Good Sweat
Refine Method is the new boutique fitness fave
Brynn Jinnett danced with the NYC ballet and taught at Physique 57 before launching the Refine Method in October
“I was afraid people would compare it to barre classes,” says Brynn Jinnett, the 27-year-old founder of Refine, a boutique fitness studio and workout that opened on the Upper East Side in October. In the end, the former dancer begrudgingly installed a barre in the studio.
“The Lotte Berke method is the opposite of what we do here,” she says. In contrast, Jinnett studied how professional athletes train—from hockey teams to the NFL—and designed the Refine Method based on their movement patterns, but targeted at a female body aesthetic.
The theory behind the Refine Method, which is a combination of cardio and resistance training, is that your body should be exercised in the way it was designed to move. Instead of working individual body parts, classes focus on functional movements, which means you won’t ever find yourself doing bicep curls or crunches.
The Refine Method utilizes a customized pulley system
“We think that the way to build a body that’s healthy and looks visually proportional is to do the movements that you do in your life,” explains Jinnett. Classes are broken into several sets of circuits involving mat exercises, a resistance pulley system, and intense cardio spurts.
During the class a few weeks ago, a seamless soundtrack of motivating music propelled a group of 12 students through each circuit rapidly, hearts pounding and muscles fatiguing. I was initially intimated by the pulley system—I have to clip what, where?—but ended up preferring it to free weights, the pulley’s smooth resistance helping with the alignment and consistency of my movements.
When we finally stepped up to the barre, I gripped it tightly as we moved through fast-paced lunges. “When you’re ready,” instructed Jinnett, “let go.” —Lisa Elaine Held
The Refine Method, 340 East 71st St., between 1st and 2nd Ave., $25 per class, $225 for unlimited monthly classes (prices vary depending on class package), first class is free.
Great review! I absolutely love Refine Method, I have been going for a few months now and there is really nothing else like it. No one exercise lasts too long, so there is no reason not to push hard because you know it will soon be over! The results are amazing as well.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by FitChickinTheCity and Refine Method, Well + Good. Well + Good said: Meet the newest player in the world of NYC boutique #fitness http://bit.ly/hznNrP [...]
[...] for it. It was that good. Refine Method was developed by yet another former Exhale instructor, Brynn Jinnett , and kudos to her, as she is right on the money with this class. It is the best combination of [...]
[...] Brynn Jinnett, founder of the Refine Method, developed her ultra-targeted cardio-resistance workout, she considered a heavy statistic: More [...]
[...] ambassadors—most of which are Upper East Side fitness luminaries—like Brynn Jinnett, creator of the Refine Method, and Pure Yoga’s Loren Bassett, creator of Bassett’s Bootcamp. In fact, you can attend [...]
[...] in Union SquareAfter cultivating a dedicated clientele on the Upper East Side in just over a year, The Refine Method, a killer body-sculpting method, is gearing up to open a much bigger, more amenity-laden location in [...]
[...] [Source] [...]
[...] This will be Refine’s third location — Well+Good did a write-up on the UES branch last year. [...]
[...] movements of barre classes in favor of hard-core metabolic resistance training. She developed The Refine Method, which uses her unique pulley system and involves intense circuits that keep your heart rate up and [...]