Future-What’s New
the med BY HAYLEY BRIDGEWATER
L
ocated just around the
corner from the Court
Square transit hub, LIC’s
newest addition to the
fitness scene, Cosmic Fit Club, opened
in early May and is hoping to make a
lasting impression on the neighbor-hood
— such an impression that owner/
performer/yogi/acrobat Joy Chen is
intending on “changing the face of fit-ness
as we know it.”
With a background in dance, yoga
and acrobatics, Chen grew up taking
traditional Chinese dance lessons at a
young age in Manhattan’s Chinatown,
where she was raised. During college,
she pursued yoga as a complement
to her dance training and was quickly
hooked.
After getting certified to teach yoga
around six years ago, she was hired by
Brooklyn Boulders, the biggest indoor
rock-climbing gym in NYC. There, she
honed her teaching skills, developed
very popular core conditioning classes
and brought acroyoga classes to rock-climbers
and other fitness enthusiasts.
At this time, she started moving into
acrobatics and circus training as an
expansion of her social life.
“Soon I was dreaming of opening my
own fitness studio which would have a
more ‘playful’ approach to body weight
strength training and offer a multiplicity
of different class types and formats,
including ‘open workouts’ or jam ses-sions
where practitioners in all different
sports — gymnastics, dance, acrobatics,
yoga, calisthenics, weight lifting, etc. —
could get together, share the same open
floor space and share their skills while
socializing and hanging out,” she said.
“Cosmic Fit Club has just been open for
less than one month, but it’s evolving into
that very nontraditional gym.”
Cosmic Fit Club’s mission is to cul-tivate
the feel of a small studio within
an expansive space. Their building is
outfitted with 20-foot ceilings, skylights,
mirrors and special lighting effects.
Chen and her staff of 13 are com-mitted
to bringing together athletes
and artists from all different sports and
mediums to share skills and community.
“Our creative class programming cen-ters
around a variety of movement disci-plines
that require no special machines
and can’t be found anywhere else,” Chen
said. “Our philosophy is that your body
is your best machine, and to this end,
we’ve built a cool space where adults
can ‘play’ as they ‘train’ and where we
can teach members and guests how to
10 JULY 2017 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
explore the universe of their own bodies
through playful, functional movement, to
experience new worlds through special
workshops and events, and become
stronger, more balanced and fit!”
Cosmic Fit Club is in its initial stages
of being officially open, and so far, its
primary client base consists of many
of Chen’s former yoga, acrobatics and
core conditioning students, as well as
local members of the community who
are a bit turned-off by traditional gym
machines and gym culture.
Chen describes her members as
typically having an artistic and creative
bent — hard-working New Yorkers look-ing
for an escape from the stressful
pressures of work and seeking an op-portunity
to make meaningful connec-tions
with other people.
“Acrobatics, for instance, is a very
close contact sport,” Chen said. “You
work in groups and sometimes carry,
lift and balance people you’ve only just
met. Trust and communication are some
of the things we promote through the
physical practice of partner acrobatics,
and it’s one of the social benefits our
clients get for joining our studio and
taking classes with me and our other
instructors.”
For those who crave variety in their
workouts, Cosmic Fit Club might just
suit their needs.
“Our members may get easily bored
or find it hard committing or focusing to
just one sport or one discipline,” Chen
said. “We cater to people who might
just be at the very beginning of their
fitness journey but who like to dabble
and try different things, as well as seri-ous
recreational acrobats and other fit
people who want to get to the next level
in their training.”
Cosmic Fit Club offers 30 small group
fitness classes a week in a range of
disciplines including core condition-ing,
calisthenics, yoga, blacklight yoga,
acroyoga, acrobatics, handstands, kettle
bell training, strength training, personal
training, gymnastics, dance and more.
Classes are taught by some of the
most experienced yogis, dancers and
acrobats in the industry. On staff are
former star performers for Cirque de
Soleil, and the Big Apple Circus.
One-on-one personal training ses-sions
are available through individual
scheduling and additionally, Cosmic
Fit Club is host to special fitness
events and workshops on the week-ends
taught by professional circus
performers, internationally renowned
yoga teachers, and influential names
in fitness and health.
