Can’t afford that pricey boutique gym class? No sweat.
You can pay your way in to a number of New York studios by joining their cleanup crew. Fitness centers across the city let limited numbers of volunteers take classes for free, in exchange for helping them organize and sanitize their space.
And stocking toilet paper or wiping down bike seats is a small price to pay to stay in shape, according to those who do it.
“It’s hard to live in New York City on a budget, especially when you’re working part-time and going to school, so it was monetarily a great idea,” says 20-year-old Baruch College student Kerry Mack, who volunteers at Union Square spin studio Revolve Fitness in exchange for classes, which normally cost $25. “You really cannot beat it.”
At Revolve, 10 “work-traders” are responsible for greeting guests, adjusting bikes for riders, cleaning the clip-in shoes and collecting sweaty towels.
But Mack swears the gig “sounds a lot more unglamorous than it is” and that “it’s really not a down and dirty job.”
The program has been in effect at Revolve since the space opened in 2011.
“At one point there were more work-traders on the schedule than staff, and then (sometimes) there’s only a few,” says Revolve’s studio manager Chamisa Lamm.
The Yoga Room, which has studios in Astoria and Long Island City, has no trouble filling work-study slots. Studio manager Jennifer Batson says she currently has about 20 who clean the practice rooms and bathrooms. Many more have passed through her program. Batson herself started as a work-study five years ago.
“I have mopped my fair share of rooms and I’ve done my fair share of laundry, and it really is a team effort,” she says. “Nobody is below stocking toilet paper. If everybody works together then that’s what really makes it a wonderful system.”
Batson’s longest-employed work-study, Jason Rajib, agrees. Rajib, 30, first signed up for the program after he could no longer afford the studio’s $20 yoga classes.
“We take care of the studio and in return we get rewarded,” says the part-time bartender from Woodside.
Rajib was at one point taking nine classes a week — which amounts to a savings of at least $720 a month.
Work-study is a practice popularized by dance studios, according to Alycea Ungaro, founder and co-owner of Real Pilates in Tribeca. Under her watchful eye, cash-strapped clients can come to class for free so long as they clean the equipment, help with scheduling, organize the retail boutique and run errands as needed.
“It’s very common in the performing arts industry,” Ungaro says. “I’ve been on both ends, (as a) recipient and a teacher.”
Eden McFadden, 23, who lives in Bushwick, was hired at Ungaro’s studio after spending six months in a work-study arrangement there.
“I enjoy making spaces look clean and good and that’s what Alycea first needed help with, so it ended up working out very well,” McFadden says.
Before McFadden was hired, she used to take classes three to four times a week in exchange for working five-hour shifts. With Ungaro’s pilates classes costing $30 a pop, McFadden saved nearly $500 a month just by lending her time.
And it works out for studios too.
“An extra set of hands is a good thing,” Ungaro says. “It’s a nice, even exchange for services.”
With gym classes being so expensive, interest in this approach to accessing lessons and equipment isn’t likely to die down anytime soon.
“I think it will be huge,” McFadden says, adding that future fitness apprentices can use the work-study concept as a way to “test out” a studio before committing to it.
“I hope more gyms offer this,” Rajib adds.
And good news for broke New Yorkers: According to Ungaro, many studios are willing to set up a work-study program for a client, even if one isn’t in place already.
“I think people should ask about it,” she says. “It’s a great way to keep yourself in the studio that you love — and we also benefit.”
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A COMP-LETE SUCCESS
One fitness studio calls its work-study program an internship: 305 Fitness in Flatiron offers college students instruction on what it’s like running a fitness startup. In return for help with the dance-cardio studio’s events, marketing and customer relations, students get course credit — plus comped classes. So far, eight students have taken 305 up on the offer. 305fitness.com
