The 20 Best Workouts In America
Different areas of the country are inclined to different workouts. However, if you’re on the east coast and need some west coast workout moves, we have you covered. (Photo: Getty Images)
We scoured the country and talked to dozens of fitness leaders, gym owners, and top trainers to find the most innovative gym classes in America. Whether you want outdoor functional fitness, a tech-driven boot camp that monitors your every move,or a high-intensity cardio routine you can do anywhere, we have your new favorite workout.
Related: 30 Workouts That Take 10 Minutes or Less
If you want to try these classes in theirgym or studio, most are available in major cities and across multiple states. If you instead want to tackle it at your home gym, we’ve also included a sample workout from each class. Now here are the best ways to work up a sweat.
Related: The Only 8 Moves You Need to Be Fit
Orangetheory Fitness
(Photo: Orangetheory Fitness)
The Orangetheory Fitness workout is five-zone heart rate interval training that combines treadmills, indoor rowing, and weight training with the goal to get (and stay) in each of the five zones for the allotted amount of time. This means 12-20 minutes in an all-out, heart-pumping orange and red zone. To ensure you always know your effort levels, an OT Beat heart monitor system is strapped to your chest and your heart rate displayed on a giant flat-screen TV during the entirety of the workout.
Related: Is Orangetheory the New Crossfit?
Workouts are always split between treadmill and groundwork, but the time spent at each station and the exercises done during groundwork varies. “All of our routines come from our corporate physiology department,” says Orangetheory Fitness founder Ellen Latham. “Experts with the highest levels of education and certification are creating them to increase your endurance, strength, and power. It’s not made up by someone who got certified after a weekend-long workshop, so you are guaranteed results.”
Try It Yourself:
Run 10 minutes at a comfortable pace
Sprint 2 minutes
1 minutes dumbbell curls
1 minute wall sit
1 minute push-ups
Repeat the sprint and strength moves three times
Location: Nationwide
More Info: orangetheoryfitness.com
Les Mills CXWORX
(Photo: CXWORX)
Les Mills’ CXWORX is dedicated to the center of your body’s strength, your core. Created by Les Mills program director and former professional fighter Dan Cohen, the 30-minute CXWORX class hones all the attention in on your torso and sling muscles to get rid of that belly and tone up — not to mention improving your posture and strengthening against injuries.
Related: The 10 Moves You Need for a Rock-Solid Core
Each class is set to a playlist of six songs, with each track serving as a timer for your exercise. Track one serves as a warm up, two focuses on the lower ab leg hovers and planks, three integrates glutes and upper body with wood chops and twist lunges, four is isolated movements and hip stability with single leg squats and bridges, five is all about obliques, and six is a cool down focused on body balancing and posture.
Try It Yourself:
Song 1: 1 minute of a plank with 10 seconds rest
Song 2: Lunges with a torso twist
Song 3: 15 single leg squats, alternate legs, with 10 seconds rest
Song 4: 20 wood chops, alternate sides, with 10 seconds rest
Song 5: 1-minute bicycle crunch with 10 seconds rest
Song 6: Bridge with leg lifts, alternate legs
Location: Nationwide
More Info: lesmills.com
Fitwall
(Photo: Fitwall)
Combine HIIT training, rock climbing, and Silicon Valley tech, and you get Fitwall. The San Francisco-based group fitness session relies on one piece of vertical equipment to deliver a 40-minute total-body workout. The Fitwall itself looks like a seven-foot tall refrigerator shelving unit with foot and hand holds so you can do the entire workout while hanging vertically onto the wall. “I like to call it the Swiss Army knife of equipment,” says Clifton Harski, the director of training. “Because you have to hang on the whole time, you get all of the fitness benefits of rock climbing plus the benefits of the actual exercises we do.”
Related: The Only 9 Pieces of Gym Equipment You Need
Those exercises, which include squats, pull-ups, presses, lunges, and step-ups, are all displayed to you on an iPad hanging above your Fitwall at your station. Every day of the week has its own specific routine, so after all of the monitoring, you can see how much you have improved by the end of the month.
