Sweaty and Sustainable: Bushwick's Green Fitness Studio Invites You Into the Infrared Sauna

Considering that Stephen does not get all of his exercise through blogging and Metrocard-swiping, maybe he should be writing this post. But he also has a job -- and a long overdue post on attending ASHRAE in Orlando; come on, dude -- and so I guess I'll drag my wheezing, emaciated form into the breach and cover the interesting case of Bushwick's Green Fitness Studio. While it's not pursuing any sort of third-part certification, and thus can't objectively be placed in some sort of continuum of greener-to-less-green gyms, the green specs on the Green Fitness Studio's website certainly suggest that this gym is a good deal greener than the power-guzzling gym your author is still paying membership dues to.

With prices and class offerings -- from yoga to massage to dance classes to fitness coaching -- that put it ahead of my local New York Sports club and an aesthetic that's decidedly more Brooklyn than Manhattan, Green Fitness Studio looks like both a pretty good idea that's pretty well executed. In The Brooklyn Paper, Andy Campbell runs down the features that set Green Fitness apart. "All the fitness equipment is made from recycled metal, the exercise floor itself is comprised of recycled rubber, and the treadmills, steppers and endless ladder machines are powered by kinetic energy (that’s your legs, folks)," Campbell writes. There's also bamboo flooring and a juice bar serving organic, locally sourced smoothies and juices and... actually, you know what? Next paragraph.

With the possible exception of the 2,000-square-foot living roof, there's nothing going on at Green Fitness Studio that couldn't, and certainly shouldn't, become standard operating procedure at gyms throughout New York City. Yes, it'll take some years of the market doing its thing for green laundry services (like the one Green Fitness Studio uses to launder its towels) and dual-flush toilets to become the sort of thing you find everywhere, but as cool as the innovative elements at Green Fitness Studio are -- the infrared sauna sounds dangerous, but also kind of cool -- it will be even cooler when bamboo floors and recycled rubber matting and compact fluorescent lighting is the sort of thing no one even bothers mentioning. Until then, obviously, we tip our caps to Green Fitness Studio. But man it'll be great when this stuff is par for the course. Except for the infrared sauna, that's always going to sound sci-fi and awesome.