Results tagged “equinox”

At this very moment, 5:18 p.m., we shed ourselves of summer and enter the fall months (an explanation of the autumnal equinox can be found here). The days are darker, the air is brisker, the leaves are crunchier, the subway platform temperature is more tolerable... enjoy it before the snow cometh.

It is the never-ending story of a gym spinning class clash! A judge says that Equinox is not responsible for one of its members' "spin rage" that resulted in him attacking a fellow spin class student. Of course you remember how, back in 2007, stockbroker Christopher Carter got sick and tired of hedge fund manager Stuart Sugarman's grunting, whooping and hollering "You go, girl!", Carter got off his bike and slammed Sugarman into the wall. Carter was acquitted of criminal assault charges, though the Manhattan DA's office tried to point out even if you ind someone annoying, you don't beat them up. Sugarman's suit with Equinox, faulted the gym since neither "of the two instructors tell plaintiff to lower his voice or curb his enthusiasm" and the instructors did notice Carter was annoyed by Sugarman's, um, enthusiasm but did nothing. Word to the spinning class wise: Don't be annoying, don't attack others.

The six person jury in the trial of Christopher Carter – the stockbroker accused of assaulting an overly vocal spin classmate at Equinox gym – found him not guilty yesterday of a misdemeanor assault charge which could have landed him in jail for a year. Though the victim, hedge fund manager Stuart Sugarman, spent almost two weeks in the hospital undergoing surgery for a herniated disc, the jury remained unconvinced that his injuries resulted from the incident.

The case of the spin class smackdown has been sparking a lot of debate about proper workout etiquette. According to the Times, the noisy behavior of Stuart Sugarman – who was thrown against the wall during a spin class by a guy who was fed up with his vocalizations – is not at all abnormal. There are too many people grunting, cursing, and hollering “Let’s do it!” in gyms all over town, and also plenty of people who’d like to shut them up with brute force.

It was about nine months ago that New Yorkers were thrilled by the story of the spin class smackdown; now the case has gone to trial, and reading the testimony is like watching a montage of the all the greatest moments. For those of you just joining us, the incident was sparked at an Upper East Side gym when 44-year-old broker Christopher Carter became enraged at the grunting and bellowing from his spin classmate two bikes down, 48-year-old hedge fund manager Stuart Sugarman.

The Equinox fitness club chain will soon be bringing a controversial ad campaign to New York City that features nuns sketching a male nude model. The ads are currently on display only in Boston, but will soon be shown in other cities, including NYC. The Boston Archdiocese feels that the ads are a slam against the Church and the Catholic faith. Keira McCaffrey of New York's Catholic League expressed less outrage than disdain. "It's gratuitous. It's of course … it's a slap at nuns, but you know what? It's trite. It's not even clever. This is an old cliché ... let's make fun of nuns." Bill Donahue, the head of the Catholic League, weighed in, calling the ad "patently stupid" and "sophomoric." C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League wasn't as dismissive, calling the ad "unfair and depraved."