Class Review: 30/60/90 at Equinox

Class Review: 30/60/90 at Equinox in NYC. 

Hi friends, hope my northeastern peeps had a lovely snow day! I’m super excited to have checked out 30/60/90 at Equinox today, but first, ’bout that blizzard…

 

I think all New Yorkers can agree with me that the most bizarre thing about “blizzards” here is how quiet the streets are. I ran out to get food last night around 6PM and Greenwich Village looked like a peaceful little ghost town. The silence continued on this morning when I trekked my way over to Starbucks (storm necessity, duh). Also related and bizarre: the kale shortage in NYC thanks to the storm panic. You can’t make this stuff up…

 

Ever since joining a gym I’ve been taking all the classes, 1) because well I love taking new-to-me classes and 2) because new gym means gotta find new favorites! I haven’t been reviewing the classes I’ve taken at Equinox but am going to start writing a bit about each of their signature classes I check out.

First up, 30/60/90!

The Class: Description from Equinox- Created by Kristi Molinaro. A high intensity interval training workout consisting of cardio, strength training, plyometrics and static holds designed to get you into the best shape of your life. Very challenging but modifiable for all levels.

• The class is the epitome of HIIT– short bursts of intense exercises (cardio) followed by a longer active recovery (mainly strength training moves)
• All we used today was the step, dumbbells and ourselves.
• The majority of class was body weight exercises– push ups, tricep dips, burpees of all sort and cardio involving the step. I’ve taken the class one other time, and both times I would say about 80% of the class was using body weight.
• It moves fast. While it’s not literally choreographed, you’re transitioning from one move to the next very quickly with basically no rest for the entire class. So think 30 seconds of jumping jacks, 30 seconds of start jumps and then 60 seconds of burpees using the step with no rest. Exhausting 2 minutes, no?
• During the last 20 or so seconds of the cardio intervals we were encouraged to take it up a notch and really go balls to the wall.
• And the name? The intervals are either for 30, 60, or 90 seconds!

What I Loved:

• Imma huge fan of HIIT– the personal trainer in me gives HIIT 2 thumbs up, there’s so much science backing it right now and it’s an efficient way to work out.
• The class I took was only 45 minutes long. Trust me, you’ll be happy it wasn’t a full hour long because it’s so freaken hard to keep on moving the whole time. It really packs a punch if you are pressed for time.
• My heart rate was definitely up there sometimes 4 minute tabatas honestly don’t do it for me unless we are doing super intense moves. Uh, not the case here.
• Holy sweat factor.
• The class ends with 90 seconds of “free styling”– choose your 3 favorite cardio moves and do each for 30 seconds. I thought it was a nice way to end class.

What I Wasn’t Crazy About:

• It’s not a class for all levels. I consider myself pretty fit (or at least like to tell myself that) and had to take a few breaks to catch my breath. I can imagine it would be super overwhelming to someone not accustomed to HIIT and that kind of intensity.
• The classes can get CROWDED at Equinox which means less form corrections and spending a lot of the class avoiding your nearby neighbor.
• While you can modify and take out the impact, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the class for those who don’t want to jump around.
• It’s an overall metabolic class, like most of the classes I’ve taken at Equinox. While you are doing strength training moves at times I would not classify it as a strength training class (although I guess this is neither a pro nor con!)

Know before you go: 

• Be prepared to sweat! You will absolutely want to have a water bottle and towel ready to go
• Pace yourself. The class moves fast and doesn’t exactly give you time to rest, but listen to your body and pace yourself throughout if needed.
• I’ve seen this class offered at 6:30AM at a few Equinox locations. I’m all about early morning workouts but actually don’t think for me personally I could handle this class that early in the morning– it’s pretty intense and I’m too sleepy at that hour to survive without uh injuring myself foolishly 🙂

(Looking for more class reviews? I got a whole bunch of them for ya here)

And one other thing… I don’t know what book to start tonight! I’m just about finished with This One is Mine by Maria Semple. I tend to gravitate towards non-fiction for some odd reason but have recently been alternating novels with non-fic. My top picks are the books below. So far everyone is telling me to read “Yes, Please” which might be fitting because Jeremy and I just started watching Parks and Rec on netflix.

 

Questions:
Which book should I start tonight, haaalp!

Have you ever taken 30/60/90? What’d ya think?

And, which classes should I check out at Equinox. It’s so overwhelming!