Where to Find an Early-Morning Fitness Class in the Philly Area
Up before the sun? Here's where to get your group exercise sweat on before 6 a.m.
Find early classes, particularly barre and indoor cycling, at plenty of studios around the Philly area. / Photograph by Susan Nam
This post has been updated.
If you are not a morning person, you are probably envious of morning people. We at Be Well have this image of someone who rises at 4:30 a.m., no need for an alarm or sunshine to wake up, grinning at all the possibilities of a new day — especially those that exist before the kids come tumbling out of bed and the roads become gunked with traffic. In our minds, you are the people who manage to exercise everyday despite your hectic lives. You eat full, healthy, leisurely breakfasts. You are the chosen ones. (Bet you can guess what kind of people we are.)
In all seriousness, getting up early is one of the best ways to make sure you can get your sweat on before all your obligations get in the way. That’s why we came up with a list of both big-box gyms and boutique fitness studios that offer extra early group classes — as in before 6 a.m. (There are many more locales with 6 and 6:30 a.m. sessions, but this list would have been insanely long if we included all of those. So, if you’re interested in becoming an early bird exerciser — but not an early, early bird exerciser — check your favorite studio’s schedule.) Note: Life Time Athletic, Burn Boot Camp, and Orangetheory Fitness all have so many early classes that we can’t include them all, so head to their websites here, here, and here for all the details.
Some types of instructors, like spinning and barre teachers, seem to like getting up earlier than others, so there are a lot more early classes in those disciplines. Same goes for the suburb dwellers, which makes sense; y’all are more likely to get up really early to fit your official fitness in before your unofficial fitness, i.e., running around after the little ones. Without further ado, here is our guide to the earliest of the early fitness classes in the Philly area.
Abs
Work your abs early in the morning at gyms such as Sweat Fitness. / Photograph by Erin Murphy
Tuesdays, 5:15 a.m.: Sweat Fitness Conshohocken
Wednesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Planet Fitness Cinnaminson
Wednesdays, 5:45 a.m.: Sweat Fitness Fitler Square
Thursdays, 5:15 a.m.: Sweat Fitness Conshohocken
Barre
Several locations of Pure Barre offer early classes for the early riser. / Photograph courtesy Pure Barre
Mondays, 5:30 a.m.: Pure Barre Bethlehem, Pure Barre Exton
Mondays, 5:45 a.m.: Barre3 Newtown, Rise Barre & Fitness, Stride Spin & Fitness Studio
Tuesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Pure Barre Media, TruBarre, Pure Barre Exton
Tuesdays, 5:45 a.m.: Pure Barre Doylestown, Rise Barre & Fitness, Barre3 Newtown
Wednesdays, 5 a.m.: Pure Barre Media
Wednesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Pure Barre Bethlehem, TruBarre
Wednesdays, 5:45 a.m.: Torque, Barre3 Newtown, Rise Barre & Fitness
Thursdays, 5:30 a.m.: Pure Barre Bethlehem, Pure Barre Media, TruBarre
Thursdays, 5:45 a.m.: Remix Fitness, Rise Barre & Fitness, Barre3 Newtown, Pure Barre Doylestown
Fridays, 5:10 a.m.: The Wall Cycling Studio
Fridays, 5:30 a.m.: Pure Barre Bethlehem
Fridays, 5:45 a.m.: Torque, Barre3 Newtown, Rise Barre & Fitness, TruBarre
Boxing
Sweat out your stress early in the morning at places like Fuel Cycle Fitness. / Photograph by KMS Fotografie/courtesy Jen Cohen Crompton
Mondays, 5:15 a.m.: Remix Fitness
Mondays, 5:30 a.m.: Aim High Studio
Tuesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Fuel Cycle Fitness
Thursdays, 5:30 a.m.: Fuel Cycle Fitness
Circuit Training/HIIT
Work through your circuits during early classes at Purenergy and other gyms around town. / Photograph courtesy Purenergy
Mondays, 5:30 a.m.: Focus Fitness
Tuesdays, 5:15 a.m.: Remix Fitness
Tuesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Focus Fitness
Tuesdays, 5:45 a.m.: Remix Fitness
Wednesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Planet Fitness Westmont, Focus Fitness
Thursdays, 5:15 a.m.: Remix Fitness
Thursdays, 5:30 a.m.: Focus Fitness
Fridays, 5:30 a.m.: Focus Fitness
Fridays, 5:45 a.m.: Purenergy
Fusion
The Wall Cycling Studio in Manayunk has a full slate of early classes with fusion formats.
