NYC's Best Personal Training Gym, Halevy Life is Affordable

Walk in flabby, walk out lean and toned? That's what Halevy Life's clients boast, so it's no surprise that celebrity trainer and public health advocate Jeff Halevy's Upper East Side flagship personal training gym Halevy Life has grown by over 500% in just the past few months.

The boutique gym, which offers services only (versus the usual "usage" offering of chain gyms), delivers both high-touch, highly specialized one-on-one personal training to celebrities, captains of industry, and several foreign dignitaries, along with the expected price tag -- but also, for us "regular folk," an amazing program called "SP," which stands for Semi Private, as in Semi Private Personal Training, which costs around $30 per session (and the first month is only $89!).

With the incredibly affordable SP pricing, surely you expect a bootcamp, with a motley crew of 20 or so folks being barked at as they arbitrarily perform pushups and situps ad nauseum, right? WRONG!

The program is incredibly well designed, with a sound, fact-checked scientific base for sculpting your lean body. The sessions have no more than 4 clients in them, so personal attention abounds, as well as some pretty nice camaraderie and friendship amongst the gym's clients.

Every client is given a hard copy of the day's pre-planned workout, which is programmed using periodization, six weeks in advance -- the very same way a professional athlete would train. As they are taken through the workout, which includes the "three pillars of fitness" -- cardiovascular training, strength training, and mobility/flexibility -- each client charts their numbers and progress. The gym then digitally stores these records, including heart rate and calorie burn info, so that they are accessible to Halevy Life's clients 24/7/365 from anywhere in the world (provided you have an internet connection; the Sahara Desert may test the limits).

Ever the democratizer, Halevy, who only trains his personal client roster on a sizeable monthly retainer (though staff Private Personal Training starts at $150/session) explains, "I wanted to translate the essence of my programming methodology and streamline it for a broad audience, without losing any degree of customization and personalization. I also wanted to do this at a price point that was considered 'affordable,' so our prices are right in line with spin and yoga studios, as well as boot camps and other group training. I believe we nailed it."

With plans already under way for Flatiron and Upper West Side locations in Manhattan, as well as outposts in New Jersey and Boston, Halevy Life's SP just may be the boot camp-slayer--and dare I say spin-slayer too!? (After all, would you rather get customized personal training or sit on a stationary bike and listen to music for $30 a pop!?)