Punkercize

Riders on the 22 Fillmore are in love with "Push It!," the city’s first happy-hour dive-venue aerobics class. As the bus stops outside Thee Parkside, Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Coming" blasts through the barroom door; the sweaty women inside wave and grin while locals raise their pints. It's a far cry from the bile-raising scene at 24 Hour Fitness. No techno, no Top 40, no experience necessary. The folks who come here every Wednesday feel more comfortable in a pit than in a spinning class, and the hilarious staff — promoter Audra Angeli-Slawson (Stinky's Peep Show, Incredibly Strange Wrestling), DJ Spike (Swingin' Utters, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Re-Volts), and instructor Gina "Lunges" Lovoi — wears matching headbands and mirrored sunglasses. Which is not to say the workout isn't serious. Lovoi, whose studio opens next month, got her start in boxing (she fought pro in the '90s), but she has experience teaching the elderly and determinedly rotund. She was also host of a public access fitness TV show, which might explain Sam — the Hong Kong native who attends every class with his shorts pulled up to his chest, singing his own version of "Heartbreaker" and counting loudly in Chinese. When you were 15, you probably didn't picture yourself doing aerobics to the Damned with Sam, but you probably didn't think you’d live this long either, so drop in and work it off.
Wed., Nov. 7, 6 p.m., 2007