White Plains Gyms and Fitness

At CrossFit Nyack, the trainers believe that no matter a person’s fitness level, they can always achieve a new level of intensity. Jeffrey Castalda and Phaidra Knight team up to help people do just that. Jeffrey honed his skills as a personal trainer while working with post-rehab clients, and Phaidra is a three-time World Cup rugby competitor named Player of the Decade by RugbyMag.com. Together, they challenge groups of 5–10 students to master functional movements, ditching traditional gym equipment in favor of kettlebells, medicine balls, and even tires.

The trainers focus on form, then build upon that basis by upping intensity while maintaining safe movements. A series of four Fundamentals sessions readies new students by helping them master CrossFit's movements—such as dead-lifting weights, dynamic stretching, and lobbing satellites into orbit—so they can safely dive into regular sessions.

Owner Nick Delury is one of Westchester Boxing Club’s top trainers and for good reason. He spent part of his 18-year boxing career training under Maurice “Kid Sharkey” Sposato, a seasoned coach that transformed Delury into a pummeling machine. Delury and his staff trainers, including a former non-athlete who flourished into a boxing guru with Nick’s help, preside over a circuit-style boxing gym where they cater to athletes who want to work out like pros without ever actually entering the ring. Open 24 hours a day, the gym allows patrons to move at their own pace with a trainer at their elbow or riding on their backs for an extra challenge. The instructors also lead group fitness classes and kids’ MMA classes, in addition to individual sparring sessions.

To help women achieve their fitness goals, the certified personal trainers at Get In Shape For Women focus on four areas: weight training, cardio training, nutrition, and accountability. In small group sessions, trainers modify exercises to suit up to four ladies' fitness levels, beginning by calibrating 30 minutes of strength-training drills—such as free weights, lunges, and squats—to each student's abilities. Then comes 25 minutes of cardio: the trainers might start novice exercisers with a walk on the treadmill or light elliptical training, and challenge more advanced exercisers to high-intensity interval-training sessions for enhanced results.

The trainers supplement the group workouts with nutritional planning centered around the concept of eating six small, balanced meals six days a week. They set aside the seventh day for a bit of indulgence, be it eating a favorite sweet or lusting openly after bacon. To track ladies' progress toward reaching their goals, the trainers measure their weight weekly and body-fat percentage monthly.

The trainers at CrossFit Harrison don’t care if their students are dead-lifting with 500 pounds or with a broomstick. That’s because the CrossFit workout scales to all fitness levels and requires only that participants perform at their personal max. To help them do this, owner William Harris designed his no-frills gym without the distractions and hourly tea parties offered at fancy fitness clubs, reminding exercisers that their primary objective is to get healthy.

Harris, a North American Strongman competitor, certified personal trainer, and certified CrossFit coach, helms an equally credentialed staff. They lead classes designed to maximize the body’s proficiency in 10 foundations of fitness: strength, stamina, speed, flexibility, agility, accuracy, endurance, power, coordination, and balance. Though workouts vary each day, exercisers can expect to perform moves such as squats, lunges, jumps, throws, and pull-ups. CrossFit Harrison also offers personal training as well as nutrition training that teaches patrons how to balance their meals with lean proteins, grains, and greens and design a dietary plan according to their individual goals.

Cesar Bravo—a gymnast who holds certifications from CrossFit, the International Sports Sciences Association, and the USA Gymnastics National Safety association—opened Bravo CrossFit in 2009 with a few sandbags and a single rusty barbell. His gym has evolved leaps and bounds since then; it recently moved to a new, 3,000-square-foot facility, in which Cesar still teaches every class. He helps clients from all walks of life get in shape, including students, business executives, athletes, and stay-at-home parents. He leads these clients through functional exercises that eschew the muscle-isolating machines and movements of traditional gyms. The daily-changing routines harness kettlebells and calisthenics as well as training skills from Olympic weightlifting and gymnastics. He further helps his clients overhaul unhealthy lifestyle habits with nutritional training, and posts healthy, flavorful recipes online for dishes such as slow-cooked coconut-ginger pork and bacon-wrapped chicken to ensure that taste buds don’t get bored and wander into a pint of ice cream.

The hiss and clank of weight machines from manufacturers such as Cybex and Precor blend with the whir of recumbent cycles and treadmills to form the perpetual soundtrack at each of Dolphin Fitness Clubs’ 24-hour locations. To augment individual exercise regimens, nationally certified staffers teach aerobic classes throughout the week, with offerings ranging from classic step classes to low-impact yoga and pillow-fighting lessons.