High intensity interval training is all the rage these days, and Fhitting Room Upper West Side has certainly capitalized on these workouts. In our opinion, it’s definitely one of the harder workouts in NYC, and your muscles will thank you later! Start out with their newbie two-for-one pack to see if you’re ready to spend the big bucks on these workouts – at $38.00 a class, they’re an investment, but we can say without a doubt that these classes pack in the intensity and you’ll more than get your money’s worth. Fifty tightly scheduled minutes of kettlebell swinging, dumbbell snatching, burpees and rowing will get your heart pumping in a way not many classes do, while being cheered on by not one, but two experienced instructors, all make Fhitting Room one of our personal favorites.
Fhitting Room classes always follow a similar format: warm-up, a strength-based section, the circuit, and the ‘Fhix’. However, the components of each section are always wildly different, meaning you can go every day of the week (if you’re a little bit crazy!) and always have a new experience. Some classes have more of a strength focus, others incorporate more cardio using Concept2 Rowers, SkiErgs, and Assault Bikes. The entire workout is written on a giant white board at the back of the studio, so once you walk into the workout room you’ll find most participants checking out what’s in store for the next 50 minutes. The white board is also very instagrammable: for those who think “it didn’t happen if I don’t post it on my insta-story”, it’s a great spot for the post-class flex photo-op.
Fhitting Room workouts predominantly use kettlebells and dumbbells, with resistance bands, TRX and body weight exercises peppered in as well. Our class started with a warmup of three exercises performed twice and then flowed straight into the strength component. Two rounds of kettlebell suitcase lunges, kettlebell strict presses, and single armed planks (ouch!). After this, the class split into groups of 6 for the circuit. Luckily everyone at Fhitting Room is extremely friendly, so there’s no playground PTSD about not being picked for a group! The circuit is the meat of the workout, with stations around the room for movements like kettlebells, rowing, SkiErg, and the fear-inducing burpee box jump. Lastly, the Fhix, where athletes are meant to use up all their remaining energy. This class had us doing AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of jump lunges, push-ups, froggers and tuck ups. 5..4..3..2..1, five minutes is up and everyone collapses on the floor for a relaxing dimly-lit stretch.
All Fhitting Room classes are taught by two instructors, which we think is a big bonus of this studio and sets them apart from almost all other studios in the city. The participant to instructor ratio is improved, and it means double the eyes in the room to make sure everyone is on-point for form. Fhitting Room employs super upbeat instructors and Melody and Francis were no exception. Complementing each other well, Melody is a ray of sunshine, exuding positivity and excitement, while Francis is a cool, calm and collected guy with a mellow personality. Even though this class was at 11am and they had both already taught three previous classes, they showed no signs of slowing down. The interplay between the two instructors in a class is one of the best parts of Fhitting Room, and Melody and Francis took turns explaining and demonstrating each part of the workout, played a killer playlist, and acted as our cheerleaders when the going got tough.
Fhitting Room is a lime green themed, brightly lit and impeccably clean space on the Upper West Side – one of three locations in the city. Walk in and you hit the check-in desk, where you can grab a towel and a hair tie and purchase a water if you forgot one (or be green and fill up your own at the water fountain). The changing area is an open co-ed area with self-locking lockers, a mirrored countertop area with hair dryers and deodorant, four showers and three bathrooms. If you prefer single gendered changing areas, you can make use of one of their large single bathrooms to get dressed post-shower, but beware: for those who are shy, there isn’t any real divide. We figure a towel is about as revealing as skin tight workout gear so we didn’t mind, but there were others who got dressed in the shower before emerging. The Aveda products in all the showers are a great way to rinse off after class, and big clean fluffy towels are piled high for use.
584 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10024 Upper West Side HIIT $$$$
Fhitting Room Upper West Side
Upper West Side HIIT, $$$$
584 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10024
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Fhitting RoomHIIT
When we leave the Fhitting Room quivering because our muscles have been put through the ringer, we feel a sense of pride. The workout moved quickly so class flew by, but Lacee and Mark put us through a grueling workout – one worthy of a mid-afternoon nap.
