Latest news with #LowerEastSide
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
I Tried the World's Weirdest Group Fitness Class
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." More and more guys are embracing group fitness. Why? Because group classes deliver science-backed muscle-building and cardio-enhancing tactics. Not sure how to get the most out of the new group fitness scene? We've got everything you need right here. THIRTY SECONDS INTO split squats and my ankles, shins, and hips are lit up. Sweat's dripping, my balance is shot, and I'm locked in on one goal: don't wipe out in front of strangers. I'm wobbling on a surfboard—four stories above the streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side at Surfset Fitness. I'm admittedly standoffish when it comes to trying fitness methods outside of my regular routine, which includes lifting weights, walking, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's not a great look for a decades-long fitness journalist. So, in the spirit of professional curiosity (sparked by my knowledge that Men's Health was launching their Group Fitness Awards), I signed up for the strangest group class I could find. And that's how I ended up at an indoor surf class sandwiched between an Italian grocery store and an Aikido studio. The surfing-inspired workout is a high-intensity group exercise class on a six-foot-long surfboard balanced atop three stability balls—aptly named the Rip SurferX. Surfset launched in 2011, founded by Sarah Ponn and Mike Hartwick, and scored a $300,000 deal from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank a year later. At its peak, the duo expanded operations to 250 locations across 19 countries. But the company shuttered in 2021, according to Pitchbook. Today, its website redirects to Surfset New York City, owned by Aaron Thouvenin and Diana Garrett. Thouvein and Garrett are longtime Surfseters, first as students in 2011 and then as instructors two years later, before they opened their NYC location in 2014. I opted into the hour-long Surf Intervals class, taught by Thouvenin himself. We started with a crash course on Surfset's signature move: the pop-up, a surfer transition from lying to standing. Once we had the basics down, Thouvenin kicked off the first of two four-round circuits. Put simply, the workout is high-intensity interval training that utilizes your bodyweight plus the occasional sandbag. Each circuit blended lower-body, upper-body, and core work, all made exponentially harder by the unstable board, which feels like standing on a Bosu ball. For the first time in years, I felt like a true workout newb. I fell off three times (and seemed to be the only one in class who did), struggled through split squats, and spent half the single-leg balance tapping my foot to the board just to stay upright. From the surfboard itself to the beachy décor to the exercise names (think 'Hot Sand' and the 'Starfish' crunch), the whole experience wades into gimmicky territory. But thanks to Thouvenin's infectious energy and the workout's legitimate difficulty, Surfset is a class worth trying. As someone who logs every lift, tracks my weekly volume, and aims to add reps or weight each session, I've never loved group classes. Most feel like a sweatfest without rep counts, minimal structure, and no path to measurable progress. You burn calories, sure, but progressive overload usually goes out the window. But Surfset grounds its abnormality in fundamentals. Every exercise is based on classics, like push-ups, squats, lunges, hip hinges, just performed on a less forgiving surface. While the class was timed (so tracking reps isn't realistic), Thouvenin offered my group variations for each move. What stood out was his framing, referring to them as 'options', not progressions or regressions. It was a subtle but effective reminder that effort matters most. For someone with a competitive streak, Thouvenin's messaging gave me the permission to stick with a few 'easier' options. 'Easy' is relative, though, because hardly anything about this workout was familiar. I didn't feel a single exercise where I was supposed to, exposing some of my weaknesses. During split squats, it wasn't my quads burning—it was my ankles and shins. Pop-ups lit up my neck more than my core. And during planks and push-ups, it was my shoulders and the sides of my hips, not my chest or abs, that were working overtime. My experience reminded me that removing the blinders isn't just fun (and it was a lot of fun), it's useful, too. I've been training in a fitness vacuum of my own making for years. I hadn't tried anything new since starting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu five years ago. I'm glad I finally did. I learned my balance is abysmal, and I was reminded just how motivating a great instructor and a room full of strangers can be. (You can't replicate that energy in your living room or your local gym.) So if you're a fellow creature of habit and you've made it this far, take this as your sign: try something new. Push yourself. Not just with heavier weights or extra reps, but with something that makes you uncomfortable—maybe even a little embarrassed. Step on the metaphorical surfboard (or a real one). Feel like a beginner again. It might just make you better. You Might Also Like The Best Hair Growth Shampoos for Men to Buy Now 25 Vegetables That Are Surprising Sources of Protein