Tuesdays, 5:10 a.m.: The Wall Cycling Studio
Tuesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Pure Barre Bethlehem
Tuesdays, 5:45 a.m.: REVive, Stride Spin & Fitness Studio, Witt Pilates
Wednesdays, 5:10 a.m.: The Wall Cycling Studio
Thursdays, 5:45 a.m.: Torque, Purenergy
Fridays, 5:30 a.m.: Fuel Cycle Fitness, Ride Cycling Studio
Indoor Cycling
In Revel Ride’s dark studio, you can’t even tell it’s morning when you’re taking an early class. / Photograph by Theresa Regan
Mondays, 5:30 a.m.: Fuel Cycle Fitness, Ride Cycling Studio
Mondays, 5:45 a.m.: CycleBar North Wales, Torque, SoulBeat Studio, Stride Spin & Fitness Studio, Witt Pilates, LA Fitness Bala Cynwyd
Tuesdays, 5:15 a.m.: The Wall Cycling Studio
Tuesdays, 5:30 a.m.: The Edge Fitness Clubs, Revel Ride, Ride Cycling Studio
Tuesdays, 5:45 a.m.: CycleBar Exton, Torque, Stride Spin & Fitness Studio, Sweat Fitness Old City
Wednesdays, 5:30 a.m.: The Edge Fitness Clubs, Fuel Cycle Fitness, Ride Cycling Studio
Wednesdays, 5:45 a.m.: CycleBar North Wales, REVive, Torque, SoulBeat Studio, Stride Spin & Fitness Studio, Witt Pilates, LA Fitness Bala Cynwyd
Thursdays, 5:15 a.m.: The Wall Cycling Studio
Thursdays, 5:30 a.m.: The Edge Fitness Clubs, Revel Ride, Ride Cycling Studio, Aim High Studio
Thursdays, 5:45 a.m.: CycleBar Exton, Focus Fitness, REVive, Torque, SoulBeat Studio, Stride Spin & Fitness Studio
Fridays, 5:30 a.m.: The Edge Fitness Clubs, Fuel Cycle Fitness
Fridays, 5:45 a.m.: CycleBar North Wales, REVive, Torque, SoulBeat Studio, Stride Spin & Fitness Studio, Witt Pilates, LA Fitness Bala Cynwyd
Kettlebells
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Mondays through Fridays, 5:15 a.m.: Precision Kettlebells
Miscellaneous
Take all kinds of early classes at the Edge Fitness Clubs. / Photograph courtesy the Edge Fitness Clubs
(These don’t really fit into any workout genre, but they all promise full-body sweats, usually to great beats.)
Tuesdays, 5:30 a.m.: The Edge Fitness Clubs, Sweat Fitness Conshohocken
Tuesdays, 5:45 a.m.: Sweat Fitness Conshohocken, Purenergy
Wednesdays, 5:45 a.m.: Purenergy
Thursdays, 5:30 a.m.: LA Fitness Bala Cynwyd
Thursdays, 5:45 a.m.: LA Fitness Bala Cynwyd
Pilates
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Mondays, 5:30 a.m.: Solidcore Bryn Mawr
Tuesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Sculpt360 Marlton, Solidcore Bryn Mawr
Wednesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Solidcore Bryn Mawr
Wednesdays, 5:45 a.m.: Stride Spin & Fitness Studio
Thursdays, 5:30 a.m.: Sculpt360 Marlton, Solidcore Bryn Mawr
Fridays, 5:30 a.m.: Solidcore Bryn Mawr
Fridays, 5:45 a.m.: Stride Spin & Fitness Studio
TRX
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Tuesdays, 5:45 a.m.: Torque
Yoga
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Mondays, 5:30 a.m.: Aim High Studio, Anjali Power Yoga Westmont, Heart & Grit Power Yoga
Tuesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Anjali Power Yoga Westmont
Tuesdays, 5:45 a.m.: Crunch Fitness
Wednesdays, 5:30 a.m.: Aim High Studio, Anjali Power Yoga Westmont, Heart & Grit Power Yoga
Thursdays, 5:30 a.m.: Anjali Power Yoga Westmont
Fridays, 5:30 a.m.: Anjali Power Yoga Westmont, Heart & Grit Power Yoga
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