I’m a born and raised Manhattanite, but a recent trip to L.A. has me thinking I was possibly born on the wrong coast! I love the heat and by love I mean LOVE. My apartment is kept at near sauna-level temperatures and if the temperature outside is anything less than high 60s I will inevitably moan and groan about how I’m freezing (I’ve even gone so far as to seek acupuncture to treat my “ailment”). Needless to say when an article came-out in the NY Times about how hot workouts are the newest trend for religious exercisers (that’s me!), in NYC and LA I was pretty psyched. Coincidentally the day before the story hit, Equinox’s PR gal, Nicole Moke, asked me if I wanted to join her for a “hot” barre class. Nicole and I have bonded over our shared love for hardcore, butt-kicking workouts so I was excited to try the class, but after reading the article I was a bit worried about how smelly doing a barre class in 110 degrees might be.
So how smelly was it? Not smelly at all. Unlike the Bikram Yoga studios I’ve been to that smell vomit-acious to say the least the barre class I went to, Figure 4 (this is the same one described in the New York Times article), is held at the pristine Pure Yoga. Originally from Hong Kong, Pure Yoga has two locations in NYC and my god are they luxurious. Not only did the room not smell, everything looked clean, brand new, and inviting. Figure 4 is still offered in a normal studio temperature setting, but I highly recommend taking their new hot version, which is done in a room heated to 105-110 degrees with 30% humidity. The heat is incredibly relaxing. I felt so zen afterwards despite the rigorous workout and because the humidity level is low you don’t get that disgusting wet feeling. The class I took was taught by Kate Albarelli, the former ballerina who developed Figure 4, and she was awesome. Fantastic music selection and well paced movements, that made the hour fly by.
Learn more about Figure 4 and Pure Yoga here and please let me know if you’ve done/heard of any hot workouts in the comments!
Image: NY Times
Very interesting! I hadn’t heard of the “hot workout” trend, but the barre class sounds great. I’m glad it wasn’t smelly – there’s no way that I could deal with that! LOL.