Try It Yourself:
30 box step-ups, each leg
2 minutes high knees
20 pull-ups
2 minute wall sit
1 minute mountain climbers
1 minute burpees
Complete two rounds
Location: California
More Info: fitwall.com
Iron Tribe Fitness
(Photo: Iron Tribe Fitness)
The Iron Tribe started when founder Forrest Waldon wanted to do group workouts with his friends but couldn’t find a gym — so he started one in his garage. Thirty-seven locations later, the grassroots, former-CrossFit affiliate’s purpose is still the same: to focus on becoming “athletic” instead of just “in shape.”
Related: The 15-Minute Workout You Can Do Anywhere
Each exercise during the 45 minutes is based on functional fitness. That means your workout boosts real-life performance, like lifting a heavy box when you’re moving or sprinting through the airport to catch your flight. Because of the variation of exercises, such as deadlifts, kettlebell circuits, and running, no two days of the workout are the same, but the camaraderie is. Each class is 20 people or less and each facility is limited to 300 members.
Try It Yourself:
20 kettlebell swings
20 kettlebell squat jumps
3x5 barbell deadlifts
3x5 barbell squats
1 minute plate push
Complete two rounds
Location: Nationwide
More Info: irontribefitness.com
Fitness Onboard
(Photo: Fitness Onboard)
Standup paddle boarding alone is a great way to build balance and core strength. “When you combine basic paddling with cardio and strength exercises, you get up to 47 percent more muscle engagement,” says Fitness Onboard vice president Leah Seacrest. “It’s basically boot camp on a board.”
The 75-minute workout starts on the beach, where participants will do bear crawls and sprints in the sand before running into the water with their SUPs for some paddle intervals and reps of traditional exercises. Fitness Onboard patented a system of resistance-band equipment that can be attached to boards, creating a floating multi-purpose gym for the workout that you can’t find anywhere else. The TRX-inspired resistance bands allow for participants to do traditional power and strength moves such as lateral pulls and overhead presses while keeping their balance.
Try It Yourself:
Resistance band curl
Resistance band overhead press
Resistance band lateral pull
Exercise ball front plank
Exercise ball side plank, both sides
Exercise ball pushups
Do all exercises for one minute, complete two rounds
Location: Nationwide
More Info: fitnessonboard.com
Tone House Total Body
(Photo: Tone House Total Body)
This active-recovery workout is difficult, yes, but for someone looking for something more challenging, the difficulty is part of the appeal. Tone House wants to unleash your inner athlete, and that means chanting together as a team for motivation and performing burpees in between actual sets as your rest. Yes, burpees as rest. Then the actual exercises are even more explosive with added resistance and weights such as bungee runs and box jumps. This makes for a workout that’s more like an elite sports team’s practice than a class, and the dynamic conditioning will have you looking and feeling like an athlete.
Related: The Only 10 Moves You Need to Stay Injury-Free
Try It Yourself:
10 box jumps
10 burpees
15-second sprint
10 burpees
1-minute jumping jacks
10 burpees
20 tuck jumps
10 burpees
10 clap pushups
10 burpees
Complete two rounds
Location: New York, NY
More Info: tonehousenewyork.com
MovNat
(Photo: MovNat)
Called ”the workout the world forgot,” MovNat’s mission is going to get you moving in the most useful and natural ways that basic instinct allows. Over 145 certified instructors across the nation teach classes focusing on locomotive skills such as running, jumping, swimming, balancing, climbing, carrying, lifting, catching, throwing, crawling, and climbing — just to name a few. Classes split time between the outdoors and inside an actual gym to incorporate natural obstacles such as boulders and trees, as well as traditional equipment such as hurdles and balance beams.
Instead of focusing on burning calories or elevating heart rates, each MovNat class focuses on a certain natural-movement skill. That means re-learning to balance on your hands and feet, to crouch without hurting your back, and to pull yourself up onto a bar and even swing yourself over it. It’s a holistic approach that focuses on function as well as fitness.
