A real kick
in the asphalt
Hidden deep inside Upper
East Side Manhattan sits a
tinyboxofaroomthatwill
kick your arse. AG6, the
Asphalt Green’s interactive
HIITclass,combines
lung-busting intervals with
interactive sensors. It’s Dance
Dance Revolution for guys in
compression shorts.
AG6isanimmersive
workout technology
designed by the Spanish
companyPaviGyms—where
the walls and floors respond
to human touch duringfactionsofpalswhoattend
weekly.(“Wecomeevery
Tuesday,” a jacked dude in his
mid-20s wearing a cutoff told
me.) For the entire first set
I was laughing maniacally
inside, feeling superior to all
the gym-goers around me
jumping around as if they
were in an anaerobic game
of laser tag.
But by the second set —
and perhaps this was the
lactic acid filling my lats and
legs — I began to enjoy the
absurdityofitall.
Sure,it’sridiculoustobang
out dumbbell rows under
lights that wouldn’t be out of
place at a disco or rave, but I’d
be lying if I told you it wasn’t
more fun than just doing
pushups at home.And that’s precisely why
aclassasrandom
as AG6 with all its bells
and whistles is effective:
It tricks us into working
alotharder.
“The fitness fields are
tapping into something
that brain research has
also identified — that our
brain craves novelty,”
says sports psychologist
Michael Gervais, a guru
who has worked with
everyone from the Seattle
Seahawks NFL franchise
to US Olympians.
“And so when instructors
or fitness coaches can
create novelty — and it’s
interesting! — we’re more
likely to repeatedly engage
in that behaviour.”high-intensity interval
circuits. At AG6, that means
throwing med balls at
randomly blinking numbers
or shuttle runs on a floor
between boxes that dictate
where you’ll drop for a
pushup. It’s designed to cook
your core and improve your
power and reaction time.
I sweated through
45 minutes of planks,
med ball slams and squats
thatmademyquads
and glutes scream while
being surrounded by threeINTERACTIVE HIITFUN FACTOR★★★★★| EMBARRASSMENT FACTOR★| FITNESS/CALORIE-BURNING PAYOFF★★★★| CHANCE I’D EVER DO IT AGAIN62%