CorePower Yoga Bryant Park

CorePower Yoga is aptly named, as it combines both sculpting work and some cardio (depending on your class type) with the sweet, sweet bennies of yoga. Using weights both in and out of yoga poses provides a leveled-up feeling that those of us who are not really “yogis” are looking for. With nine classes to choose from – all at varying heat temps and with different focuses – you would be really hard-pressed to not find at least one that you like.

The Bryant Park studio location is as busy as Grand Central during rush hour – particularly during peak before and after work times. Clearly, this type of class experience and location are hella popular. Consider yourself warned! Get there early, claim your space the minute the studio door opens, and grab the weights you want ASAP! Overall, we are huge CorePower fans, but this location pushes its capacity limits just a bit little too far. Calling their classes “uncomfortably cramped” would be an understatement.

Pro Tip: Pay attention to the class type when considering if you can “handle the heat” aka the temp of the room. The range is from 88 to 104 degrees depending on the class, and for Sculpt, the room is 92 – 95 degrees.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

A killer combination in our eyes: weights, yoga mats, a hot room, and sweet jams. Yoga Sculpt is a 60 minute sweat sesh that takes the traditional vinyasa flow and cranks it up a notch. While in a deep warrior position with your legs, you might be asked to do a series of shoulder presses. Or maybe you’ll work your triceps with a kick back while in chair pose. Don’t worry, if this sounds like a lot, the instructors are incredibly specific about how to hold the weights and how to move from one position to another with them.

We didn’t get any type of cardio movements like jump squats or high knees that we’ve had in other CorePower Yoga Sculpt classes. It just goes to show that the programing for these classes is always evolving and that you’ll get a truly unique workout every time. Oh, and in answer to your burning question, yes there’s still a Savasana at the end and you will have completely earned it.

Warning: you WILL need a no-slip towel on top of your mat, unless you want to end up slipping on your own sweat during a high kick. It’s not technically a “hot yoga” class, but you will sweat like you’re in one.

INSTRUCTOR

Krista has a personality that cannot be contained by studio walls. Her energy was a huge change of pace for us when it comes to yoga classes (you know the usual type – soft, calming, even overly breathy). Since we were expected to push ourselves, we were grateful to have her 5 Hour Energy-equivalent enthusiasm to feed off of.

That said, we aren’t the type to typically give out an A just for effort. And in Krista’s case, we were a bit frustrated with the quality of movement and transition explanations. Half the time we were left feeling extremely confused about what we were being asked to do and having to look around to other classmates for answers. The transitions from one move to the next were lightning fast and the speed of her demos left our heads spinning. The danger here is that you are so quick to move on to the next thing that form can be sacrificed – one of our biggest pet peeves.

SPACE

While the space would be considered luxuriously large by NYC standards, it feels cramped given the sheer amount of people that walk through the door every day. Our class was so full that they ran out of equipment and had to borrow from the class next door. And let’s be honest, our mat was so close to the people on all four sides of us that we didn’t push ourselves as hard for sheer fear of accidentally smacking one of our neighbors! This studio as a whole is fairly new and checks off all of the amenity boxes – showers, self locking lockers, wide changing/locker area. But it just doesn’t have the zen vibe we’ve come to love at other locations.

Note: If you’re down to brave the crowds, try and take class in Studio 1. This studio room is more spacious and has windows, while Studio 2 is a basic rectangle – smaller with no windows. Both the sheer volume of people and lack of windows combined with the heat, left us feeling as though we were going to pass out. We warned you.