Urban Playground Fitness - review

A co-worker who knows I like trying and reviewing fitness facilities in the city recently told me to check out Urban Playground, a relatively young club at Church and Shuter. The day my co-worker mentioned it, I rode by on my bike (as the spa appointment I had was next to it) so I decided to stop in and check it out. My initial reaction peaking into the studio was that it wouldn't be "tough" enough a workout for me (basing it on the session in progress)... but I caught myself (bad, Alice, stop assuming) and spoke to the teacher who had come out to greet me, and she told me to email to try a free class (a promo extended to any newcomer).

I booked my first class for the first available day in my workout schedule that worked with Urban Playground's offering of one of the harder classes. It just happened to be the day before my 1/2 marathon race. But I still scheduled the class - Total Body Conditioning, wanting strength training and HIIT cardio - and enjoyed it. Due to people rescheduling, I ended up being the only one in class so I got a personal training session out of it. Not bad. It was a fun circuit class, modifications were suggested in case I'd have needed them, weights were increased to challenge me, and I worked hard. The moves weren't new to me so my body didn't really feel it today but the few moves I don't do often for obliques certainly worked their magic. I know that one-on-one is not what the clases would really be like, but since I'm able to challenge myself in a group class, it allowed me to chat with the teacher (one of the owners) and that made the space more endearing because of how much people who run their own places care about them.

Pros:
-Awesome for people who like classes to stay motivated/have fun but in a small class setting (they limit to around 8 people to achieve their personal training touch in group classes);
-Because of class sizes, I think you would see results as teachers probably work closely with the students' goals;
-Run by two young ladies, and that should be inspiring because it's their baby and dream (respect and props!);
-It's for women only;
-Good variety of classes and some to meet most schedules.

Cons:
-You have to register in advance and because it's package-based, for someone like me, who likes to do 2 or 3 classes back-to-back, it could get costly (they do have unlimited classes as an option though);
-For gym rats, you may start to miss access to equipment and towel service;
-If you're really hard-core, you need to make the class as hard as you need it to be on your own as only a few of the scheduled classes are described as more advanced. But you'd do that anyway, so no problem!

http://www.urbanplaygroundfitness.com/