, Fhitting Room, CityRow, Physique 57, Tone House and few others. Also, it seems that some studios are hidden on the site/app. For example, if you search Barry's Bootcamp on the ClassPass site it comes up with nothing but if you google 'Barrys Bootcamp ClassPass' it will bring you to some hidden link to sign up for class. What's the deal with that ClassPass??

So let's move beyond the classes that fill up at noon on Sundays. There are a TON of studios on ClassPass so I give them credit for that. However, the Upper West Side studios are limited. It's the dead of winter so the thought of trekking across the city to go workout is undesirable. I work within walking distance from my apartment so I'm not super keen on traveling far from the Upper West/Columbus Circle/Midtown West area. Because of this my options were extremely limited.

Another thing with workouts, sometimes I don't want to plan days in advance. On a Monday morning if I realize I am free that night I want to browse the available classes and pick one. That system was a fail. The only classes left when doing that were either Bikram Yoga or random yoga studios that didn't sound great. That was pretty much it. Then, if you wait too long to book, the classes close. So if you realize you're getting out of work on the early side and can go to a class in an hour, it's too late and the booking period has passed.

An issue a friend came across was being dropped from a class list. She signed up for a Barry's class and later got a notification that the class was full and she lost her spot. Not cool ClassPass, not cool. She had made plans around that class (meeting friends for the class and what not) and then could not attend.

If you sign up for a class and cannot make it, it's a $20 fee. You have to cancel within 24 hours which is unreasonable. I understand they don't want you to take up spots and be a no-show but I think a 3-5 hour cancellation window is more reasonable. Some days I'm stuck at work and other days I'm not, it's just impossible to tell 24 hours in advance. Because of this, I didn't want to sign up for classes for fear I'd miss it and be charged.

Other things I did not like include the website and the map features. The website just kinda sucks. You'd filter all these things like location, time, type of class and then once you click to view a studio, your filters have vanished and you need to start again. Also, the map is inaccurate and missing a bunch of studios. Some studios do not list their locations which makes for a poor user experience.

[here's a sample list of studios, third column from the right you can see many don't list locations, requiring more work on your end to find something nearby]

My ClassPass ended about a week ago and now when I go on the site all I see is this:

Not particularly welcoming or informative. I can't view the participating studios or really anything else.

For all of these reasons I would never do ClassPass again. For my lifestyle it just is not a fit. For some people though, it is! The $99 deal is a great one, and it's great for people who...

Don't mind traveling around the city to workout OR live in Flatiron/Union Square where I felt like most of the studios are located

You have a flexible schedule and can do mid-day workouts (less competition for spots) and never get stuck at work later than you expected

You like enough ClassPass studios that are not popular. If you went to three classes at a few of the featured studios that are not in demand you'd still get your money's worth 

You schedule your workouts on Sunday at noon and don't stray from your schedule the entire week, meaning you would never be in a situation where you have to cancel a booking within 24 hours of the class

So in conclusion, ClassPass seems great but there are a lot of aspects of it that just do not work for my lifestyle and schedule. Gyms and fancy studios are very expensive so the $99 price tag is absolutely a good competitive price but it didn't align with what I was looking for. For me, I'd rather belong to a gym where I can drop by any time or sign up for classes and bail if something comes up. With my gym I know exactly what I'm getting; I know my way around, I know what amenities are offered, etc. With ClassPass it takes research to figure out which gyms have locker rooms, showers, towels, water, etc. If you workout directly before heading to the office, these things are key. Some studios have amazing locker rooms and showers while others have no locker room or maybe one shower located in the only bathroom stall (not going to work for the AM rush!).

Oh and for full disclosure, this is a reminder that I teach group fitness at a gym so my feelings towards all of this is totally biased. 

While I've chatted with anti-ClassPassers, there must be a huge market of people who love it. The company has expanded to 20 cities and according to this article, is doing quite well. Maybe the NYC ClassPass experience is crazier than other cities and in other places it's not so hard to get into classes. Anyone know?

I don't mean to be so negative on ClassPass and I hope I presented a fair and balanced review. For some people it is not a match but I can absolutely see how it could work for others.

Friday January 24, 2014

Meet Butterfly C., this week’s FITiST of the week! When she’s not out scouting the world for the next top model, you can find her scouting out NYC’s top studios -- from Barry’s to SLT and the Fhitting Room. Butterfly mixes it up to keep her body and mind guessing, and kicked off 2014 with a vow to try a new studio at least twice a month.  In between pumping iron and her super glamorous job, Butterfly is happiest spending time with her family at her home base in Jersey.

FIT 5: 5 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF JULIA AVERY, INSTRUCTOR AT THE FHITTING ROOM

Thursday January 23, 2014

Katie Minehan

Julia, who grew up doing gymnastics, has always had a passion for fitness. She recently left her position in marketing in order to pursue a full-time career in fitness as an instructor and personal trainer. Since leaving her desk job, she’s noticed she’s much hungrier from being on her feet and active all day. She relies on frequent meals and protein-packed snacks to keep her full. When she’s not training clients or teaching a class, Julia does CrossFit exercises. She spent the week focusing on strength building in lieu of cardio (and hit a new personal record in the process!). She also has her own fitness blog, average2athlete, where you can read more about her training and check out some of her favorite recipes. Read below to see how Julia keeps in shape, motivated and energized enough to tackle her own intense workouts after a day teaching classes at The Fhitting Room

For those living in NYC, it's hard not to notice the abundance of boutique fitness studios popping up. Before I get started on these classes, let me just say (in a very biased I'm-an-employee-sort-of-way) my top pick is Equinox. Obviously I teach there and thus it is where my loyalty is, but if you are all about group fitness, Equinox offers a wide variety of classes (body conditioning/sculpt, yoga, cycling, pilates, barre + more) and while membership is expensive, if you go to multiple classes a week you are getting your money's worth. Also the locker rooms are ah-mazing. But I digress. Let's get back to group fitness.

I love the idea of various focused studios all over the city but they come at a hefty price. If you want to take 3 classes per week, many of them are upwards of $25 per class so in a month you'd spend $300 on approximately 12 hours worth of fitness. To me, that is madness since you can get a fully equipped gym membership allowing for many more hours worth of fitness in the range of $80-$200 per month. However, if you've got money to burn or you are just so obsessed with a certain class you can't stay away, by all means, enjoy!

So while I'm not in the category of uber-rich fitness people, I love to try out new classes to see what is out there. I've tried a bunch. Usually I go once or if there is a package deal maybe a couple of times at most. I've liked some more than others- my favorites are Circuit of Change, Trooper Fitness, Stacy's Bootcamp, Refine Method, & Pure Barre.

With a bunch of new openings happening around NYC and temperatures so cold they are keeping me away from outdoor runs, there are a few studios on my radar to check out- Chaise Fitness, City Row, Swerve, Lyons Den Power Yoga, The Fhitting Room.

Am I missing anything great? What's your favorite class these days?