Fitness Challenge: Day 93

If you are an athlete, or just want to build strength, endurance and agility, check out As One, a high intensity program on the Upper West Side. The friendly trainers motivate small group work outs, with an hour long class called As One. Each class is different, though all start with a warm up, stretching and a series of movements. Our class had 3 components: a floor part, where we did 30 second intervals of burpees, planks, squat jumps, lunges, and other instruments of torture. Two other groups used the stair climber, or a stationary bike that also incorporated arms (think elliptical on wheels).

We did this in 4 minute rotations, then 8 minute rotations. Just for fun, we did pull ups and weighted rope slaps before our final stretches. The gym has plenty of foam rollers, which we used to stretch our muscles at the end' this is particularly helped for the IT band. As One also offers strength and mobility classes, and a once a week 2 hour class that could easily get you ready for a marathon or triathlon. The boutique gym does something few other small gyms do: it lets you take your first class free. Once you see how intensely you can work out - and still have fun - you will want to come back. The gym has men's and women's bathrooms, each with a shower, and provides towels and a water cooler. The women's room had tampons and hair products, nice touches in an otherwise bare bones place