Exceed Physical Culture

I really like this studio. I’ve been twice as part of the 2 for 1 new member special. Both classes were definitely challenging. Classes are composed of various circuits with mixed cardio and strength. My only complaint would be that both classes were relatively full, so I didn’t get a lot of individualized attention (although the 7am class I attended on a Thursday definitely more so). If it weren’t so expensive, I’d be back in a heartbeat.

these are the best classes i’ve taken — high intensity, quick intervals, it’s painful but over before you know it. I leave completely wiped out, which is how i want to leave a class. You get cardio, plyometrics, strength training and form coaching all in one. I love that kettbells, rowing and TRX are always in rotation. I highly recommend Lacee, Gina and Linvginston at the UES location. They are excellent trainers — all 3 have very different but equally effective styles. the changing room situation isn’t great, which is the only reason i take off a star — there’s only 2 tiny showers and one sink — i only take classes on the weekend and shower at home after; i could never squeeze in a class before work and expect to get ready there

I wasn’t thrilled with this gym. I found the bathroom to be really dirty with dirty old qtips on the floor. I grew to liking the instructor. Initially he walked in at the exact time the class started and didn’t really introduce himself or anything. But he was very helpful when I had no idea what I was doing. He showed me the right form. It was a challenging class and you do get your money’s worth!

One of the better workout classes I’ve taken. This is a high intensity interval training class and there will be very few breaks, or none. Actually, breaks are high knee exercises. This class will keep your heart rate high through the roof. It’s broken out in groups of 4 (with 3 – 4 people per group). Each group navigates through a series of workouts: medicine balls, kettle bells, TRX, and more kettlebells or hurdles. You definitely get a lot done in 45 minutes and you will burn out! This workout left me sore for 4 days (I was unable to walk).
Don’t expect anything fancy here in terms of studio amenities. The lockers are tiny and by the reception.

A great workout, but they are very strict with late policy. If you are late 6 min, they won’t let you in bc their late policy is 5 min.

I am updating my post after having attending several classes. I never had a problem after the first interaction with the staff. The classes I took were all challenging and interesting. I like the different circuits to keep it interesting. I do think they would benefit from 2 instructors (like Fhitting Room) when the classes are over 8 people, because it sometimes feels like there isn’t enough encouragement, and that you are sorta just working out on your own in a room full of people-​if that makes sense.
So far the classes I took have been different, and complete body workouts. I am usually exhausted after them.

One of the best gyms for fitness classes. Ed, the owner, knows how to motivate and push you to your limits as do his top notch instructors. Exceed runs a great program both in the city and in The Hamptons.
Classes are never boring and always challenging regardless of your fitness level. If you’re someone who wants to improve on your overall fitness level and/​or to train for functional strength, agility, and endurance then Exceed is a great bet.
I never used to be a fan of group workouts but find i push myself more in a class setting like Exceed and a few others on the UES offer like EVF which is my other favorite in the neighborhood.
I’d have given them 5 stars if the space had more room and better amenities but it’s hard to fault any private gym for that in NYC. They make great use of the available space regardless and i’m not coming here to have a sauna or a steam etc.

Great circuit workout! I went for the first time today and enjoyed the tabata-​style circuit training.
We split up into different stations, using a box, medicine ball, TRX pulleys, rowing machines. We did a series of exercises for 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off x 4 rounds. Then we regrouped and all used kettle bells with overhead presses, squats and deadlifts. Then, another round of the different stations with different exercises. Finally, we did core work with mats on the floor.
I felt like this was a great workout with Blair. If you were more experienced, you could modify the exercises to make them harder or do more reps. Same thing if you are more a beginner. Do what you can and challenge yourself.
I liked that Blair corrected my form and paid attention to what everyone was doing. I don’t know if this is usual with all instructors or because there were 10 people at an early morning class on a Sunday but I will be back for another great class.
There is a locker room for women with 2 shower stalls and 2 bathroom stalls with towels for you to use. All lockers are digitized so no need to bring a lock. Bring a bigger water bottle (mine was only 12 oz) and I wanted more! There is a water fountain spigot for refilling your bottle. Thank you, Exceed, I will see you again soon!

