I’m in New York. Plagued by a massive jetlag. And I’m an also an early bird, jumping out of the sack at 5am while Liesbeth peacefully sleeps on for another few hours. This gives me the opportunity to check out the nearest gym. Swaying about on a crossfit machine is kind of nerdy as real New Yorkers hang in contraptions that stretch out every inch of your body, or they go for a candlelight spinning. Are you heading for the Big Apple anytime soon? If you really want to be cool you do this. If you do it all the time you’re even cooler.

Pilates on a machine

Every model has been on one of these things. It’s an apparatus that requires you to lie mostly on your back, pushing up weights with your feet or pulling elastic bands with your arms. And there are also exercises that stretch the whole body. It’s kind of relaxing because it’s such a slow pace but if you think there’s no sweat or sore muscles involved think again, you probably won’t be able to walk the next day. I’m going to try this so I’ll be back with photos, just to put it into perspective for you.

SoulCycle

Every street corner in New York has this kind of gym. It’s very easy. It’s a spinning class (very fast cycling) to swinging music in the dark. It’s not totally dark because the ground is lit by candles and boy is that serene. It’s also a good thing you can’t see everyone and even better that they can’t see your sweaty forehead. Because that’s what you get. This will take you the whole nine yards. Every instructor has his own playlist that you can check beforehand and I always go for R&B music, it’s the fastest.

You need special shoes for the bikes that you click onto your pedals but you can just rent them there. And if you show up real early, you have a good chance of running into a celeb, especially in Soho and the Meatpacking District.

Around Central Park

Well, a whole round is very long, almost a marathon I would think, but jogging in Central Park will always be the best. The park is huge with plenty of runner roads (don’t confuse these with roadrunners). Here, use a bench for some extra exercises after your run.

Barry’s Bootcamp

If you made it back alive, you’re lucky. I believe he guarantees that you burn more than one thousand calories in an hour and the celebrity participation is extreme. Barry says “it’s the best workout in the world” so I’m going to try my utmost to book myself a lesson, this is an experience I can’t miss out on.