NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- In a city filled with endless workout options, 54D stands out for many reasons. At $5,400, it is not only one of the most expensive workouts in New York City, but it's also arguably, one of the most difficult.
Personally, I love a physical challenge, so I jumped on the opportunity to torture myself for their two-week bootcamp.
Upon entering the state-of-the art facility located at 125 West 25th St. in Chelsea, you are greeted by the front desk and the space is very clean and modern.
You are told to download the 54D app and given a heart rate monitor to wear during each class. Once you walk into class, the device automatically begins to monitor your heartrate, as well as the calories you burn during each workout.
The 54D program is straight to the point - a 54-day workout where for nine-weeks, you train for an hour, six days out of the week, only resting on Sundays. If you miss three classes, you cannot continue with the program.
“We are not a gym. We don’t want to sign you up and have you never show up. We want you here.” said founder Rodrigo Garduño. "Show up three minutes late and you are locked out."
The trainings are led by two coaches - who go around making sure your form is on point during each workout and that you're working up to your fullest potential.
Pushing myself was something I found myself constantly doing throughout the one-hour workouts.
The music is loud, the atmosphere is energetic, and the high intensity interval workouts are difficult.
Each day is different, training mostly with body weight but also incorporating swing bags, barbells and resistance bands. I was incredibly sore and barely able to move for the first three days.
I'm pretty sure that for the entire hour of the workout, I was out of breath and my face was always scowling, but even though I struggled with the fast pace, it was easy to remain positive.
There are inspirational quotes that can be seen on the walls of the facility which accommodates up to 120 members per cycle.
"It's not just about coming in and doing a high intensity program. Obviously, the main focus is changing physically but it's changing mentally too," said Coach Kevin Piedrahita.
One of the program's objective is not just fitness, but for people to realize that they can do more than what they think they can. "This is for everybody. When people come here, even if they don't work out, they change dramatically. Physically and mentally," Piedrahita adds.
Another main focus of the program, relies heavily on the nutrition aspect. You start with an initial weigh-in on a machine that breaks down your body composition like weight, muscle mass, and fat.
I met with the nutritionist, Jennie Waegelein, who explained what my the results were of my weigh-in, then walked me through and thoroughly guided me on what foods I should consume in order to help me achieve the results that I wanted.
There are also weekly check-ins to track your progress and address any questions or concerns that you may have.
The first week, consisted of a detox diet, which came with strict restrictions. No carbs, avoid foods that are high in fat like salmon and avocado and no sugar, which meant no fruits were a part of the deal.
Was I miserable? Yes. Did I complain to anyone who would listen? Yes. Did I adhere to the diet? Yes. Did I see results? Also, yes.
"What I do as a nutritionist, is really help guide them, so that they can switch things up a bit, support their diet, but also eliminate a lot of foods that are going to be more inflammatory to the body, or will drag the body down, and really encourage people to go back to eating real food," said Waegelein.
The gym is a 6,041-square-foot studio but class sizes remained pretty small with no more than ten people per class during the week.
Wednesdays and Saturdays, however, you are allowed to bring a friend along and it tends to get crowded - especially on Saturdays.
Because 54D was founded and led by former professional athletes, you are training like an athlete would.
The NYC classes, which are led by Coach Kevin and Coach Luis get the heart rate pumping to say the least. The first few minutes consists of a warmup including squats, high knees, glute and soccer kicks. To give you an idea of the level of intensity, on average, I burned nearly 100 calories during the first 10-mintues of the workout.
Once the warmup is done, the coaches kick the workout into high gear with running on the gym's crown jewel - an incline ramp with stairs for a minute after each set, and on Friday's, boxing is incorporated into the routine.
Currently, 54D operates studios in Miami, Mexico and Colombia, but they also offer online classes.
Overall, I would give this workout a 9 out of 10. The music was a combination of a rave mixed with Michael Jackson, Rihanna and Bad Bunny.
The workout was strenuous but the staff and the coaches were incredibly knowledgeable and very helpful. It was definitely a challenge that I thought about quitting. But at the end of the two-week bootcamp, I did get stronger, I added muscle and lost a few pounds.
Most importantly, I felt proud that even though I was struggled and probably had a snarl on my face the entire two weeks, I had been committed and was able to make it through each class.
I also understand why committing to this nine-week program is vital and why it isn't available on apps such as ClassPass, but the reason why I deducted a point was because I personally don't have a $5,000 gym budget.
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