Hmmm I really debated what to give Exceed. This place is a solid 3.5 stars — I’m going to be nice and round it up to a 4. Every time I come here, I get a really good workout, but there are some shortcomings.
Exceed has several kinds of classes including Cardio Boxing, Kettlebell, Obstacle Course Training, even a kids class for those of you guys/​gals who want to take your little fur ball to class, but their most frequent and popular offering is The Workout, a HIIT/​circuit training class. The Workouts starts off with a pretty long dynamic warm up with lots of body weight exercise like squats, lunges, butt-​kicks, spiderman push-​ups. We then move on the circuits — a series of exercises ranging from 30 seconds to 1 minute with 10 – 25 seconds of rest in between. We usually do two to three rounds of a long circuit with 5 – 6 moves, and then three rounds of a shorter circuit with 3 – 4 moves. The exercises incorporate rowing, TRX (push-​ups, Y-​pulls, knee tucks, pistol squats, etc.), medicine balls (wall sits, tosses, jump squats), kettlebells (swings, push-​press, squat into overhead press, etc.) and bosu ball (push-​ups, sit-​ups). We usually finish with some ab work, and then stretch for 5mins.
The facilities are pretty swanky with nice clean showers, a water fountain, a decent sized waiting area and THREE training rooms (two for personal training and one for group classes). The instructors here that I’ve trained with (Mike J. Mike G. Max, Kyle) all remind me of my hot high school gym teacher — no-​nonsense and good looking in an athletic, manly way, not the usual pretty boy fitness instructor way.
This place could be so much better by making some minor improvements. First of all, in all the classes I’ve taken (~10), I’ve never gotten one correction… not ONE. I take a lot of fitness classes and in general I try to have good form, but I know I’m not perfect and when I go to Body Space Fitness or The Fhitting Room, I usually get some minor adjustments or verbal reminders when my form is slipping. I do see the instructors correcting people who look like they’ve never exercised before but show us more experienced students some love, too! Secondly, the equipment gets kinda disorganized. The kettlebells are not clearly labeled, some are in the metric system and some are in the English system, and most of the time not lined up in any particular order. As a result, the transition to kettlebell exercises is always a clusterfuck with people picking up random weights, checking if they’re too heavy or too light. If Exceed fixes these minor things, I’d probably come here much more often since I love circuit training and Exceed is pretty close to my apt!

Went to the basics class and had a sub so maybe that explains why the class was just average. There was a lot of time between sets and the instructor seemed like she was making up the stations as we went along. I will go back and try another class and instructor since others seem to really like this place.

To preface, I’ve only been to Exceed twice so my rating for this may go up with future visits. The first class I took was the signature Workout class with Michael and unfortunately I was not a fan of him at all. The class didn’t seem very structured and we spent pretty much half the time at the rowing machine. This would have been ok if I knew that’s what I was getting myself into, but in these types of classes I am more used to frequent changes within the workout and switching it up from trx to kettlebells to rowing, etc. I think Fhitting Room does a much better job with this but I would have to take more classes here with other instructors to know for sure.
This week I decided to take Kickboxing with Tony. I have taken kickboxing on and off for years but haven’t gone much in the last year and was really looking forward to this class. Tony is intense and constantly motivating you. I think a one-​on-​one kickboxing session with him would be perfect. However, I actually thought the non-​boxing part of the class (planks, pushups, etc.) was better than the boxing part, which kind of defeated the purpose for me. The boxing portion of class was only doing jabs and uppercuts on a bag and then having two one-​minute long boxing sessions directly with Tony. You share the bag with 3 other people, and while there’s enough room for everyone I did notice that a lot of people would be talking during this part which was super distracting. I’ll probably check out a different studio for my next kickboxing fix.

Easily one of my favorite classes in NYC and I’m so happy they are on the Classpass (a $ 99 subscription service to try out different studios). Even though I can only visit Exceed 3x a month and it’s over 45 minutes to get there, it’s well worth it. Obviously I can buy a pack of classes directly from them or a single class at $ 32. I just love that the classes really switch up depending on the day and the amount of people in class.
My first class there was at least over 15 people in class. In that class there were 4 stations set up — indoor rowing, kettlebells, TRX, and bosu balls. After a warm up, we’d go through the circuit once, doing a move on each — say standing squat on bosu, pistol squats on TRX, etc — 45 seconds of each 15 seconds in between. Then we’d do it again except with a new move. I loved it because it moved by so fast. The instructor would go around and correct us during it.
Another class I was in — there was only 4 of us. It felt less structured in the beginning but we did rounds of things — say ergs, then kettlebells and repeat for 5 minutes then move on to stations (say jump rope, boxes, then ergs).
All of the classes I’ve taken have been their signature Exceed classes. They also having a «Just Row» class that I want to take (ex-​rower right here) and a cardio boxing class that I heard from friends is amazing. Plus other classes like masters and seal training.
The facility is amazing. It’s like Crossfit meets Equinox. Smaller lockers upstairs with the keycode, showers, tampons, deorderant, and larger lockers are downstairs.

Absolutely, muscle-​burningly awesome.
I just went this morning for my first time because I went with a friend from work. I love to workout but have never actually gone to a class (let alone do my own workouts) at 6am. Exceed was worth it. The combination of TRX and high-​intensity drills really kept me struggling. I love it, as I’d much rather struggle through a few circuits than be bored for 50 minutes on a treadmill. The instructor was clear and helpful and the spaces were clean and pretty spacious given how small it seems.
Their lockers are digital combo locks — very similar to hotel safes that use a pin number you make up that day. MUCH bigger than I expected because I could fit all my giant long winter puffy coat + teaching bag +gym bag + a pair of winter boots + sneakers with some room to spare.
The locker room itself has a lot of extras you might need and the showers were — dare I say it? — bordering on luxurious. I’d like that shower head and stall for my own apartment!
I’ll definitely be a repeat client.

