It is only fitting that a bijou neighborhood like Tribeca has numerous bijou gyms. These specialty fitness studios cater to those who prefer a more intimate, personal ambience or who are interested in only a specific discipline, whether it is boxing, yoga, or cycling. Below is a sampling.
78 Franklin Street (between Broadway and Church Street)
AquaStudio’s pool is equipped with stationary bikes. Image: AquaStudio
AquaStudio has a pool, but it is not for swimming. Instead it is equipped with stationary bikes. Cycling in the four-feet-deep, heated water is believed to be less stressful on the body’s joints and muscles—especially good news for those who have suffered injuries, are overweight, or are pregnant. The studio offers both co-ed and women-only classes. Some, such as Interval Aquacycling, focus largely on aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Paddle Aquacycling adds hand paddles to strengthen arm as well as leg muscles; Restore Aquacycling incorporates deep breathing and other yoga elements.
52 Walker Street (between Broadway and Church Street)
Heavyweight champions Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis and mixed martial arts professionals Liam McGeary and Chris Weidman are among the athletes who have trained here, but you do not have to be a pro, or even experienced, to enroll in Church Street’s boxing, kickboxing, or Muay Thai classes. “All levels” sessions focus on the basics, while experience is recommended for intermediate classes; participants must be approved by one of the gym’s coaches before enrolling in advanced classes. Several women-only classes are held, and there are classes for kids as well.
342 Canal Street (at Church Street)
Rowing moves. Image: Current Fitness
While AquaStudio offers cycling in water, Current specializes in rowing on land—or on rowing machines in a studio, to be precise. Each 45-minute class, held among soft candlelight and led by an instructor accompanied by a high-energy playlist, promises to provide a full-body workout.
97 Reade Street (between Church Street and West Broadway)
Fit Moms Class at Exceed. Image: Exceed Physical Cuture/Facebook
The signature class of Exceed Physical Culture, the Workout is open to newbies and athletes alike, and regardless of your fitness level it will raise your heart rate and have you working up a sweat. Each 50-minute class, limited to 20 participants, incorporates high-intensity interval training (HIIT), suspension training, and kettle bells. Semiprivate and private training is available, as are open-gym sessions.
415 Greenwich Street (between Hubert and Laight Streets)
Outside Flywheel Sports. Image: Flywheel Sports/Facebook
Biking on the streets of Manhattan is not for the faint of heart. Flywheel Sports lets you reap the physical benefits of cycling in the safety of its exhaust-free studio. Its signature HIIT class uses high-performance stationary bikes with performance-tracking technology that enables you to “race” against other participants. More-intensive cycling classes are available as well. For those who want to hop off the bike, Flywheel also offers classes that involve drills with weights.
137 Duane Street (between Church Street and West Broadway)
Classic Pilates—not yoga-infused Pilates, Pilates plus barre, or any other variations—is at the core of Real Pilates. Some classes work primarily with reformers built to Joe Pilates’s original specs; others focus on mat work with springs, towers, poles, and other props. Open-level classes and those for advanced practitioners are offered, as are private and semiprivate sessions.
87 Worth Street (between Broadway and Church Street)
Working out at SLT’s Tribeca studio. Image: SLT
SLT stands for “strengthen, lengthen, tone”—“lengthen” refer to one’s limits rather than limbs. The 50-minute proprietary workout, which marries cardio training, weight training, and Pilates, uses a Megaformer, a machine constructed with adjustable springs and pulleys for optimal resistance; the emphasis is on slow, controlled movements. Most classes, which are capped at 14 participants, are open to all levels.
404-406 Broadway, Third Floor (between Canal and Walker Streets)
Sweat Yoga offers several types of Vinyasa yoga classes in a studio typically heated to about 100 degrees. The signature hour-long Sweat-Flow class includes time for participants to “flow on your own” in addition to following the instructor’s movements. Fifty- and 55-minute classes are also available, as are 75-minute Slow-Burn and Candlelight Yin classes and Ignite, an hour-long session that combines yoga with Pilates and strength training.
291 Broadway, Lower Level (at Reade Street)
Transform your body with MuayTai. Image: The Wat
Phil Nurse was an undefeated European Light Welterweight Champion, Double British Champion, and British All Styles Super Light Welterweight Champion of Muay Thai as well as a pro boxer with a 14-3-0 record when he opened the Wat. The studio teaches both disciplines as well as Brazilian jiu-jitsu and WatFit, which incorporates cardio and resistance, interval, and circuit training along with fundamentals of Muay Thai.
158 Duane Street (between West Broadway and Hudson Street)
Like that of Sweat Yoga, the YogaSpark studio is heated, though to a somewhat more moderate 90-95 degrees. The hour-long eponymous class, open to all levels, promises a full-body workout, with no two sessions alike. Variations on the theme include the slower-paced SparkYin, in which participants hold poses for longer periods of time; CandlelightSpark, with a playlist of classic hip-hop, R&B, and alternative music; and BlacklightSpark, held in a room illuminated by, yes, black lights.