MORE STORIES

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Cardio Express keeps things fresh

  Judging by the full room at lunch time on a recent Tuesday, the Cardio Express class at The Sports Club/LA seems a hit with the business crowd on Brickell. Just 45 minutes in duration, Jackson Williams' class gets us walking, running, pumping and dancing.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Give your body a 1-hour tuneup

  If your body's broken down by the side of the road, pull into Lem Brown's Body Shop class. It won't stay flabby for long if you can get up to speed with this energetic workout -- or his other two classes (Awesome Hour and LEM -- The Workout) -- at Body & Soul Fitness in Coral Gables.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Yogilates merges yoga and Pilates

  Sometimes it's the little touches that make a fitness center stand out. Take the Biltmore Fitness Center's twin water cooler. One, enticingly glistening with condensation, held plain ice water. The other was filled with fresh-cut lemons and water. That's not only classy but it's a smart and healthy drink to offer someone who has lost minerals through sweat.

• Bootcamp's a rockin' workout

  David Pearson, 75, likens Ed Delatorre's South Miami Bootcamp class to a little United Nations. ``It is by far the most integrated -- physically, socially, intellectually -- place of its type in Florida. The workout is terrific but it's almost like a spiritual lift when I leave here.''

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Better get moving -- it's Crunch time

  Crunch trainer Randy Washington looks over a first-timer to his Athlete's Workout class and makes sure this person has suitable sneakers. ''A lot of jumping,'' he warns.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Pool workout makes quite a splash

  Mariah Carey coos and pleads, ''touch my body,'' in her current No. 1 single of the same name. In case the vocal invitation isn't fetching enough, there's Carey clad in a bikini, erupting out of the ocean, on the cover of last week's People magazine.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Grab a stick -- it's a real kick

  If you saw The Bourne Ultimatum recently, or the other two action films in the Bourne series starring Matt Damon, you probably marveled at the amazing fight sequences coordinated by Jonathan Eusabio.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  South Beach gym plans triple play

  This week, instead of looking back at a class and grading it, we're going to depart a bit from the column's regular format and look ahead to three new class offerings coming to South Beach's Equinox in mid-April: Yoga 360, which utilizes a round yoga mat because, well, they say it's better; Impact shadow kickboxing and -- snicker -- Climb-Max, a stepping class taken on a slanted riser.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Bodyweb's going to move you

  Bodyweb with the TRX System sounds something we'd find on the back of a Spider-Man DVD. Instead, it's a component of the popular suspension training exercise program making inroads across the States. The ''total resistance exercise'' (TRX, for short) suspension system is a pair of yellow straps with black handles attached to a playground-like rod that looks like a swing set sans the swings.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Give it a spin at Body & Soul

  Disclosure: I hate spinning. Yes, I realize one can burn upward of 700 or more calories in an hour peddling like a maniac on an indoor bike -- going nowhere, mind you -- but I don't care.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Good vibrations and quick results

  The Cars were on to something with that Shake It Up song. The Power Plate, utilizing something called ''advanced vibration technology,'' hit the States in 2001 but was developed in the '60s in Russia to strengthen muscles, aid circulation and stimulate bone mass for cosmonauts in training.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Kickboxing class scores a TKO

  Two weeks ago I wrote about a wonderful workout -- boxing class at South Florida Boxing. ''No namby-pamby tae-bo, kickboxing, box aerobics,'' I said about that intense workout.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Some things never get old -- this is one

  Few things beat socializing and exercising together, especially as we age. Anything that gets us out of the house to see familiar faces, catch up on the day's news and burn calories while we do so is a blessing.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Class is the greatest of all time

  Growing up I caught all the boxing movies: Rocky, Raging Bull, The Main Event, The Champ -- all the way up to the recent Cinderella Man and Million Dollar Baby.

• SWEAT EQUITY

  Stepping lively to African drums

  Crunch's imagination in designing and naming classes can make exercising feel like a trip to the county fair or an adult video shop: The Long Ride. Spectrum Ride. Hard Core Cuts. Virgin Yoga. Rear Attitude, to name some.