Oh dear Exceed, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Well does having my entire Louboutin collection for sale on eBay count so I can I buy monthly memberships to your studio say something??? I don’t think I will ever leave the UES as long as you’re around. Don’t change a thing. PLEASE!

I came here this morning for their basic Summit class — TRX training.
The staff is super friendly and the place is clean clean clean. There are 2 floors with 2 training rooms on the main floor and 1 on the lower level. There are locker rooms with showers which is good!
Now the class! It was intense. The instructor didn’t ease into the workout — it was hardcore from the very first minute. It was a lot of circuit training. TRX, jumping rope, rowing machines, squats, Russian twists, push ups, etc. The instructor was very encouraging and walked around adjusting us throughout the circuits.
My body feels good and I know that I’ll be sore tomorrow.
I would love to go back.
My only complaint? The exterior signage. They need a new one.

I started coming here a few months ago when I hit a plateau in my fitness level, and was in desperate need for something different. What started as the hardest work outs I’ve ever done, has turned into a real obsession, and my week is not complete without hitting up at least three of their summit classes a week.
The classes are a mix of strength training with TRX and kettle bells, high intensity interval training with metabolic circuits and my Favorite, plyometrics. I have taken classes with 6 of their trainers, who are all amazing, & they all do things a little differently which is great for changing up your routine. I have never taken a bad class here. In the past few months, I’ve become
Much stronger and have seen really good changes in my body. I highly recommend exceed!

Kyle Cashin is worth crossing town for a 6am class. I come from the west side every Wednesday for the work out and inspiration I get from Kyle’s summit class. He is welcoming to all and takes extra time with newcomers to make them feel welcome. Kyle’s positive energy makes you try your hardest to put full effort into your workout.
The class moves quickly with interval training (each exercise lasting about 1 minute) — you can do anything for 1 minute! Although the work out is far from easy Kyle makes sure you are doing each exercise correctly and he offers modifications if you need.

What gets me to a 6am class? Kyle Cashin 3 Days a week. Even on frigid winter days or the dog days of summer I practically skip to Exceed. I will try any workout once and enjoy running, to spinning, yoga and even barre classes.
The SUMMIT classes at exceed is the best burn for your money. It is a positive and team environment that pushes you to do YOUR best. Most of the exercises are 1 minutes long so my mantra is «I can do anything for 60 seconds».
It’s an intense workout but any exercise can be tailored so that a newbie or an expert gets the most out of the class.
The facility is clean and minimalistic. The locker rooms are modern with the combination lockers as well as shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, hair ties and razors available.

I love this place! I’ve been twice and both trainers/​instructors were great — encouraging and nice, but they really push and motivate you. It is hard to strike that balance, but they do. I feel sorry for the girl who had a bad experience at Exceed and felt everyone was unfriendly — I have never felt that in here at all. I find everyone to be warm and welcoming (and its not like I am some sort of regular). Even the people IN the class are nice!
Do not expect a light workout. The class will fully kick your butt, even if you think you’re already in great shape. I said to the instructor today that a class like this reminds you that you’re not in as good of shape as you think you are… to which he replied, no, the class shows you how good of shape you can be in! I liked that — very positive message :) See? They’re all about motiviating you here! I really recommend Exceed if you want a hardcore HIIT workout.

I live around the corner from Exceed and Barry’s was full this morning so I decided to give this place a shot. They gave me my first class for free so that was definitely a plus.
I filled out a waiver and was told to go in the back but had no idea if it was in the first room or the second room farther back. Trainers stared and despite my smiles and hellos I got the cold shoulder. I figured out that we were going to be in the back room and went on in. The group seemed to be bored moms and middle age men which was different than what I am used to. They were all in their own world the whole class (which could be good or bad depending on what you’re looking for). The instructor strolled in a few minutes late and started the class not even asking if anyone was new (AT LEAST WELCOME ME!).
The class itself was pretty good, TRX, Planks, kettle balls, Blurpees, rowing machines etc. The class was about 10 people and the instructor did adjust people as we went along which was nice.
I’m sore and felt like it was a decent workout but not sure if I will come back. As I left they didn’t even ask if I enjoyed the class or if I was interested in coming back (I even put my coat on in the front smiled at the lady at the front desk before I left… nothing). I expect much more personal attention or at least a welcome and a little recognition when it cost the same as Barry’s Bootcamp ($ 30+/class). I think I’ll stick to Barry’s or try out another gym/​class around here.