The Best Non-Gym Workouts In New York City
Jan. 9, 2013, 12:20 p.m.
There are plenty of ways to work out in the city that don't involve selling your firstborn to Equinox. Here are our top five favorites:
Nothing helps you shed the pounds faster than signing up for a year-long gym membership in New York City. That's assuming, of course, that if by pounds you mean dollars, since in our experience, committing to a gym means shelling out $140 a month for a place that's usually too packed with people vying for a spot on the Olympic Lululemon Ellipticalling Team for us to bother going more than four times a year. Luckily, though, there are plenty of ways to work out in the city that don't involve selling your firstborn to Equinox. Here are our top five favorites:
ROCK CLIMBING IN BROOKLYN HEIGHTS: Sick of that boring, neck-twisting shoulder press in the weight room? Channel your inner outdoorsman and work those deltoids the old-fashioned way at Everyday Athlete's new rock-climbing studio. The funky Carroll Gardens-based fitness company opened a Brooklyn Heights outpost last month and outfitted it with an awesome 2,500 square-foot climbing wall (the tallest in Brooklyn!). It comes complete with trapezes, yoga hammocks, pulleys and other fun aerial toys for you to play with if you battle the Gods of Exhaustion and make it up to the ceiling. Instructors Tomas Anthony and Julian Black lead $25 BetaMax climbing classes a few days a week, or you can jump in on an open climb session for $25.
Everyday Athlete is located at 130 Clinton Street (between Livingston and Joralemon Street) in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn; 718-852-6300. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
TRAPEZE SCHOOL: If your childhood fantasy about running away to the circus was squashed by the harsh, cold light of adulthood—or Carnivale—you can reclaim at least some of it by taking a class at Trapeze School New York. TSNY offers beginner, intermediate and advanced classes on the flying trapeze, as well as workshops on static trapezes, silks, aerial hoops, trampolines and floor acrobatics. Classes run $35-$65, and you can purchase class cards to get discounts ranging from five to 20 percent off. Alas, though, you'll have to wait for winter to end to swing through the air—the school is closed until April.
Trapeze School New York is located at Pier 40 in Hudson River Park, or Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport; 917-797-1872 Follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
DANCE CLASSES AT ALVIN AILEY EXTENSION: Alvin Ailey's known for turning out top-notch pros, but the Extension offers tons of public classes for twinkletoes who just want to dance for fun. You can try out everything from basic ballet and tap to Haitian folk dancing, and since the classes are geared towards adults, you don't have to worry about being besieged by Dance Moms while you're trying to tone your quads. Classes are $17 each, or you can purchase various class cards for discounts.
Alvin Ailey Extension is located at 405 West 55th Street (between Ninth and Tenth Avenue) in Hells Kitchen; 212-405-9500. Follow them on Facebook .
ICE SKATING AT LASKER RINK: Our prime wintertime exercise is comprised of pounding the radiator for twenty minutes to get it to emit something that resembles heat, but it turns out frosty weather is good for at least one kind of cardio. Lasker Rink, located at the tippy-top of Central Park, offers public ice skating sessions, plus figure and hockey skating lessons for adults, teens and kids through March. You can take group lessons for $280-$345 (10 to 15 classes), get a private lesson or check out open hockey on Saturday nights from 9:15 to 10:45 p.m. And if you're just looking to do a few loops around the rink, it's just $7 for unlimited skating during open session hours, and $6 for skate rentals.
Lasker Rink is located in Central Park, closest to the entrance at 110th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem; 917-492-3856. Follow them on Facebook.
RUNNING ACROSS THE MANHATTAN BRIDGE: In our experience bridges, with their steep inclines and stellar views of the New York skyline, can be terrific (and free!) places to jog. The Manhattan Bridge is one of the least plagued by tourists pausing to take Instagram photos of pigeons every twelve seconds, making it one of our favorites for a morning or evening run. Plus you can replenish with Chinatown dumplings post-run if you're coming from Brooklyn, or explore the many wonders of New York's newest imaginary neighborhood, RAMBO, if you're working out from west to east.
The Brooklyn entrance to the Manhattan Bridge is located at the intersection of Tillary Street and Boerum Place in RAMBO or via the underpass at Washington Street near Cadman Plaza Park in DUMBO. The Manhattan entrance is at Bowery and Canal Street in Chinatown. Make sure you use the path on the side for pedestrians (the south side), not the path for cyclists, which is on the north side of the bridge.