After a long hiatus, I rejoined Equinox this year because frankly they are taking over LA and have the nicest facilities in town. In a city where you often have to make workout decisions based upon traffic, I decided it made the most sense to get the Destination membership ($300/month) because that gets me into ANY Equinox in the US including the coveted Sports Club LA & Century City locations in LA. If we want to break it down, that’s roughly $75 per week, so if you do at least 3 classes/week that’s on par with any fitness studio drop-in rate. Honestly, I think it’s worth it to at least know you can go workout/shower pretty much anywhere across this city. One time, I landed at LAX and had to go straight to an event in Marina Del Rey after an unexpected flight delay. I cabbed it to Equinox MDR, had them hold my skis and luggage at the front desk (LOL) and was thankful to have a place to shower and do my makeup.
Onto the classes, over the past few
Alignment Yoga
This is a great class for anyone who needs to STRETCH! If you have muscle soreness and want an easy workout and self-love session that will relieve tightness in hamstrings and hips, then this is the class for you. Slow-moving and relaxing.
Barre Bootcamp
I tend to think barre classes will be relaxing and easy, but this one was straight up bootcamp. Jake reminded me of a strict Russian ballet instructor who wasn’t afraid to ask the most of his students. It’s been a few months, but I would love to mentally prepare to take this class again.
Estimated calories: 344
Barre Fit Cardio
This was a morning class and not quite what I expected for a barre class as it lacked traditional barre-type exercises. It was mixed levels with a lot of older people and there was way too much cardio and jumping jacks. Would not do this one again.
Estimated calories: 262
Body Precision
Let me start by saying this is an 8:00 am Friday morning class, and I was not prepared. It was totally jarring and way too early in the morning. I can’t even remember what we did because I hated it. Obviously I was glad I did it after the fact, but I don’t think I’d put myself through that again.
Estimated calories: 363
Cardio Sculpt
This class put me in the best mood this morning (and actually inspired me to finally write this post). The instructor is great and had tons of energy. Each song was dedicated to a particular type of movement using a weighted ball, hand weights, and weighted bar. Songs ranged from the Cupid Shuffle to Middle Eastern music to broadway tunes. I was super sweaty by the end, but totally on a high. The students clapped for the teacher multiple times throughout the class.
Estimated calories: 382
Classical Ballet
While this class says it is for all levels, it is definitely not. The teacher at the beginning of the class said, “In ballet, we teach to the highest level in the room” which meant that she quickly ran through choreography and exercises that only people with previous ballet training would understand. Instead of explaining each movement, she just names the positions and steps (IN FRENCH!) and everyone was supposed to learn by following along by watching the closest advanced student near them. To make matters more confusing, for the barre work she placed in-experienced students across from those with ballet training on the barre so in order to follow along you had to figure out how to mirror the movements of the person across from you. I would love to learn ballet, but I don’t think this is the best way to go about it. I wish there was an in-between class. From a typical barre class, this is 10x more advanced.
Estimated calories: 314
Cycle Beats
Another good cycling class at Equinox with high energy and good music. All of your bike data now updates directly to the Equinox app which is cool. As you can see, this particular day I was slacking.
Distance: 9 miles
Total Energy: 159J
Max watts: 197W
Estimated calories: 184
Elevate
During the course of 45 minutes on the treadmill we worked ourselves up to 15% incline. The class was mostly older women. For the first 20 minutes, it was relatively easy and I read emails on my phone. 45 minutes on a treadmill is kind of boring. I’d only book this one if I needed a reason to show up at the gym and get cardio in.
Estimated calories: 298
Hatha Yoga
We had a sub for this class, Lia Montelongo, who was a great instructor. For a midday class, it was not too fast-paced but definitely still felt like a good stretch and workout. She had total yoga-teacher vibes and a very fit physique. The class was full of athletic mid-30’s men and women looking to recenter.
Estimated calories: 224
Iyengar Yoga
Lots of older folks in this class. Iyengar focuses on alignment so poses were held for a long time. Essentially a stretching and relaxation class.
Estimated calories: 217
Pilates Remix
This whole class is built around a resistance band. With that prop we were really able to isolate particular muscles. I feel like this class is good for toning, not too heavy on the cardio.
Estimated calories: 316
Studio Cycling
This cycling class is a really solid workout. We did lots of sprints and 1 minute endurance pushes trying to hit our max power output. My legs were burning afterward. There was good music and energy in the class, and the instructor had some jokes keeping it light-hearted.
*Jason Schneider at Sports Club LA is another good instructor.
Distance: 10.1 miles
Total Energy: 192J
Max watts: 218W
Estimated calories: 222