Happy Monday! I’m heading off to Chamonix, France this week to spectate the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc—an epic 100+ mile race through the French Alps—with Hoka (and drink lots of wine with my bestie.) See some of you out there! I’ll still be FOMOing at all the fun events in NYC this week, though.
This week: A new app that tracks which blocks you’ve walked, a free run club led by Dan Churchill, and a new workout series from a former AARMY coach.
on the radar: this week’s fitness and wellness events
Monday August 24: Ice Cold Club Breathe and Flow Ritual (Williamsburg), 630PM, $30
Yesterday, I stopped by the gorgeous rooftop garden of The Dime where Lauren Schramm holds her Ice Cold Club. This event is a guided session of breathwork and then plunging led by Jen Frodsham, and what’s even cooler is that for all of their events, they have three to five free slots before they start ticketing, so if you pay enough attention to Forte, you may eventually snag one of these spots.
Wednesday August 26: Crew Love with World’s Fair Run Crew, Mile Style, and Hoka (Midtown), 7PM, free
Two cool run clubs—Queens-based WRFC and Bronx-based Mile Style—are joining forces to host a run club out of the Hoka Flagship store in Midtown this Wednesday. You can demo some Hoka shoes and stick around for light bites.
Friday August 28: The Morning Disconnect (NoMad), 730AM, $25
This price is sort of a steal for an outdoor boxing workout from Stable House plus recovery at the intimate, “speakeasy-style” Finnish sauna and ice bath Elahni. Sounds like a good way to spend a Friday morning before work.
Saturday August 29: Nike Who Runs NYC? Street Race (LES), 12PM, free
All week I’ve seen the news about Nike hosting a street race, and the winner gets a month of rent paid for. Unfortunately, the race is already full (so unless you’re already registered you can’t race for a chance at the prize), but you can head down to Orchard Street to spectate. If I was in town, I’d definitely go cheer and dance to the DJ sets.
Saturday August 29: The Yard Williamsburg Community Session (Williamsburg), 850AM or 10AM, free
The Yard, an Australian-based group strength and conditioning gym with a location in Williamsburg, is a great place to learn compound barbell lifts alongside hybrid style movements, like wall balls and ski erg. Their Saturday “Pay Day” sessions are free and open to the public so you can check out what their community is like without paying a drop in fee.
Saturday August 29: Love All Street Open Tennis Event (Elmhurst), 2PM, free
Get into the U.S. Open vibe with tennis clinics and competitions at this block party event through All Love Racquet Club, in partnership with Jordan for the brand’s new tennis collection. There’s both kids and adults programming (the latter starts around 4:30PM). Tennis is for everyone!
Sunday August 30: Force of Nature Athletic Club (Flatiron), 730AM, free
Head to the On flagship store for a fun morning with Force of Nature Meats including a 5k or 10k run led by hybrid athlete/chef Dan Churchill, coffee and breakfast tacos, and a panel about fueling for performance/recovery. RSVP in advance!
I’m working on a story and I need your help:
A lot of you read our piece on Leg Day last week, and I found the whole fitness/dating conversation so interesting that I pitched a story around a bigger question: Is it acceptable to hit on someone at the gym now?
I want to hear from people on both sides. Have you ever been approached at the gym and loved it—or hated it? Have you met someone you dated at the gym? Do you have a gym crush you’d actually want to approach you? Or is interrupting someone’s workout still completely off-limits?
Reply to this email and tell me please! It’s for a national publication—not our newsletter. I may reach out to include you in the story.
happenings around town
On Sunday, Ugo Peter-Obiagwu, a former AARMY coach who stepped away from the gym this summer to do his own thing, hosted his first workout session of his new I Go U Go series. I attended, and man, the class kicked my ass. (I’m bad at anything involving muscular endurance—high reps, low weight is my personal hell.) He programmed mostly fast-paced strength and conditioning using just a few resistance bands (I was surprised at how hard he could make it just using bands) with a little boxing sprinkled in, all to the rhythm of Afrobeats. It’s definitely geared toward a more advanced exerciser: There aren’t a ton of form cues and it moves quickly. It’s similar to AARMY’s bootcamp classes but with a much more welcoming and fun atmosphere. Excited to see what’s next for Session 002 in a couple of weeks.
There’s a fascinating debate going on about whether or not a little plaza outside of Guastavino’s, a private event space on E 59th St and 1st Ave, is actually public property. Apparently, its lease with the city says it is public space, but the business has been kicking out people who hang out there. Guastavino’s also appears to have deactivated its social media, presumably after getting flooded with negative comments. Time for a picnic?
I’m the type of person who wants my Strava heat map to be outlined with orange across every block in NYC (peep my progress below), so I’m delighted to see this new Walk NYC app that automatically tracks each block you walk without you having to start an activity. It functions like the pedometer on your phone. My completely unnecessary quest to walk/run every street in New York just got easier.
Moss, a members-only club that opened in Midtown this past December, has an “aquatics and athletics” club downstairs called Bedrock, complete with a bathhouse, vintage-inspired gym, pickleball courts, and spa treatments. I visited this past week and it was one of the most peaceful places I’ve been in NYC—only saw a handful of other folks in my 6+ hours there.
meanwhile…
For the past few months, there’s been a growing conversation about whether the boutique fitness model actually works for the coaches. The topic has picked up steam after news circulated about Barry’s non-compete policy for some instructors: If trainers only work pay-per-class and don’t have full time/benefits options through a single studio, but are also limited in where else they can teach, it becomes pretty difficult (ok, actually wildly difficult) to make fitness a sustainable career.
This post offers an interesting perspective on that, and gets at another idea I think about a lot: Stringing together a bunch of random classes at a bunch of different gyms (which the current model encourages) might be fun, but it isn’t necessarily training. If your goal is to actually get stronger, faster, or better at something, progression and consistency matter. And for that, it helps to have one good coach who you love.
See you next Monday.