Our workout had four main blocks – warmup, strength, circuit, and the final FHIX. It looked like a tame class when it was written out on the whiteboard, but looks can be deceiving.
The strength series felt like an extended warm up – it was two ab exercises and lunges with kettlebells. The circuit block is when we started to feel the hard work creeping in. There were three moves in each circuit; we did each for one minute before rotating to the next. We did the first three moves twice before swapping to the other circuit, which had three different moves. In this 18 minutes of work, we hit a full body workout: dumbbell rows, dumbbell snatches, rows on the jungle gym straps, ski erg, battle ropes, and abmat sit ups.
The final FHIX was the most misleading part of the workout. It was a partner FHIX, where one person started with kettlebells and had to complete six single arm thrusters on the right and six single arm thrusters on left while their partner did burpees. Once the person doing thrusters finished, we swapped. However, the fact that it was an AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) for six minutes is what did us in – it was an absolute killer.
Lacee and Mark were an energetic duo and we loved their dynamic. We did a little social media stalking (their handles were on the whiteboard) and they seem to workout together when they have some time. We loved watching some of their workout videos.
Lacee and Mark were always canvassing the room to be sure we were going through the workout with proper form. They emphasized form during all of the demos so we knew they were going to be sticklers, which we love btw. They were attentive and encouraging throughout class, and congratulated us when we finished class, which we loved! A lot of the time we get to the end of the class with a sense of relief but we should celebrate our ability, too! We like that Lacee and Mark did that with/for us.
Side note: It isn’t every day that you go to a Fhitting Room in the morning and watch one of your instructors on American Ninja Warrior that same night! It was a real treat to watch Mark compete on a televised episode of American Ninja Warrior – what a badass!
Fhitting RoomHIIT
The beauty of the Fhitting Room is that you never know what you’re getting into when you walk in. The structure of the workout is generally the same but if you’re a regular, you’re guaranteed to have varied workouts. Our class with Jess and Carlos was the Fhitting Room on steroids. We did a classic circuit but focused on endurance rather than speed, strength, or reps. Just when you think you’ve had the hardest class you have ever had at the Fhitting Room, they seem to out do themselves.
If there’s little writing on the workout whiteboard when you enter class, that means you’re probably in for a killer endurance workout. The workout we did was called “6 FHIX FRIDAY”, There were only six stations total but we were at each station for four and half minutes! This was a first for us.
The circuit was made up of classic Fhitting Room moves but the duration proved to be a true test of endurance and mental strength. The stations were a mix between cardio and strength moves. We did jungle gym push ups to kettlebell figure 8’s, burpees to abmat sit ups, and kettlebell curl and press to hurdle hops. For our cardio-only stations, we rowed with a goal of 900 – 1,000 meters, got on the ski erg for conventional and cardo skiing (jump lunges with your ski pulldown,) and rode the assault bike coupled with box jumps. In our opinion, the assault bike paired with box jumps was straight up cruel, and that was before we got to the cardio ski erg!
Jess and Carlos took us through the warm up and got right into the demo for the circuit – there wasn’t time for much else. Due to the structure of class, they did a lot of timing, roaming the room to check form, and cheerleading. The longer duration was a struggle and they did their best to keep us going until the end of class.
Jess and Carlos had a great playlist which made a real difference as we pushed through such a challenging workout. Jess was spunky and wasn’t afraid to do the Macarena on top of one of the boxes which definitely made us smile through the pain. She had a ton of energy and was calling people out for doing a great job during class. Carlos was attentive to the class and had great form and technique tips for each exercise. He was genuinely interested in addressing everyone’s injuries and how he could help modify the exercises.
Jess and Carlos made a great team and they got us through a very hard class. We would love to take another class with them in the near future!
