Here at DailyBurn, you know we love group fitness. There’s nothing like the energy you get from sweating it out alongside others with the same goal: to get the best workout possible. And if we had an endless budget, there’s no limit to the many group classes we’d love to try! So we rounded up our dream list of the most high-end fitness classes we could find. It’s no surprise that quite a few of them are here in New York, but you’ll never guess where the priciest ones are. Read on to find out.
1. Informed Technique
Location: San Francisco, CA
Price: $60 for your first class
We’re currently scoping out flights to San Fran so we can try out this barre class with a twist. Informed Technique’s classes take the traditional small-moves-that-hurt-so-good formula and add spring resistance on both the arms and legs to kick things up even another notch. The studio requires a $60 30-minute introductory session before you’re allowed to advance to other classes.
2. 5th Line Studio
Location: Chicago, IL
Price: $60
At Chicago’s 5th Line Studio, one session will set you back 60 big ones. The classes, which can only be booked as semi-private, fuse the practices of Gyrotonic and Pilates. Juliu Horvath, a professional dancer from Romania, developed the Gyrotonic Expansion system in order to help rehabilitate injuries. It uses the yoga principles of moving your body in time with your breath to strengthen and stretch your muscles.
3. Warrior Fitness Boot Camp
Location: New York, NY
Price: $50
Boot camp is a term frequently used to describe high-intensity classes that mix strength training and cardio to leave you dripping with sweat. The term is borrowed from the type of military training recruits undergo before enlisting, and this warriors-only class could actually prepare us for the front line. We’ve heard their terrifying obstacle course is worth every penny.
4. Soul Cycle
Location: Bridgehampton, NY
Price: $40
Like many other New Yorkers, we love Soul. There’s nothing like their 45-minute cardio dance party on a bike, with a little arm work thrown in towards the end. In Manhattan, classes go for $34 a pop, but out in the Hamptons, where celebrities and socialites go to summer, just one class will cost you $40! We’re jealous of our California friends can enjoy the cardio party for $30 a class.
5. AQUA Studio NY
Location: New York, NY
Price: $40
You could swim and you could bike, or you could cycle in the water. Taking your regular indoor cycling class and putting it in a pool adds resistance from the water on top of a three-level resistance knob. But you’ll pay to get wet—the class starts at $40 before adding the $2 required rubber shoes.
6. SLT
Location: New York, NY
Price: $40
SLT stands for strengthen, lengthen and tone — and who wouldn’t want to do that? This class uses a MegaFormer, easiest to describe as a Pilates reformer on steroids. The sliding platform, springs and resistance bands add a cardio element on top of traditional Pilates moves such as hundreds, leg circles and frogs for a challenging, but low-impact 50-minute workout.
7. Pilates One
Location: Miami, FL
Price: $39
This Silver Bluff-based Pilates studio offers a wide variety of classes, from Reformer to Zumba to Kickbox Pilates in a sleek, sun-soaked studio. Plus, there’s a lux spa for a little post-workout pampering. Their drop-in rate starts at $39 for all classes using the Reformer.
8. Solid Core
Location: Washington, D.C.
Price: $35
Located in Washington, D.C.’s funky Adams Morgan neighborhood, Solid Core will give you just that. The 50-minute high-energy, full-body workout uses the MegaFormer machine to work all muscles to failure by providing tension from a spring load of up to 150 pounds. It’s ab-tastic!
9. BeSpun
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Price: $35
If you’re in L.A. and searching for something a little more risqué, look no further than BeSpun, a pole-dancing studio on the Sunset Strip. Geared toward both novices and up-and-coming competitors, classes include Sexy Pole Dance Basics or Pole Dance Workout Advanced. The hour-long classes blend strength training, flexibility, dance techniques, and, of course, pole tricks and combinations to give you some serious arm strength from hoisting your body on a pole.
10. Barry’s Bootcamp
Location: New York, NY
Price: $34
This intense treadmill-plus-boot camp class is famous for being one of Kim Kardashian’s favorite workouts (yes, it was featured on their television show). The hour-long sweat session includes sprints on Woodway treadmills and a grueling floor routine using free weights. Oh, and if you’re lucky enough to be there for a leg class, they’ll throw in some resistance bands, too. If you live in one of Barry’s other cities like Nashville or Miami, you can get the same butt-kicking class for $30.
11. B Tone Fitness
Location: Boston, MA
Price: $30
This Boston-based boutique studio offers three very different classes at their Back Bay location. Tone is their MegaFormer-based class, drawing from Pilates with a strength and cardio twist. Their Ryde indoor cycling class takes place on an “unstationary stationary bike,” which leans and turns the same as a bicycle you would ride outside, for a serious core stability workout. Or try your hand at Barre Blast, which combines cardio with common barre moves to raise your heart rate strengthening your muscles.
12. BodyBar
Location: Dallas, TX
Price: $30
We’re dying to try the Reformer Jump! class at this studio during our next trip to Dallas. The Pilates Reformer is the main focus of equipment for this workout, but we love that a jumpboard is added in to skyrocket your heart rate using low impact. Sounds like an adult gymnastics experience to us! Their roster also includes Reformer, Power Tower, Cardio Chair, and many other Pilates-based classes.