Expert tips to Equinox smarter.
1. Maximize Your Potential
Start your Club day with your first — or long overdue — Equifit. The comprehensive assessment establishes your baseline and helps you set realistic, achievable goals. An Equinox COACH will measure your heart rate, blood pressure, and performance of eight fundamental movements that you should be able to do without warming up.
“The assessment is beneficial to anyone, no matter what your goal is,” says Diamia Foster, a COACH X at Equinox Woodbury. “Even if I'm someone who's super fit, I'm going to be lagging somewhere. And even if I'm not lagging somewhere, I'm assessing to make sure that I'm staying optimal.” READ MORE.
2. Warm Up the Right Way
After that hour-long evaluation, it’s time to train. Begin with a warm-up that goes beyond a five-minute bout of cardio. Do the same movement patterns that you’ll use in the workout to come. Think of it as practicing performance.
Maddie Myers, a certified personal trainer and Equinox group fitness instructor at Clubs throughout New York City, recommends doing bodyweight versions of the loaded exercises in your program. A barbell deadlift day might start with good mornings. A bench press day might begin with scapular push-ups. “Even if you just did, like, bodyweight squats, that's going to be better than just doing a toe-touch stretch,” she says. READ MORE.
3. Build 3D Strength
Once you’re feeling loose and warm, head into the Main Studio for 360 Strength. The Equinox-exclusive group fitness class is carefully designed to build strength in all three dimensions — an element you might be overlooking in your solo training. You’ll use the landmine, the ViPR PRO, and heavy dumbbells during exercises that enhance athletic performance and improve daily functioning. READ MORE.
4. Use Your Voice
Throughout class, speak up to get the personalization you need. Bodies change every single day. What made you feel strong and powerful last week may make you ache in the studio today. Tell your instructor about new shifts, injuries, and pain so the workout is both enjoyable and effective for you. There’s no benefit from suffering in silence. READ MORE.
5. Test Your VO₂ Max
If you’re looking for a cardio day, skip the strength work and instead measure your VO₂ max — the maximum rate at which a person can utilize oxygen during exercise. An indicator of aerobic fitness, VO₂ max is associated with mortality risk; the higher you score, the lower your risk.
The most accurate measure of VO₂ max is conducted in a sports performance lab under the supervision of a trainer. To self-assess, hop on a Precision Run Woodway treadmill and take the VO₂ Max Test run. Following a short warm-up, you will complete a 1.5-mile distance as quickly as possible. Your finish time, age, and gender are then used to estimate your VO₂ max. READ MORE.
6. Reboot Your Brain
Shift into recovery mode with Headstrong: Reset. The guided, neurology-grounded meditation class — available in select Clubs and in the EQX+ app — takes you on a journey exploring various types of brain waves. That includes theta state, the meditation state.
Your Headstrong: Reset instructor will cue light movement, gentle physical postures, and breathwork; read a grounding script; and play relaxing music to guide you from state to state. This meditative process for your mind and body is similar to pressing the “restart” button on your computer. “It doesn't have to stay out [of commission] for long, but everything gets a full reboot,” says Michael Gervais, Headstrong Meditation creator and Equinox instructor. “And that's what it feels like to the brain.” READ MORE.
7. Relax Your Muscles
End your Equinox day with a personalized bodywork session at the Spa, provided by Aescape. Select the specific muscle groups you want to focus on or go all-in with a full-body (30 minutes) or total-body (60 minutes) session. In the latter treatments, you can personalize with an “extra focus” — a quick add-on targeted to one muscle group, like the hamstrings, traps, glutes, or calves. Equinox members also have exclusive access to bodywork programs built to suit your training. READ MORE.