Project By Equinox

Project By Equinox is an experimental workout space for instructors to lead classes that may or may not be the next best thing. Don’t head to NoLita thinking you are walking into an Equinox. While the space is beautiful, amenities are limited.

When we signed up for Babes & Bands at Project by Equinox we may or may not have thought that the class name was referring to the music that was about to go down. Silly us. The name of the class was simply referring to “Babes” the 20 females in the class and “Bands” the little elastic bands that would torture us for the next 50 minutes. Who knew a little band could perform so much pain? Bec Donlan knew, that’s who.

WORKOUT

Can you say BOOTY? Like all booty all the time for the entire time for 50 minutes. This was not a sweat fest so don’t come looking to get your cardio burn on. This was a class dedicated to building that booty through band work. Remember, just because you’re not dripping sweat, doesn’t mean you aren’t working hard.

We hit every glute exercise known to man and then repeated them over and over. Banded squats, banded good mornings, banded fire hydrants, banded side crunches, banded, banded, banded. You get the idea.

Our only complaint would be that the class was 50 minutes of ALL glutes. We would have appreciated a little more variation in exercises and targeted muscles. And, if not then the class could have been shortened to 30 minutes.

INSTRUCTOR

Bec Donlan looks the part to say the least. She worked right along side with us which gave us some comfort in the discomfort. She was friendly, approachable and clearly knew every exercise relating to glutes. She delivered a solid class from start to finish. We wished her energy level had been amped up a level or two. She delivered a solid class start to finish but a little more pep could have helped energize the class and add an element of fun.

SPACE

The Project by Equinox studio is NOT an Equinox so don’t head to NoLita thinking you are getting all the amenities we have grown to know and love (or heard about and dream of) at an Equinox. When you walk in the door off of Mulberry Street you are greeted by a beautiful new lobby with essentials. A reception desk, retail, benches and water fountain. There are bathrooms so don’t go thinking you need to hold it, but there are no showers or locker rooms. But with the minimal sweat we incurred we were still able to head out to Seamore’s after for a bite to eat.

The studio space is basic as in an wide open space with mirrors, hardwood floors and minimal equipment (bands, dumbbells and mats). There was a portion of the class where we started to smell cigarette smoke and we kept looking around to see if someone was smoking in class. Luckily they weren’t but the ventilation system clearly was pumping smoke in from outside, not ideal mid workout.