This Sheepshead Bay gym gives new meaning to the term “movie buff.”
Retro Fitness on Avenue Y lets health enthusiasts catch a flick in a movie-theater setting — complete with surround sound — while they plug away on treadmills, ellipticals, and stationary bikes.
“It’s the concept of being in the actual movie theater — but with cardio equipment,” said Malik Kelly, manager at the new gym.
Gym patrons can slip in and out of the theater — which is appropriately darkened for that movie-house ambiance — while flicks ranging from classic films to modern thrillers unfold on a big screen.
“Yesterday we played Men in Black 3 and today we played Taken 2,” said Kelly. “We play dramas, thrillers, action movies, and the old classics.”
Meanwhile, the health nuts can work up a sweat on any one of the 11 workout machines there — hopefully, while the film keeps their thoughts elsewhere.
“This way people can forget about working out, while they’re working out,” said Kelly.
Retro Fitness shows one film per day on loop inside the movie room, but the rest of their cardio machines are hooked up to 17” high definition televisions, so even if the movie room is full, that doesn’t mean you can’t glue your eyes to cable TV while you jog.
In fact, there isn’t too much about Retro Fitness that can really be called “retro.” The term futuristic seems more apt.
The gym has a classroom where instructors teach classes on a variety of health and fitness topics, including spin zumba, kick boxing, boot camp, body sculpting, aerobics, and yoga.
But when class is out of session, gym patrons can still feed their brains with fitness knowledge from digital kiosks, which offer virtual classes on the aforementioned fitness topics.
“We have a lot of futurist stuff,” said Kelly.
