• Brazilian Butt-Lift and Brazilian Tummy-Tuck at Equinox

  Multiple locations; see equinoxfitness.com

  There are times when you want a full-body workout. And then there are times—like bikini season—when you just want to make sure your milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. Brazilian expat Leandro Carvalho’s pair of intense 30-minute classes, taught back-to-back at Equinox’s Columbus Circle, east midtown, and Greenwich Village locations, are just the thing. His rear-end work begins with deep ballet pliés and relevés—“There’s a reason why dancers have nice butts,” he says—followed by squats, lunges, and choreographed capoeira combinations. The ab assault starts with Pilates-style “roll-ups” and ends with tailbone-lifting exercises that force you to use your hard-to-tone lower abs. Enough of these classes and you’ll be ready for the skimpiest two-piece.

From the 2004 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine