New York City is the mecca of the world. It’s where everyone from any culture or background comes together to create this place that can only be understood by visiting there. Manhattan has all the best restaurants, clubs and bars, but if you want to take a minute to work on yourself it also has some of the best places to work out.  

If you’re looking for a place to get a good cardio workout there are a bunch of places that will scratch that itch. All of these class are between $34-$40.

SoulCycle: probably a class you’ve heard of before because they are taking over the fitness world. A 45 minute high intensity indoor cycling class.

They play great music and even have themed classes, so if you only want to listen to Beyoncé for 45 minutes then SoulCycle is your place! Each class is different but each features high-intensity cardio, muscle-sculpting strength training and rhythm based choreography

Rumble Boxing: Don’t you just want to hit something sometimes? Each Rumble class includes High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), strength training, and metabolic conditioning.

5 rounds of high intensity floor work and 5 rounds of high intensity boxing on their Aqua bags. While the workout in and of itself is amazing, so is the way that it can serve as your own personal therapy. You’ll leave there feeling like a newer, stronger person.  

Barry’s Bootcamp: Barry’s is exactly what it sounds like: a boot camp. You switch off between running on the treadmill and doing ab/leg/arm floor work. It tones muscle, maximizes fat loss and increases your metabolism. Between the quick-fire combination of weight training and cardio you can burn up to 1,000 calories per class. It’s all about how hard you push yourself.

Everyone in the class gives off an energy that makes you want to keep going, sprint faster, and do more crunches. Going into Barry’s is like going into a time warp. The class goes by so quickly and before you know it you’re walking out having accomplished an intense workout.  Pro tip: don’t make plans for after the class, you’re going to want to get right into bed.

Honorable mentions:

305 Fitness: a 55-minute cardio dance class. The almost hour class consists of sweat-inducing, high-intensity, choreographed moves that not only makes you sweat but makes your confidence soar. Each class has a live DJ and you follow all the dance moves your instructor does. Your body is constantly moving. You don’t stand still until the 55 minutes are over.

The class is so much fun you don’t even realize that you’re working out, it feels like you’re out at a club dancing with all your best friends. So put that together plus burning calories = recipe for utter fitness success.

If you’re looking for something not too high intense but still works your body, there are a plethora of places for that as well. All of these places focus on toning your body. They still have some cardio and you do work up a bitch of a sweat but they’re more about connecting your mind and body.

SLT: stands for strengthen, lengthen, and tone – and that’s exactly what it does. This is probably the most difficult workout, but it is also the workout where you see the most results. If cardio, strength training and Pilates had a baby…it would be SLT. The workout happens on a Megaformer machine where you do slow and controlled movements. These movements have many benefits.

They maximize the effort required for both directions of a movement (the push and the pull, the in and the out) by removing momentum from the equation. Slow movements also get you to muscle failure, in a good way. The slower you move, the harder it is and the better the results.  The intro class is perfect for first timers but prepared to be sore for a while.

Y7 Studio: “a tribe called sweat” – Y7 is hot yoga but in a candlelight setting while listening to hip-hop music. Y7 Studio sets itself apart from other yoga classes by straying from tradiotonal yoga. In place of typical lighting and mirrors used in most yoga classes, Y7 provides candlelight instead, that way people can focus on themselves not other people in the room.

Instead of a quiet, relaxing, serene yoga class, this yoga class gets your heart rate bumping and as well your hips a shakin.

 

Pure Barre: pure barre is a workout that works you to your core…literally. You use a ballet bar to do a series of arm, leg and ab exercises as well as resistance bands and light weights.

The concentration involved while taking this class allows you to block out everything else going on in your life and simply zone in on what you’re doing. You leave the class feeling a lot stronger, and your head a lot clearer.

 

New York City may be the hub for all things food, drink and theater, but it is also the hub for heart pumping, pulse racing, body aching workouts that will change your body faster than you think could be possible.

So while you’re going to see a Broadway show, or going to the hottest club or newest restaurant, do yourself a favor and go to one of these fitness classes that will change how you see fitness.