SoulCycle 14th Street

At this point, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard all about the experience at SoulCycle. But taking class itself is special—in the studio, the energy of the riders is electric, and it’s kind of impossible to not become obsessed. The instructors are the cream of the crop and the shower amenities make you feel like you’ve really treated yourself. Trust us, it’s worth the hype.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

From the time we entered the candle-lit studio until we walked out drenched in sweat, we felt like we were in a new dimension where spinning is the only thing that matters. Easing into the first song, the room moved together, showing any newbies what the next 45 minutes would look like. SoulCycle is all about riding as a group, and trust us, you don’t want to be that guy on the wrong foot. If you can’t stay on the beat, reserve that spot in the back row until you can.

Though the class approach is often dictated by the instructor, the overall format is the same: resistance-heavy hills and quick runs out of the saddle, some crunches and pushups on the bike, an arms song, and then two more songs to finish. Since the actual work in each song changes depending on your instructor, SoulCycle is all about finding the person that gives you the type of ride you like, whether that means you’re running your face off in third or seated and pushing against a massive hill. No matter who leads, SoulCycle will take you to a place. We don’t want to get preachy, but it really is as good as everyone says. We work hard, we eat up some wisdom that our instructor drops, and we find ourselves coming back again and again.

INSTRUCTOR

Kathleen is the real deal. She is open, honest, raw. Her raspy voice makes you want to dig a little deeper and her resistance-heavy class let’s you do so. This isn’t the class for quick runs in third, but rather an opportunity to put on a few turns and push in a way that you’ll only do when someone is encouraging you at every turn. Even at 6am, Kathleen made us feel like we were invincible—at least until we got to arms. Holy. Triceps. In line with the rest of her long and slow ride, she had us do slow and controlled tricep work for all of arms. Six pounds never felt so heavy. Just when we thought we were in the green and would hit some quick sprints to finish, she hit us with a hill from hell: five minutes of pure mental stamina. Our legs shook and we couldn’t have been happier.

SPACE

SoulCycle’s brand is rounded out with their clean and bright space. The front desk will offer up clip-ins and SmartLife water and if you get to class a little early, you can peruse the constantly changing Soul-branded attire. The hallway has lockers with USB chargers for your almost-dead phone and the locker room has everything you might need for class, from bobby pins to spray deodorant. Post class, there are four showers stocked with Le Labo shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face wash, making the $30 class worth it for the products alone. The only downside is the chaotic morning getting ready time, where a hair dryer and mirror space can be hard to quickly come by. On the way out, ask for the Orbit for the full SoulCycle experience.