Social Workout

Workout

Love my gym already!

Anyone else go to the Park Slope Crunch? So glad I didn't put off joining until the fall. Being at the gym just makes me happy. :)

Walked there today (about a mile and a half) and then spent 30 minutes on the elliptical, catching up on my news, and 15 minutes doing shoulders with free weights and stretching. Left feeling super about my Sunday. 

Deals

Crunch Open House and Barbecue

Unpaid Public Service Announcement: Crunch is hosting an all day barbecue and open house tomorrow. This means that you and all your friends, members and non-members, can go work out at any Crunch, and then eat "healthy barbecue treats" together. (Check here for deets.) Give the Crunchies credit for being unexpected and generous. Or possibly desperate. Regardless, not a bad day to saunter into your local Crunch.

Poet Laureate

The High Cost of Fitness

When I left Crunch for a low-cost New York City Parks and Rec. gym I was told by one of their reps, somewhat maniacally, I’d be getting exactly what I paid for…which, at 75 bucks a year for gym access across New York sounded pretty frickin’ sweet. At Crunch, I was paying over a thousand dollars a year to lift weights, take the occasional yoga class, and, in a villainous method of mixed messages, watch The Biggest Loser or The Food Network while on the treadmill. I haven’t joined the New York gym yet, but I have looked into other gyms, and I'm seriously riled by the complete and total absence of pricing info available for chain gyms. Here's why I find it so irritating: 

Rants

Of Civilization and Spin Bike Thieves

At Crunch Fitness, you have to sign up in advance for the classes you want to take. The good part about this policy is that you are guaranteed a spot. The bad part about this policy is that you are not guaranteed a spot.

Yeah, you read that correctly. Apparently, signing up for a spin class does NOT mean you'll be sweating up a storm in your favorite spin class, thanks to the awesome people who sneak into the classes, even when they're full!

It was a Sunday spin class, so I knew it would be popular. I got to Crunch 20 minutes early, on purpose, and put my name on the list. Then I stepped out to pick up a few last minute dinner items at Whole Foods around the corner. Not smart. Sunday, at Whole Foods? I should have known the line would be out the door.

New York

Buns of Steal

Humbled but Beaming at Crunch

Once upon a time, long, long ago, I was a gymnast. I wasn't great, but I was good (a "Level 8" out of 10). Still, I dreaded the balance beam. Two-and-half inches for flipping and pirouetting is viable only for uber-tiny, uber-fit, uber-muscular munchkins. The typical Level 8 beam routine looks something like this. I haven't missed it for a second, and yet last week, for the first time in 15 years, I stepped on to a beam of sorts. 

Turns out Crunch has a class called Beaming™, which features soft, friendly, doublewide beams which sit safely on the ground. The class is meant to improve your balance and alignment, and to work your core. (Naturally, they claim it will also "change your life.")

Buns of Steal

Boing! Kangoo, I'm a Human Kangaroo

Today's free workout: Crunch Fitness, Union Square with a 2-week free pass courtesy of killercadoogan. Ok, seriously, Crunch? Ropes, I get. Poles, I can deal with. But making me bounce around, wearing evil ski boots strapped to pogo balls, like a drunk kangaroo, in front of a mohawked instructor who has excitement tatooed onto his face, for an hour? Really, Crunch? Really? Sigh... But boing I did. And honestly, I kinda liked it...except for the giant gashes the boots left on my legs.

New York

Snapshot

Fraidy Dreams of Trapeze and Loves Her Lululemon Sports Bra

Every day, we give you a snapshot of one fellow striver in fitness. We ask personal questions, he or she boldly answers. Today's snapshot: Fraidy.

• What's your number one workout spot? Crunch. It's the first gym I ever joined. I used to spend a lot of time at the 59th St location until I ran out of money and couldn't afford my trainer anymore. Now I hang out at Union Square. 
• What are you just never going to try? My mom once went to a doctor who put metal balls behind her ears and every few hours she would have to roll them. It was supposed to make her lose weight. I was young and don't remember if it actually worked but I would never, ever try that. I have memories of us sitting in traffic and she's rolling them. Also, any of those cleanse diets. I like food too much. 

On Quitting Crunch... or, Not?

I have to say, I thought the horror stories of quitting a gym were all going to be very true and very dangerous to my pocket book. Talks of recurring fees, impossible cancellations... even with killercadoogan holding my hand, I was expecting some sort of pain.

Interviews

Robert Steinbacher Makes Your Body a Work of Art

Crunch just rolled out their new Spring class schedule, and one particular class caught my eye: BodyART. Here's why. BodyART isn't an invention by the powers that be at Crunch; it's this major fitness phenomenon in Europe complete with 30+ DVDs, thousands of instructors, and a book about to be published. All "invented" by a hunky Swiss dude named Robert Steinbacher...who just happened to be in New York last week to teach Crunch's first few BodyART classes.

Snapshot

Irene Believes in the Curative Powers of Kimchee

Every day, we give you a snapshot of one fellow striver in fitness. We ask personal questions, he or she boldly answers. Today's snapshot: Irene, aka Evangeline.

• What would you do (fitness wise) if you had all the time/ability in the world? I'd probably be a boxer. There's something kind of strangely graceful about it. It's not just beating the crap out of someone else or a bag, it's a lot of restraint, a lot of calculated movement, and boxers make jumping rope look so easy... But the sound of slapping a pad or a bag in just the right spot is pretty satisfying, too.