Condé Nast Traveler
15-07-2025
- General
- Condé Nast Traveler
The Best Ramen in NYC, Carefully Selected By a Ramen Connoisseur
104 8th Ave, Chelsea Ramen Ishida has occupied a shoebox space on the Lower East Side for almost a decade. The dining area might as well be in the kitchen—there are just a handful of stools set against counters that wrap around the walls—and you can see chef Yohei Ishida expertly folding noodles into bowls on most days. A second, larger, and swankier location opened up just recently in Chelsea. The primary focus of the menu is clear-soup ramen, but the overall quality of everything on the menu is very high—the toppings, the other bowls of ramen, the sides, and especially the gyoza in broth. The real gem at Ishida, however, is off-menu: the ' '80s Shoyu,' which is infused with an exhilarating amount of dried fish. It's only served at the LES location, and only when Ishida is manning the stove. At Tonchin, a Tokyo-based chain, the noodles are made in-house, and the seasoning is perfect. Courtesy Tonchin 13 W 36th St, Midtown 109 N 3rd St, Williamsburg Tonchin is a Tokyo-based tonkotsu-focused chain that has a couple locations in New York (and one in Los Angeles). The menu is more expansive than the ones at mega ramen chains like Ippudo and Ichiran, and straying from ramen can be an expensive (but tasty) enterprise. The ramen is excellent; the noodles are made in-house; the toppings are carefully, consistently prepared; and the soups are rich, not too thick, and beautifully seasoned. The two standout bowls are the Smoked Dashi ramen, which has an aggressive dried fish punch and comes topped with clams, and the Original Tsukemen, which comes with two kinds of noodles—a nest of thick tubular noodles and a single wide and fat noodle—for dipping. 172 Delancey St, Lower East Side It isn't surprising that Hidetoshi 'Jack' Nakamura makes some of the best ramen in NYC, since he's something of a legend in Japan and, thanks to his work as a development chef with Sun Noodle, he was instrumental in popularizing ramen in the city. What's surprising is that in addition to offering standout examples of a clear-broth chicken shoyu and a straightforward tonkotsu, the menu has a mysteriously good vegan xo miso ramen. Nakamura also has tsukemen and mazemen on the menu, which migrated over from the menu next door at his now-defunct mazemen-focused restaurant, Niche. While everything on the menu deserves to be tried once, the pan-fried gyoza are some of the best in the city.
The Independent
13-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Champagne problem for NYC Whole Foods as Studio 54-founder's venture causes headaches: suit
A battle of the bougie is underway in New York City, after upmarket grocery store Whole Foods has filed a lawsuit against a hotel owned by the founder of the infamous Studio 54 club. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan's Supreme Court, alleges that lines of people waiting for access to The Roof – an exclusive rooftop bar at Public Hotel in the Lower East Side – are blocking delivery access for the store. The suit, obtained by The Independent, requests that a judge order the hotel to reroute the queueing of their patrons 'in some other direction.' The suit also asks that The Roof be closed until the hotel addresses the problem, and that 'daily escalating fines' be issued if it doesn't. Public Hotel is owned by Ian Schrager, an American entrepreneur, hotelier and real estate developer, who gained fame as co-owner and co-founder of Studio 54 – one of the city's most exclusive clubs in the 1970s. Public was developed by Schrager and fellow real estate magnate Steve Witkoff, who currently serves as Donald Trump 's special envoy to the Middle East. Whole Foods' lawsuit contains a number of pictures showing the chaos outside the hotel, noting that often there was 'simply a mass of people completely obstructing the sidewalk and driveway.' 'This obstructs not only Whole Foods from utilizing its driveway and hence having deliveries made to and from its loading dock, but also completely obstructs regular pedestrians who seek to walk on this sidewalk,' it states. The suit describes the situation as 'an accident waiting to happen' due to the combination of large delivery trucks trying to access the area. The drivers are 'constantly complaining' to Whole Foods about the congestion, the suit claims. There have also been several 'near misses [sic] accidents.' It also notes that deliveries that used to take 30 minutes to complete, now takes two hours – risking perishable products. Whole Foods workers who spoke to The New York Post also reported how club-goers often became aggressive towards them when drunk. 'They don't understand. Sometimes they start fights with us. They push us. They start cursing… They tell us: 'who the hell do you think you are?'' one worker told the outlet. The lawsuit demands a payment of no less than $400,000 in damages. However, in a letter to the court, attorneys for Public Hotel claimed that there were other reasons for large crowds, including food trucks, or customers picking up their Amazon packages from Whole Foods. They also argued that crowds are not waiting for The Roof, but for a different Public Hotel club called ARTSPACE. The attorneys argue that shutting The Roof would cause its business 'devastating and irreparable harm' and cost the city $8 million in sales tax.
