Exceed Physical Culture Review
Thanks to a pretty sweet deal on Gilt I finally got to check out Exceed Physical Culture and take a class with Marianna Biribin
Located at 1477 3rd Ave, New York NY 10028
After hearing all the instructors at work RAVE about Exceed and how amazing it is, I knew I had to try it out myself. And lemme tell you, I was not disappointed and am happy to still have 4 more classes left on my Gilt package. As I raced back downtown in order to make it home in time to watch “How I Met Your Mother” (priorities) I was giddy and full of energy after this amazing class.
The studio: I actually didn’t see the bathrooms, but Exceed does offer the essentials- filtered water to refill your own bottle, clean towels and self locking lockers. The room where all the sweat happened was impeccably clean and all the equipment was in great shape.
The staff: From my first phone call to Exceed about activating my package I have been thoroughly impressed with the friendly staff. Front desk personal was super helpful both on the phone and in person making sure I was ready to go.
Marianna is my kind of trainer– I always feel like a kindred spirit with a fellow fitness junkie who has her BFA in drama from NYU. Her style works really well for me, she’s a hardass and won’t let you slack but isn’t afraid to tell you when you are doing a good job. Even when I wanted to slow down during high knees I knew Marianna was watching me and would come over if I started to halfass the workout. The best moment ever was when she complimented my guns during TRX bicep curls…
The class: When a class starts with American Idiot blaring on the speakers you know it’s was gonna be an amazing class. Basically if you play Green Day I will automatically love your fitness class. So from the beginning this class started off on a high note for me.
After a simple warm up it was time to get to it with a bunch of different circuits which mixed strength training (generally using the TRX suspension trainer or kettle bells) and intense cardio intervals. I would compare the class to a bootcamp type format more so than anything since it incorporates both strength training and cardio.
I personally am a huge fan of circuit workouts because I have the attention span of a gnat and like knowing that every exercise will only last a short period of time. We did a huge variety of exercises: squats, plyo squats using the TRX, TRX bicep curls, high knees, burpees, planks moving from forearm to push up position, triceps with the TRX, TRX chest press, kettlebell dead lifts, jumping rope… and so on. We must have done at least 6 different series of circuits.
About halfway through the class I had the “holy shit, I love this class!” moment, probably around the time we were during burpees. Exceed is definitely my kind of workout class, the category of classes that I think of as a “tough girl” workout because it requires some stamina. I felt oddly competitive because there were instructors from work there and I didn’t want to come off as a weakling, so I was seriously motivated to push myself harder than I would while working out on my own.
At the end of class I was a sweaty sweaty mess, but I didn’t felt beaten to a pulp. I left there in an insanely good mood feeling awesome about my hardwork.
And you bet I already booked my second class with Marianna
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