Studio Classes We Love Right Now

Find your nextlevel workout class at a gym near you.

- Sana Butler

- FITNESS TRENDS 

come and go, but certain cult classes manage to wield staying power through motivation, mantra, and pure sweat. How do they do that? From a Spartan Race– derived workout and heated HIIT training to guided and inspired treadmill sprinting sessions like you’ve never done before, these supercreative exercise classes will help sculpt your whole body in unexpected and amazing ways.

SPARTAN STRONG 

- How can the extreme Spartan Race, known for its punishing commandolike obstacle courses through mud, fire, and barbed wire, maintain the same intensity indoors? “From the Spartan perspective, stamina implies more than physical endurance,” says Aimee Nicotera, an instructor for Spartan Strong, a new group fitness class exclusively at Life Time athletic clubs. “It emphasizes the ability to finish what you start and stay focused until the very end.”

The class uses only a 10-, 15-, or 20-pound sandbell, yet the hour-long session challenges every inch of your body and mind with resistance moves and cardio-focused drills (translation: crawl, carry, climb, hang, jump, lift, lunge, pull, push, twist, sprint, and squat). Every circuit is designed to break you down in order for classmates to build you back up.

“Participants experience the ‘joy of togetherness’ in a way that no other group fitness format currently offers,” says Nicotera, adding it isn’t unusual for strangers to volunteer to switch places when they see a partner can’t finish a drill. (spartan.com)

SOULANNEX