Nude Workout Classes, Coming To A Gym Near You

With each and every new year, millions of people resolve to lose weight and hit the gym. Getting back into a workout routine can be intimidating, but remember: If you get nervous, just close your eyes and picture everyone else naked... Better yet, open your eyes and head to a nude fitness class— no imagination needed.

This week, everyone was talking about the high-end New York City gym that offers nude group fitness classes. Hanson Fitness, located in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood, begin offering naked workout sessions its 42 Wooster St. location the first week of January.

But let us go ahead and anticipate what you're thinking — why, why, why?!

According to the gym's founder Harry Hanson, working out naked offers "complete body awareness." Hanson told Patch each class will start with approximately 10 people per session in a studio that is "very clean and hygiene-focused" anticipating concerns of working out in the buff.

In terms of germs and general hygiene, though, working out naked isn't really all that different than regular working out. In fact, Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Senior Scholar at John's Hopkins Center for Healthy Security and an infectious disease physician, told Patch, "I would think it's not a major infectious risk to work out naked."

"If people have open skin lesions, you should obviously avoid skin-to-skin contact with that," he said. "But...people aren't exercising in spacesuits generally in gyms. They're in very open clothing as well, so in my opinion, [working out naked] is not appreciably different than what goes on in a gym anyway."

But is there any difference from a fitness standpoint when it comes to working out nude vs. clothed?

There might be some perks, but Mary Ann Browning, one of New York City's most sought after trainers and the founder and president of Browning’s Fitness, is not suggesting we all strip down at the gym.

Browning told Patch that working out naked could potentially be beneficial "...if it motivates you...or it makes you focus on holding in your abdominals and squeezing your buttocks muscles." She noted, however, this is only the case, "[if] you're alone in a room and there's nobody around."

"We were just discussing it today," she said with a laugh. "It's all the people who we don't want to see naked [who] are the ones who want to show [themselves naked]."

Browning has a birthday suit alternative in mind that's a bit unconventional as well.

"Actually, I think people would be better off if they worked out in their jeans as opposed to working out naked," she told Patch. "Because right now, we have a whole bunch of people running around in either their leggings that are very stretchy...or their big sweats or their Juicy pants, [and] nothing is tight. There's no reality check."

She's got a point there — sorry, spandex.

TELL US: Would you ever attend a naked fitness class? We want to hear from you. Let us know in the comments, and as always, please keep it civil.

Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images for Dubai Tourism