Heart Your Health @ Equinox co-hosted by One Medical Group

Environment: ⁵⁄₅
Employees: ⁴⁄₅
Food: ⁴⁄₅
Drinks: ³⁄₅
Cost: ⁵⁄₅
Accessibility: ⁵⁄₅
Total: ²⁶⁄₃₀
Synopsis: Heart to health! Yes! I loved the entire concept. I even tried to convince my boyfriend to come along because he is totally out of shape (don’t tell him I said that), but he had to work. But this was great. It gave me time to spend with friends, especially my new-​found friend Kristine and meet new people. Best of all, I was able to run and workout!
Environment: Wow this place definitely is for people with moolah or someone who wants to spend lavishly for a gym. The men’s locker room had a spa, shaving cream at every sink, and showers. You can easily check the cycling room, and «open» gymnasium. The best part was there was a section where trainers can stretch you out. Lovely!
Employees: Everyone was dressed appropriately, in fact, fabulously. Each class I took, the instructor had enthusiasm of 150%. However, there was an assistant manager that put me off. I was drinking a beer and he said that having some beer is good after working out because it has protein, carbohydrates, and carbonation, which assists with rehydration. I did not inform him as to what my profession was, but that is somewhat wrong! Although it has water and some protein, minerals and vitamins, it is not recommended as a way to rehydrate as it may have negative affects to neurological and cardiac systems. Imagine if he said that to someone who had cirrhoisis?
Food: I loved that they had fruit salad and those little drinks.
Veggies with green dip: I have no idea what the green dip was, but it certainly was addicting! YUM! MINE, MINE, MINE! ⁵⁄₅
Red-​pepper? with pita bread: Second favorite. Whole wheat you say! YES! ⁵⁄₅
Goat cheese and beet wrap: Do I have to say more? This combination sends you to heaven. ⁵⁄₅
Vegan with garbanzo beans: This was not for me, but I understood the food component justification. ²⁄₅
Drinks:
Berry smoothie with yogurt: This was by far my most favorite. ⁵⁄₅
Peanut Butter: I understand why peanut butter is used, but it was overwhelming. ²⁄₅
Cucumber/​green drink: TASTED LIKE GRASS and none of the components indicated on the label. ²⁄₅
Cold Beer: Always a ⁵⁄₅!
Cost: Free ^_​^ YEAA!
Accessibility: Easy to reach via train. Parking started at 6 PM, so just in time!

It’s time to get buff elites!
Never one to pass up a good workout (at Equinox no less!), I was crossing my fingers hoping to get into this one. I did, and was awarded with a year membership to One Medical Group ($ 199 value yo!), two workout classes, and a day at Equinox. Oh, and some Freshii, too. When we walked in, we had a delish selection of smoothies, juices (well, maybe not delish, but very healthy tasting and def helped break me into juicing), and pita and hummus. I think there was a veggies and dip dish, but I uh, have my blinders on when it comes to things like that. There were also Mark Bars and hand sanitizer (do they go together, yes, no, maybe?).
Anyways, after mingling for a bit One Medical Group let us know they are all about online booking, on-​time appointments, and a spa atmosphere, so I will give them a spin soon. Speaking of, Equinox then offered us two classes — their version of spin, called Cycling, and Stacked. Both classes kicked my ass, and I loved both instructors (easy breezy!). My real regret is not rocking the sauna or steam room — Equinox is not only clean, but is quite the luxury gym. Afterwards there were Freshii wraps, beer, and wine. And… goodie bags! We got Equionox water bottles and three day passes to Equinox, so I will be über buff by this time next week. Yay, Danny! Way to rock another five star event.

I was thrilled with this event — so thank you Danny for doing something outside the norm!
First off– One Medical Group did a nice presentation on what they are all about (affordable, customer service oriented doctor’s office that accepts same day appointments and other amenities that make billing and handling claims with your insurance company a breeze), which was perfect information for me considering my doctor just moved out of town. I’ll be checking them out.
Secondly– Equinox has really nice facilities, but you know — that tends to not matter at all for me. I’m usually not the type of person that likes to pay money to something that is relatively painful or discomforting, especially when I can do a lot of that for very little money or more typically in my case– for free.
If I were to consider joining a gym, it would have to be mainly about the services provided, and how those services add to my experience. Considering the experience of the gym is designed to provide you with pain and discomfort — all in the name of fitness — those services better be full of pain and discomfort.
And from what I could tell in my limited time at this event, Equinox provides tremendous service in the realm of causing pain and discomfort in the name of fitness.
Realizing what I just said might turn one off from coming here– let me point you to how many stars I’m giving this event. It’s a friggin’ gym. Meant to make you sweat and breath as though you’re a fat kid that just ran up 27 flights of stairs to try to get away from Michael Meyers wielding a hatchet. The pain and discomfort is supposed to be maximized– and from my experience with the trainers here– they get maximum output within a limited amount of time, and do so with positivity and encouragement.
Which is one of the main reasons I avoid gyms in the first place. The macho-​ism disturbs me. And so if I were to go pay money to a gym for the service of pain and discomfort (in the name of fitness, of course) — I’d do it at a place that offers it in a positive light.
And Julie did that in my first ever cycling class (aka– Spin Class). The Schwinn stationary cycles were quite comfortable and Julie whooped my ass. I commute to and from work many days on a bike, but cycling class with Julie is different. She got me sweating like crazy within about 25 minutes and I lost my breathe quite a few times while burning my legs. A great aerobic and partial strength training session that left me exhausted afterward.
Which leads me back to the facilities. I guess those shining modern bathrooms and all of the physios around to offer up some comfort after all that pain is worthwhile after all.
For a long time, I’ve been anti-​gyms, for the fact that I’m completely the type of person who would start going frequently, but only after a short while would stop going altogether. Equinox has me thinking the investment in the time, money, sweat and tears would be worth it.

Woooooooo feelin gooooood!!!
What a great event, such a convenient way to learn about Equinox, One Medical Group, Freshii, and Mark bars.
Spin class was excellent, as was the group fitness one, definitely left me breathless!
I loooooved the cooler with eucalyptus scented towels, so refreshing!
Afterwards we were greeted with beer, wine, and delicious wraps, which I could stuff my face with after those workouts!