Who wants some gym and tonic?
Co-office spaces brought kegs into the workroom, and now a new boxing gym wants to bring the bar to the punching bags.
Sure fitness and alcohol have been merging for years (Drunk yoga, anyone?), usually as a post-class treat away from the gym. But now a new Manhattan sweat spot called GRIT BXNG will feature a full-service liquor bar, offering “healthy” cocktails, such as kale martinis and hard kombucha made with organic ingredients and top-shelf alcohol.
“[Clients] can have an intense full-body workout and socialize afterward with a drink,” said co-founder Dylan Zanker, who is opening the new space with his sister and his father, Bill Zanker, founder of The Learning Annex.
The gym has attracted flashy investors including motivational speaker Tony Robbins and rapper Pitbull. Fortunately, though, cocktails won’t be on the workout floor. The bar has indoor and outdoor seating separate from the studios.
“It wasn’t so much about the liquor as it was about creating a ‘third space,’ ” said Bill Zanker. “A place for people to hang out or to talk to their trainers. We also have mocktails.”
The new spot is scheduled to open Aug. 8 in Flatiron’s revamped Silicon Alley — Facebook, Twitter and BuzzFeed all have corporate offices nearby. So, of course, the gym will accept bitcoin as payment — quite possibly a first in the industry.
“We are big believers in bitcoin,” said Bill Zanker. “We are planning to keep any bitcoin that comes in as we see it as a long time big opportunity.”
If you can see past the ornate lobby with original murals and Swarovski crystal-covered boxing gloves and punching bag — designed by a Bergdorf’s window dresser — the workout itself is a 50-minute boxing-inspired HIIT class that uses aqua bags (water-filled punching bags), treadmills and weight benches. The bags are on a pulley system so they can be lifted to the ceiling to make way for an event space.
Despite what reps say is more than $ 1 million invested in sound and light, and their claim that instructors can earn $ 1,000 an hour on a pay scale (Bill Zanker says they auditioned more than 350 trainers and hired nine), the class prices are actually on par with other high-end fitness studios in New York — “only” $ 36 a class, proving that not all extravagant gyms have to be ridiculously expensive.