Try It Yourself:
1 minute bear crawl
3x10 box jump
1 minute crab walk
3x10 single leg squat, each leg
10 minute run
Complete two rounds
Location: Nationwide
More Info: movnat.com
Fluid Running
(Photo: Fluid Running)
Jennifer Conroyd, a physical trainer and Ironman athlete, tore her calf muscle six weeks before the Chicago Marathon and took up deep-water (feet not touching the pool bottom) running to train through the injury. After finishing the marathon, she founded the first certified deep-water running fitness class in the U.S. “You can do your hardest workout of the week in the water, burn up to 40 percent more calories than running on land, and wake up the next morning feeling rejuvenated because there’s no impact,” says Conroyd.
During the Fluid Running workout, participants are tethered to a lane line in the pool (don’t want to run off) and spend 45 minutes of the hour-long session doing moderate- to high-intensity running set to the playlist of the day. Intervals follow the music, and vary between 30 seconds of sprinting, normal running, and elongated strides as well as arm-only and leg-only segments. “All of your muscles are firing constantly not only because you are running, but also because you have to stay afloat — and thanks to the water, you don’t even realize how much you sweat.”
Try It Yourself:
In a pool, jog 5 minutes
Sprint 30 seconds, run 30 seconds x 10
Stride 30 seconds, run 30 seconds x 10
Run 2 minutes, legs only
Run 2 minutes, arms only
Complete two rounds
Location: Illinois, California, Colorado
More Info: fluidrunning.com
Broga Yoga
(Photo: Borealis Broga Yoga)
Big-name pro athletes such as LeBron James and Kevin Garnett swear by yoga because it’s an ideal low-impact workout to improve strength, balance, and reduce injuries. And while there’s nothing wrong with your average yoga studio, there’s a lot about them that turns off most men from reaping the benefits of a class.
Related: 8 Health Benefits to Practicing Yoga
Broga is a testosterone-infused version that infuses functional fitness exercises with traditional yoga poses. The blend of vinyasa-style yoga, interval training, and bodyweight exercises makes for a workout that not only rejuvenates and refreshes, but also strengthens and tones.
Try it Yourself:
Downward dog, 30 second hold
1 minute plank
25 pushups
Upward dog, 30 second hold
Warrior one, 30 second hold
20 split squats
20 lunges with a twist, each leg
Bridge, 1 minute hold
Complete two rounds
Location: Nationwide
More Info: brogayoga.com
CrossFit Sunset MetConFX
(Photo: CrossFit Sunset MetConFX)
If you thought there was nothing new that could be added to your CrossFit repertoire, Ty Vincent, the owner of Crossfit Sunset in Los Angeles will prove you wrong with his MetConFX class. Just like other CrossFit classes, it hits the 10 components of fitness but uniquely hones in on stamina, endurance, and respiratory function by making you go all out, all the time. There are no stations because there is no stagnant rest. “It’s nonstop movement for 30 to 45 minutes, because we don’t rest by walking to different stations or trading reps with a partner,” says Vincent. “We aren’t reinventing the wheel here, we are just improving your CrossFit workout.”
Related: 12 CrossFit Workouts Anyone Can Do
A typical warm-up for the class is doing 100 burpees for time. Follow that up with over a half hour of constant box jumps, air squats, dumbbell thrusters, and the like, and you won’t have to worry about your heart rate dropping.
Try It Yourself:
50 burpees
25 box jumps
50 squat jumps
25 dumbbell thrusters
50 jumping jacks, as fast as possible
Complete three rounds, no rest in between exercises
Location: Los Angeles, CA
More Info: crossfitsunset.com
Monkey Bar Gym Boot Camp
Monkey Bar Gym’s hour-long boot camp class combines natural movements with interval training. The class has four essential movements — running, climbing, crawling, and jumping — that become high-energy exercises that work on form and functional fitness at the same time.
Starting with a dynamic warm up on agility ladders and doing football practice-style footwork and crawls, the five sets at each of the three circuit stations begin. Each set is 40-seconds on with 20-seconds rest of exercises such as partner battle ropes, log jumps, and medicine ball twists. The goal is to sweat for the entire hour, but to do so in a way that teaches you how to keep moving long after you leave.
