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Gyms are the new weekend nightclubs
Although Alex Ifill works out at least five times a week, his favorite class is Noho Nights, Barry’s Bootcamp’s Friday night session that combines cardio, high-intensity interval training and a DJ during the class for a heart-pumping happy hour.

During the session, Ifill and other clients do jumping jacks and squats to EDM hits. A bulky man in the corner grunts in pain while doing a 90-second set of bicycle kicks. The lights are blood red, and 30 minutes into the session, the studio’s mirrors fog up from the increased body heat.

“We call it ‘church,’ ” says Ifill, a 34-year-old lawyer from Hell’s Kitchen who frequently attends class with his colleague Robert Garcia, 29. “It’s where we go to pray for the sins we’re about to commit during the weekend.”

In the past year, there’s been a rise in Friday night classes catering to health-conscious yuppies looking to blow off steam. Boutique studios such as Overthrow Boxing Club and SoulCycle now offer popular themed classes that foster camaraderie and sometimes even mix in booze.

Kirk Campbell, a sports medicine physician at NYU Langone Medical Center, says Friday night classes are a great alternative to hitting the bars for happy hour.

“I’ve seen a lot of my patients start working out more on Friday nights,” Campbell tells The Post. “They get to release all the stress from the work week.”

Plus, Campbell says, research shows that working out at night has health benefits. A study from the University of North Texas found that people who pumped iron in the evening had bigger muscle gains than those who worked out in the morning.

“Your testosterone levels are higher in the evening than in the morning, so you have higher strength gains and you’ll be able to work out a little bit more intensely at night,” Campbell says, referring to both men and women.