CityRow has been on my radar for a long time and I finally made a visit to the Union Square space to give the high intensity, low impact, total body workout a try. The studio is located on the 15th floor of an office building, has an entry way for check in and then the main studio floor, plus cubbies for your gear. The bathrooms are down the hall from the studio and are shared by other businesses on the floor. No fancy showers or perks at this place.
The studio room has a nice clean set up with a bright and cheery vibe. Each rower has a mat next to it and gives you ample space so you don’t feel on top of your neighbor and has stacked weights for you to choose from. The hour long, small group class is a combination of rowing and off-the-rower intervals. I took the basic CITYROW class and there are a few other options (CityRow Flow, Fundamentals, CityRow X, CityRow75).
We started on the water-bowed rowing machines to get warmed up and learn proper rowing form. I loved the emphasis on proper form since I’m a newbie, only having taken a handful of rowing-based classes in the past. I also am a huge fan of the water based rowers so I was happy to see that’s what CityRow uses. The class was was a bit slow to start before we got into the rhythm. Throughout the class we switched between rowing and doing things next to the rowers on our mats (lunges, planks, etc). At one point we grabbed our weights and did walking lunges around the room, which was a bit awkward due to space constraints. Other than that section, most of the moves were pretty standard.
We had our most challenging section at the end of the workout, a round of rowing, following by push ups and other weight moves, done quickly. Unfortunately I did not take notes after class and can’t really remember the sequence BUT I will say that my heart rate went up and I was feeling the burn. After this section, we cooled down, stretched and were on our way.
Overall, I felt that this class was good, but not amazing. If you read the description on the site it says “this heart-pumping, sweat-drenched, total-body burn is as fun as it is effective.” Until the last section of the workout I didn’t feel my heart pumping nor did I leave sweat-drenched. I’m pretty picky with group fitness and have taken some really killer workouts, this one was not what I would consider super challenging. The class is low-impact, as advertised but still does give your muscles some burn, so for those looking for an effective and safe workout, easy on the joints, this is a great option. Personally, I would have loved more sections like the last one throughout the class to really work up a proper sweat.
I thought the teacher was informative, helpful and encouraging and that the class format was easy to follow, however, I wish that everything was taken up a big notch in intensity. There are a bunch of instructors at CityRow so I can’t judge all classes, just the one I tried. I’ve heard from other people that they had very challenging experiences at CityRow so I’d be open to trying it again.
Would I recommend the studio? Sure, it’s always worth trying something once or twice to see if it’s your workout style. I left feeling like I worked out, but not like I was going to die (and for a lot of people, that’s the ideal post-workout feeling!). I found the workout to be very similar to RowHouse.
A single class at CityRow is $32 which seems a bit high for a studio that doesn’t have it’s own bathroom space, but that’s pretty standard for NYC classes these days (class packs are available to save a bit of money).
For a hot second when RowHouse and CityRow opened I started to believe the rumors that rowing was the going to be the new spinning. I’m not sure that I see that happening (obviously I’m partial to cycling!), but I can see the rowing trend picking up speed in NYC as it is an effective and different workout.
Have you tried CityRow? What did you think? Should I give it another try?
