SWERVE Fitness Midtown

While we go to SoulCycle for the music and Flywheel to push ourselves, SWERVE’s team-based competition structure makes them the ultimate studio to visit with friends and coworkers. Located in Midtown, SWERVE’s team-inspired class and prime location next to all the big Midtown offices has gotten them a name for themselves in the corporate world. Their “unique” technology allows riders to track their individual progress throughout the ride as well as their team score. While the team scoring is a bit confusing, we were YUGE fans of their instructors, technology, and facilities. To top it off, shoes are free, so plan on using your $3 to order something from their smoothie bar after class (highly recommend the ON THE GRIND for an extra morning wake up).

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

When you book a SWERVE class, your bike color (green, blue, or red) dictates what team you’re on, and colored lights in the studio indicate where the teams sit. SWERVE uses Schwinn spin bikes, which have a built-in console that tracks and displays each rider’s RPM output and gear setting during the ride. The team score is the average output from each rider on that team, which is tracked on the instructor’s iPad and displayed on two flat screens at the front of the studio.

Sprint, climb, ride to the beat, repeat. But thanks to the competitive nature of the class, we never got bored. We were going at 100% the entire class, and living for it, hunny! Our class was divided into three teams based on bike locations. Each bike has a small console on the front which tracked our speed and resistance to give us an overall score. While we loved watching our total score increase throughout class, the team aspect of this scoring was, and still remains, a bit fuzzy.  EVENTUALLY, we figured out each team was awarded additional points for winning sprints and keeping on the beat, but we definitely wish there was a bit more of an intro for new (and existing) users to better understand this process. About 20 minutes after the class, we got an email with our overall ride performance including team and individual scores, class and team ranks, and miles completed. We loved being able to see our progress on paper, track our efforts, and prepare to dominate in our next class.

INSTRUCTOR

To say Rico was a crowd favorite would be an understatement. We’ve never actually seen a full class at SWERVE Midtown, but his is about as packed as they get. He was energetic and motivated and took the whole class along with him for the full 45-minute ride. His music was high energy and we even found ourselves singing Cardi B’s “Money” as we sprinted home at the end of class. What better way to start the weekend! Rico only teaches at the Midtown location a few times a week, so make sure to plan ahead to snag a seat in his class.

SPACE

The SWERVE Midtown studio is a work of art! This studio has an extremely friendly staff, clean facilities, and three stories worth of amenities. With the ladies locker room occupying the entire top floor (every other NYC studio, take note!!), check in and a juice bar on the entry floor, and the studio in the basement, the facility marks a nice break from our usual NYC claustrophobia.  Though the studio has 60 seats, we’ve never seen it more than 50% full, even during peak hours. Despite this, on weekday mornings their large locker room can get pretty crowded. We recommend leaving class before the stretch to avoid waiting for a shower and fights over the hair dryers. Spin shoes are mandatory for class and free to rent. Water is available for purchase along with some small branded retail items.