This month I tried ClassPass. I was able to attend 5 classes for $19 (a great deal).

I thought I would take full advantage, but I ended up only trying different classes at two of the same gyms (I still enjoyed it).

Of the two gyms, I really enjoyed one and was not so impressed with the other.

The first gym I tried asked the newbies to wear a bracelet. I didn’t love that I was going to stand out as the new person in my bracelet, but I also thought this was a great idea as it would help the instructor identify who might need more support, direction, or attention. This did not happen.

The class combined cardio on the treadmill with strength activities on the floor. While on the floor, the instructor never came over to check my form or correct me (I cheat), and I had trouble hearing over the music, so thankfully I could copy the people around me. When I got to the treadmill, I discovered my machine was broken. It wouldn’t hold an incline and kept dropping to zero. No one came over to ask how I was doing or suggest modifications.

I was able to get a workout from this class, but it felt like a factory and I was not impressed. I went back a second time to try another class (again with a different cardio machine that I had never used before). I told the individuals at the front desk that this was my first time taking this class and they told me where to go. No one showed me how to use the equipment and again, when I was working out, no one checked up on me or corrected me (maybe that’s standard practice for this gym).

Overall, I was not impressed with a facility that many seem to love and frequent.

That said, the other gym I tried was great! I went to Studio Lagree in the Forest Hill Village. When I got there, I told the person at the desk that I was new. She turned out to be the instructor, Lara, and she immediately got up to walk me through the reformer, explain how to increase or decrease resistance, and explain how the class would run and that she might call out names of movements that I don’t know and I should look around at what other people were doing. Lara incorporated a mix of demonstrating a move at the beginning and then spending the rest of the time walking around the studio correcting our form and/or motion.

I felt that that pace of each movement, in combination with the reformer, allowed me to focus on the specific muscles we were working on and thus get a more targeted workout (where I wasn’t able to cheat).

Like anything, it comes down to the numbers:

• 5 classes
• 2 gyms
• $19

Totally worthwhile!