New York fitness in the spring. No, it’s not workout season for the road warriors and gym rats who flex their pecs and pound the ground year round. It’s workout season for those of us who took advantage of the extra-long winter season to snack on a few more plates of Belgian fries and bacon-stuffed potato skins and are now freaking out because our comfortable size 6s or size 18s are no longer so comfortable.

Take comfort; you live in NYC, the epicenter of the global workout universe. Unless you are determined to find fault with every single class out there because you really don’t want to work out, come on. Get off the metaphorical or literal couch, strap on your Fitbits, and show your body some love.

Gyrotonic at Sal Anthony’s Movement Salon

Pilates is one of the most full-body-conditioning workouts out there on the New York fitness scene, and the Gyrotonic class at Sal Anthony’s Movement Salon takes this core-building, muscle-lengthening, and posture-improving discipline to a whole new level. For people who are sick to death of their ever-expanding, waist-training resistant, expanded guts, the Gyrotonic class rides in to the rescue. The exercises here focus on curling the spine. The arched movements are intended to strengthen the core, slim down love handles, and eliminate tummy bulge caused by bacon-stuffed potato skins.

Love That Body Boot Camp with Stephanie Severe

A one-woman powerhouse whose love and passion for the human form is so strong that the energy leaping off of her is palpable, Severe’s approach to exercise marries spiritual growth and self empowerment with physical body improvement. Severe offers a host of classes that are, for lack of a better term, life and body changing. One popular class that has people leaping out of bed at the crack of dawn is the Love That Body Bootcamp. Held in Fort Greene Park, the class offers body strengthening techniques and weight-loss moves that use nothing more than the “equipment” found in the park, including those blasted Fort Greene Park steps that seem to stretch interminably below the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument and the park’s benches and companionship through a laid-back connection with fellow classmates who quickly become new friends. I’ve taken a few of her classes, and cannot wait to take them again because, well … bacon-stuffed potato skins.

Row & Flow at CityRow

Whether you’re nostalgic for your crew team glory days at school, or you’re looking for a workout that kills off tons of calories while increasing your endurance, you’ll want to check out the Row & Flow class at CityRow. Your core, legs, and arms will go through a two-level workout. You get a cardio workout so intense you can feel the fat cells packing up their bags and moving out. The next phase of the workout is a Vinyasa yoga session that will ease and steady your breathing as you float towards the finish line.

Ballet Bungee at Chaise 23

It’s as good as it sounds — even better. The Ballet Bungee workout at Chaise 23 is a graceful yet intensely powerful and sweat-inducing workout created by ex-NYC Ballet dancer Rachel Piskin. It combines Pilates moves with classic ballet loves like arabesques, attitude derrieres, and en dehors. You get about 30 minutes of ballet-centric cardio on the bands followed by a mat-based hardcore core workout, which also makes use of the bands. The classes at Chaise 23 are welcome to all levels and small enough for people struggling with the techniques to get help.

Image Source: Flickr/Ms. Phoenix

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