Geeky/cool gym or trendy/chic gym?

This week I went to two exercise classes, which are great examples of where I live, which officially in the East Village, but just on the northern edge bordering Union Square.

My two nearest gyms are Crunch and the Y at 14th Street. Crunch is this uber trendy gym with random classes whilst Y at 14th Street is a Jewish community centre. When I called up the Y, the membership staff told me that if I had taken any type of course in the last six years, they'd give me the student rate membership even if I couldn't prove it!

So on Monday, I went to Punk Rope, which is essentially a skipping class at the Y. It took place in a old school gym and the teachers were these two, geeky/trendy people who were so nice and laidback. We skipped and played stick-in-the-mud, I kid you not. It was bloody brilliant.

Tonight I went to SurfSet (TradeMarked, don't you know) at Crunch. They had these full-on pretend surfboards and it was all lights and sound systems. The instructors were super preppy, one a ripped dude, the a other lithe and well, preppy sun Goddess. It was all just too cool for school and trendy.

No prizes in guessing which gym I'll end up signing up with. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I kept falling off my pretend surfboard, but was amazing at stick-in-the-mud, honest.

Still, I thought it was pretty representative of the fact that you can walk five minutes up the road and the neighbourhoods change drastically. People's tastes are consequently reflected in the offerings at gyms. It's the same in London, I know, but it seems so stark here.