Try It Yourself:
Grapevine run
Football agility run
Battle rope swing
Tuck Jumps
Medicine ball twists
Bear crawl
Lateral tuck jumps
Burpees
Perform each exercise for one minute, complete three rounds
Location: Nationwide
More Info: monkeybargym.com
Dethrone Basecamp
(Photo: Dethrone Basecamp)
Basecamp is a heart-pumping, cardio-heavy workout created by Nick Swinmurn, the founder of Zappos.com and the MMA-inspired Dethrone clothing company. Swinmurn and Dethrone employees wanted to train with the non-contact aspects of UFC fitness, so they repurposed a company warehouse in Burlingame, California as an elite workout space for the Average Joe. “The workouts are designed to always challenge you, there is a method to the madness,” says Dethrone CEO Ramon Castillon. “We’ve had everyone from wide receivers on the Oakland Raiders team to new moms in class, and the combination of the bike and strength moves challenges everyone.”
The 35-minute workout doesn’t waste a single second. You start every workout on the Air Assault bike (also called an Airdyne), which increases air resistance the harder you pedal. After that, it’s a one-minute bodyweight or weighted exercise such as pushups, kettlebell swings, or squat jumps. Then, it’s back on the bike for 60 seconds. Repeat this cycle for as many as thirty rounds, and by the end of the workout, you have completed a total body workout and done your time on the Air Assault bike.
Try It Yourself:
5 minutes on the Air Assault bike
1 minute squat jumps
1 minute Air Assault
1 minute pushups
1 minute Air Assault
1 minute burpees
5 minutes Air Assault
Complete two rounds of the 1 minute intervals
Location: Nevada and California
More Info: dethronebasecamp.com
Velo Performance Fitness Cycle Boot Camp
(Photo: Catherine Leigh Cooper)
This is no stylish spin class with blaring club music and dim lighting. Cycle Boot Camp is a class that caters to cyclists who actually love to ride, as well as athletes who are looking to train hard. The class fuses traditional bike interval training with off-bike functional fitness moves to create stronger, more balanced cyclists. Off-bike progressive power sessions use TRX suspension training, core work, and kettle bells to improve power and strength. On-bike intervals feature sprint bursts, hill climbs, and endurance.
Try It Yourself:
On the bike:
1 minute sprint
3 minutes high-resistance pedal
2 minutes pedal
1 minute sprint
3 minutes high-resistance pedal
Complete two rounds
Off the bike:
2 minutes resistance band monster walk
2x20 kettlebell swings
2x1 minute plank
2x10 weighted single-leg squat, each leg
2x10 resistance band leg lift, each leg
Complete two rounds
Location: Portland, OR
More Info: c-velocycling.com
Burn 1000
(Photo: Burn 1000)
Creator and owner Liane Levy has over 17 years of international training experience and is a marathon runner. Her goal with Burn 1000 was to create a workout that combined running with strength to consolidate training into 60 minutes by splitting time in the weight room and on the treadmill.
"To do all of your cardio and strength training in one day used to mean committing to two and a half or three hours every day," says Levy. "But with interval training you can get the benefits and do everything in one hour." Just like the name suggests, Burn 1000 aims to torch 1,000 calories during every class with strength and cardio HIIT intervals — but there is one caveat — you choose your weights and your pace on the treadmill, so it’s up to you if you really want those 1,000 calories gone.
Try It Yourself:
10-minute run
25 Overhead press
25 dumbbell squats
10-minute run
50 medicine ball sit-ups
3x1-minute planks
10-minute run
25 curls
25 weighted lunges, each leg
Location: St. Louis, MO
More Info: burn1000usa.com
November Project
(Photo: November Project)
November Project is free and open to everyone. And any city can have their own November Project group. All it takes is a couple of people, a meeting location at 6:30 AM on a Wednesday, and a weatherproof workout plan. This grassroots fitness project started when two guys in Boston, Brogan Graham and Bojan Mandaric, wanted to hold each other accountable for cold winter workouts, starting back on November 1, 2012. They invited anyone who wanted to join them to show up at a local stadium at 6:30 AM and the rest is history.
Now, as many as 300 participants show up at the 6:30 AM workouts across the country to do scalable workouts depending on their fitness level. Workouts include stadium runs, burpees, and hill sprints, and good vibes courtesy of group hugs.
