Exercise Meets Romance At Boutique Fitness Studios Around City

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)-- Dinner, a movie, and a loud club? Or... break a sweat and really get to know someone?

Doctors say exercise-induced endorphins help clear your mind of clutter, up your happiness factor, and rev up your sex drive.

If you do choose to work-in a workout, CBS2 may have the perfect place for you.

Brynn Putnam, the Harvard-educated owner and operator of the boutique fitness studio Refine Method, is one of New York's leading love connectors through fitness. The former ballet dancer has owned locations throughout the city since 2010.

"I think what's great is the personalization we offer. So if you're a really athletic member of a couple or maybe new to fitness you can still find a really great workout," Putnam told CBS2's Chris Wragge.

That's code for: both men and women can take classes and no one's going to look bad doing it. Research shows that simply doing new things together as a couple ignites the same circuit as falling in love does; by flooding the brain's reward system with dopamine!

"It went pretty well for you guys?" Wragge asked one couple.

"For sure, 3 1/2 years later, we're still going strong. We come every weekend, we try to do it together and a couple times during the week," Chris Arkin told CBS2.

"I think a lot of studio classes are either geared toward men or geared toward women. I think this is a nice balance for both without feeling like it's too easy or too hard," another participant said.

Advocates of the "fitness meets love" approach say that by working out together, you're telling each other exactly what most dating apps don't: This is the real me, take me or leave me, no filter!

"Ya kinda want to see the gams," another participant, Robert Williams, joked.

"It's nice to be competive too. Just to see how much he will be able to squat or press over his head," Williams' wife, Lindsay, said.

The program blends strength and cardio-interval training, with hands-on dual training for all levels.