GoRecess, a Traveling Gym Rat's Dream

It’s no secret the boutique gym is gaining in popularity in Boston and in the rest of the country. With a variety of classes offered on every block throughout the day, it can be challenging to find a class that fits your schedule — let alone within your budget. Visiting multiple websites, comparing costs, and checking schedules may be more time consuming than taking the class itself. Frustrated by this recurring problem, Megan Smyth decided to create her own solution: GoRecess, a site that’s similar to Open Table — but for fitness.

The site launched in the end of April 2012 and already has more than 100,000 classes listed on its website. Any boutique that uses the online booking website Mind Body can opt into being listed on GoRecess. To see a list of classes in your area, all you need to do is enter your city or zip code, distance you’d like to stay within and what kind of class you are in the mood for. Your results will only show classes that spots available in real time. This feature is convenient for people who travel frequently and are not familiar with local facilities.

Users then enter in their billing information and can register to take a class a la carte. If you are a boutique junkie and have class cards at a variety of studios, this feature may be frustrating since you can not use plans that have already been purchased.

Since many of the studios who use Mind Body also run Living Social and Groupon deals regularly, this may be frustrating for never pay full price mentality we’ve become accustomed to. Megan hopes to work in the functionality in the future.

The site also allows users to write reviews for the classes they have taken. Since the site is so new, most classes are yet to be talked about. The only users who can review the classes are those who have purchased a pass through GoRecess to take the class to avoid false or saturated reviews.

In addition to GoRecess, Classtivity and Workout Spots are also new websites that aims to solve the same issue. Classtivity just launched in New York City and in addition to fitness classes, it also allows you to book cooking, photography and music classes. They hope to service more cities in the near future.

Stay tuned: Smyth hopes to develop a type of incentive program for users like OpenTable’s reward points. In my opinion, this site is awesome for the frequent traveler. But if you’re a boutique junkie, it may need a few more upgrades to really become a one-stop shop for all of your fitness needs.