Try It Yourself:
10 hill sprints
50 pushups
5 stadium stair runs
1 minute burpees
3x1 minute plank
Location: Nationwide
More Info: november-project.com
9Round
(Photo: 9Round)
The 30-minute kickboxing-inspired workout is composed of nine stations with everything from speed bag skills to jumping rope. Stations one and two focus on strength building and incorporate equipment such as dumbbells and medicine balls. Stations three through eight are the “old school” stations, where you get to strap on your boxing gloves and beat up on the 100-pound heavy bag. Station nine strengthens your core stronger with Bosu ball crunches and medicine ball twists. Since there is always an instructor available and no set class times, the schedule is up to you.
Try It Yourself:
25 dumbbell curls
10x3 dumbbell jabs, each arm
20x3 single-leg kick, each leg
50 exercise ball crunches
50 medicine ball twists
Complete two rounds
Location: Nationwide
More Info: 9round.com
Equinox Tabata
(Photo: Inti St Clair / Getty Images)
Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata developed the Tabata training method to give you the best results in the least amount of time. Sounds like an infomercial, but the minutes-long workout consists of intense exercise and very short rests to increase anaerobic fitness most effectively. Equinox makes the most of the method in its 20-minute workout, which requires four minutes of near-max exertion in eight rounds of 20 seconds with 10 seconds’ rest. It’s a complicated formula that has the simplest results: being in great shape.
Try It Yourself:
Burpees
Jumping jacks
High knees
Split squat
Tuck jumps
Mountain climbers
Scissor kicks
Push-ups
Perform each for a 20-second burst followed by 10 seconds rest, complete three rounds
Location: Nationwide
More Info: equinox.com
SoldierFit Basic Training
(Photo: SoldierFit Basic Training)
Led by an 11-year Army veteran, a former Fitness First gym manager, and a professional MMA fighter, Basic Training at SoldierFit’s tagline is, “get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” There are no sergeants yelling at you, but the workout is based on the United States Army’s basic training program. Danny Farrar, the founder of SoldierFit, lost over 150 pounds after joining the military. He wanted to bring the proven effectiveness of military training to the masses without the intimidation. The workout is a mix of strength and cardio with battle ropes, sledgehammer swings, and 40-yard dashes.
Try It Yourself:
25 pushups
3x40-yard dash
20 split squats
25 pushups
20 hammer swings
20 walking lunges with dumbbells
Complete two rounds
Location: Maryland
More Info: soldierfit.com
Soul Train Fitness Bell’s Out
(Photo: Soul Train Fitness Bell’s Out)
Originally used by the Russian military for strength training, kettlebells may are one of the best multipurpose fitness tools for targeting strength, amping up cardio, and building coordination. Bell’s Out, developed by Soul Train Fitness founder Jonathan Medeiros, works on both fundamental kettlebell exercises such as swings and lifts, but also challenges you with sequences and weight progressions so the exercises become more of a routine than just reps.
Try It Yourself:
3x10 kettlebell swing
3x10 kettlebell row
2x25 kettlebell squat with overhead lift
2x25 kettlebell lunge press
3x10 kettlebell deadlift
2x50 kettlebell seated twist
Complete two rounds, take 20 seconds of rest between sets
Location: Boston, MA
More Info: soultrainfitness.com
Flywheel
(Photo: Flywheel)
This fast-growing spin studio is undeniably trendy, but the 45- and 60-minute workouts are legit. There’s literally no coasting on Flywheel’s bikes, so your legs are engaged from the warm-up, through the hill repeats and sprints, then into the upper-body strength portion to wrap up the hour of burning muscles. What helps set Flywheel apart is a no-nonsense approach to exercise (unlike some hip spin classes) and performance tracking on each bike for miles, speed, and calories — expect to burn 500-800. Every participant can opt-in to appear on the big-screen, in-class leaderboard, adding friendly competition to the mix.
Try It Yourself:
10 minutes on easy resistance with a sprint every 90 seconds, gradually increase sprint length and resistance
10 minutes on medium, alternate spinning in and out of the saddle, gradually increase resistance
5 minutes on hard, with 15-second sprints sitting in the saddle
5 minutes on hard, with 15-second sprints standing out of the saddle
5 minutes on easy
5 minutes on medium, alternate standing intervals and sitting recovery
Location: Nationwide
More Info: flywheelsports.com
By Lauren Steele
