New Yorkers hate exercising so much, the city has resorted to trying to trick them into staying fit by opening adult playgrounds in recent years. Now there's a new method of tricking adults into paying attention to their lumpen shapes, by way of elementary school nostalgia: adult recess classes.
The NY Times attended one such hourlong Recess class on the Upper West Side, only to discover a group of mostly middle aged women enjoying name games and animal noises. "As kids, our only agenda was fun," said Eva Pelegrin, who runs the class at Reebok Sports Club/NY. "We’re trying to bring the fun back into movement." To that end, the class includes everything you remember from grade school: circle arm stretches, "help ups" with partners, relays races and crabwalks.
Next, we were called upon to summon our inner animals — or inner crustacean, in one case. For the “gorilla,” we moved across the floor in a squat, reaching with both hands to the side to touch the floor, then shuffling our feet laterally to keep up with our hands. For the “inchworm,” we bent forward with legs straight, then walked our hands out until we were in plank position. Once there, keeping our legs straight, we walked our feet up to our hands again, and advanced — oh so slowly — across the floor. For the “crabwalk,” we sat with bent knees with our palms behind us on the floor, then raised our hips and crawled sideways.
Hey, if it gets you in shape and doesn't destroy your marriage, more power to you. Of course, there are plenty of less infantile (but still alternative) things you can to work out in NYC, from Phish spin class to naked co-ed yoga. And of course, there's always certain adults-only forms of exercise.
