Get your animal on at Equinox

Break out your inner beast with Equinox's newest class offering: Animal Flow.

The 60-minute class, debuting in January, combines an "animal-flow" component with basic body-weight exercises.

"It's a totally unique experience that transports the students back to their primal roots - they'll crawl, jump, flow from one movement to another, all while tapping into their inner animal," said Mike Fitch, the class' creator. "It's the most fun they'll have while crawling on all fours - at least in public."

The class kicks off with animal-specific warm-ups, which increase the joints' range of motion while preparing the body for full-on animal-flow movements. Next comes the conditioning set - a combination of traveling animal forms (prepare to walk like a beast or a frog) and core and leg exercises - followed by learning switches and transitions between different animals.

Everything is then put together. The class becomes very cardiovascular because of the constant movement, and it burns fat while increasing endurance, strength and flexibility, Fitch said.

In creating Animal Flow, Fitch channeled his background with circus arts, acrobatics, parkour and breakdancing.

He realized that each discipline includes moving around on all fours while working the entire body. And, there is no weight-training involved in the class - Fitch said he feels there is no need to add external resistance, and he has been "weight-free" for the last two years.

He said: "Why add external loads when we can use our own body weight to achieve the response we want without weights?"