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Science
- New York Times
We Need to Learn to Love Tall Buildings
As the heat index pushed 105 degrees Fahrenheit one weekend in late June, my toddler and I were on foot, searching for a cool oasis. We found one in the wide, pale shadow cast by a 26-story apartment building on the Lower East Side, on a courtyard filled with the sounds of slapping dominoes and children on scooters, zooming around playground equipment. Although New York and other American cities badly need more shady spaces like this, it's far too difficult to create them. Planning codes discourage new high-rises in many neighborhoods, and urban designers claim their thousand-foot shadows make the open spaces around them less inviting. But the opposite is true on extremely hot days: The monolithic shade of buildings can actually enhance parks, playgrounds and plazas by cooling them down. As extreme heat becomes more common, urban dwellers need to relinquish their bias against daytime darkness and embrace the shadows. According to Kelly Turner, an urban planning professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the former director of the recently axed Center for Heat Resilient Communities, which was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shade of any kind can shave 30 percent off the 'heat burden' — the total heat we gain outside — as well as ward off dehydration, headaches and serious heat illnesses. Too many tall buildings can trap heat and raise air temperatures, especially overnight — a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. But Dr. Turner told me that during the day, warming at least at the local level is offset by the cooling shade. Yet it's harder to find 'built shade,' as she and other researchers call the shadows cast by buildings and other man-made structures. In June, Dr. Turner and other U.C.L.A. researchers released a national shade map of over 360 American cities and towns that shows most shade is cast by trees, not walls. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
03-07-2025
- Business
- CNN
New York may have America's top pizza, but LA is at its heels, Italian judges say
The best pizza in the United States comes from a wood-fired oven on New York's Lower East Side, an Italian pizza-ranking guide has announced. For the second year running, the Naples-based 50 Top Pizza judged Una Pizza Napoletana the winner in its annual assessment of American bakers. The ranking focuses strictly on Neapolitan-style pizza — the thin, round, fastidiously prepared variety from the city that considers itself the cradle of pizza — but to aficionados, it's the only type that matters. In a one-two punch, the Big Apple also claimed the top individual pizza slice, with the honors going to L'industrie Pizzeria, run by Massimo Laveglia and Nick Baglivo. Last year, Una Pizza Napoletana was also rated No. 1 in the whole world. The global rankings are due to be released later this year. Una Pizza Napoletana is owned by Anthony Mangieri. Born and raised in New Jersey, Mangieri opened his first pizzeria on the Jersey Shore in 1996. Food and Wine magazine has called Mangieri 'one of the country's most skilled practitioners of the Neapolitan style' of pizza, and New York magazine called him a 'one-man Opus Dei' for authentic pizza. The organization behind the ranking, 50 Top Pizza, cited the rich flavor of his pizzas and the his straightforward approach to making them, with only a few dishes on offer and a single location. Mangieri said that perfecting his technique has been his goal since he first started making pizzas at age 15. While his focus remains the same, he said the world of pizza has changed dramatically in the nearly 30 years since he established his first restaurant. 'When we opened, no one was making the style of pizza that we make,' he told CNN Travel. Now, he says, you can find good pizza all over the world, and American diners have come to appreciate fine Neapolitan pizza. He attributes his success to a strong work ethic that limits distractions. 'It is not a concept restaurant — it is not one of 20 things that I'm doing,' Mangieri said of the restaurant on Orchard Street in New York. 'It's a life's work.' Restaurants in Los Angeles and San Francisco snagged the next two spots on the list of top pizzerias in the US, which also included nine other New York pizzerias. Pizzeria Sei, the No. 2 pizzeria in the US, is run by William Joo, whom the organization deemed 'very talented.' And American pizza 'legend' Tony Gemignani came in third with his Tony's Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco. Other cities known for their pizza also made appearances on the list, including New Haven where the restaurant Zeneli was singled out. California fared particularly well, with honors also going to pizzerias in San Diego, San Luis Obispo and Berkeley. But the gospel of Neapolitan pizza has traveled widely, and the ranking also included restaurants in Louisville, Kentucky, and Charlotte, North Carolina. The ranking was announced at the West Edge in New York's Chelsea Market on Tuesday. Have a hankering for more pizza news? The organization will announce the best pizzerias in Italy on July 15 and the world's best pizzerias in September. The top 10 pizzerias in the US according to 50 Top Pizza: 1 Una Pizza Napoletana - (New York) 2 Pizzeria Sei – (Los Angeles) 3 Tony's Pizza Napoletana – (San Francisco) 4 Jay's – (Kenmore, New York) 5 Ribalta – (New York) 6 Robert's – (Chicago) 7 Don Antonio – (New York) 8 Ken's Artisan Pizza – (Portland, Oregon) 9 Truly Pizza – (Dana Point, California) 10 La Leggenda – (Miami)
