(Photo: Lisa Elaine Held for Well+Good)
Lots of fitness studios claim to deliver group fitness classes with the hands-on attention of personal training, but Focus NYC’s PT6 actually succeeds—in a cool, high-tech way.
In addition to instruction and feedback from the trainer leading the class (which maxes out at 12 people), you can get extra help with your form from exercise-tutorial videos playing on iPads mounted throughout the pretty, modern gym.
Next to racks of kettlebells, for example, is a video showing a trainer executing the perfect Russian swing—shoulders down, butt back, hips pushing forward.
The class is interval style, so you move from station to station, usually with a partner, completing intervals of different workout moves. Many use props—we’re talking medicine ball squats, TRX planks and pikes, treadmill sprints, and the aforementioned kettlebell swings.
At the end, you finish with a lightning round that puts a few tough moves back-to-back in a circuit that really gets your heart-rate up. The overall format always stays the same, but the exercises included vary each time.
Overall, PT6 is a fun, full-body workout that consistently hits a ton of muscle groups while also getting in some cardio. And the small-group format combined with the iPad tutorials pushes you to work hard while keeping you super safe.
Just remember: It’s kind of like that six-person seminar you took in college. You won’t get lost in the crowd, which also means there’s no hiding from the instructor on days when you had a few too many drinks the night before and kind of feel like slacking. —Lisa Elaine Held
Who’s it for: Fans of functional training workouts and props; boot-campers; those who love lots of direction or want to be sure they’re being super safe
$40 per class, 115 W. 27th St., between Sixth and Seventh Aves., Chelsea, www.focusnyc.com
