The Vessel at Hudson Yards is a popular attraction for tourists worldwide. For $10, visitors climb the 16-story structure, which has 2,500 steps spread over 154 zigzagging flights. They can enjoy views of the city from 80 different landings.
But for some local New Yorkers, the Vessel has become much more than a tourist spot—it’s now a challenging piece of gym equipment.
Equinox recently launched a workout class that costs $55. In this 45-minute session, participants run up and down the honeycomb-shaped Vessel four times. After the climbs, they do a tough upper-body workout at the top. The workout is demanding.
“It was harder than I expected,” said Edgar Irizarry, 32, a tech worker living on the Upper West Side. He took the class on Tuesday morning. “You feel full of energy at first, but as you near the top, your legs start hurting and feel very heavy. And you still have two flights left.”
The classes are held on Tuesdays at 7 a.m. for Equinox members only. On Thursdays, classes are open to the public at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Participants must book in advance.
Andrew Slane, one of the instructors, said the class is tough even for fit people.
“It’s very humbling,” he told The Post. “Many participants run marathons and still said, ‘This is hard.’”
Christopher Vo, Equinox’s Director of Group Fitness Programming, explained that the class is unique because it focuses on climbing. This strengthens the glutes and legs.
“In most group workouts, movements go front to back or side to side,” Vo said. “But rarely do we get to work vertically. It’s also a great cardio workout.”
Equinox had wanted to offer a class at the Vessel since it reopened last October. The structure had been closed for three years due to a series of suicides. Vo said the Vessel is a special fitness location.
“To be inside and have the structure swirl around you is really unique,” he said.
Each class has 20 to 25 participants. It starts with stretching at the base. Then, they run up the Vessel, back down, and up again. At the top, they spend about 10 minutes doing upper-body exercises with resistance bands. After running down again, they do more exercises like mountain climbers and planks at the base. Some participants repeat the entire routine.
“Some runners come down and don’t go back up,” said a Vessel employee who has observed the early classes.
Shahar Ifrah, 24, lives in New York and works at the Israeli consulate. She said one benefit of the class is that participants get to use the Vessel before it opens to the public at 10 a.m.
“It was crazy intense, amazing, and so much fun to experience it without any tourists around,” said Ifrah, who attended Tuesday’s session. “I definitely want to do it again as many times as I can.”
She also filmed herself running up the structure.
“I’m going to post these videos,” she said. “Everyone will see that I did this.”
But even she reached her limit. At the end of class, the instructors wanted to take a group photo at the top of the Vessel. Though participants were told they could walk, not run, getting back up was still tough.
Ifrah asked jokingly, “Isn’t the elevator working?”
