Before even beginning their workout, nearly every participant in Sylvia Borowska’s recent Liftonic class was crying. The instructor asked each of the 30 participants to grab the heaviest weight they could pick up. Pretend it’s on your shoulders or on your back or in your chest, Borowska told them.
“Do as many deadlifts as you can for the amount of time that the person you’ve lost has passed,” Borowska said she told the class. “That can represent either the months or years you’ve been grieving.”
Borowska partnered with Grief, Sweat & Tears to offer that class catering to grieving New Yorkers. Founded in December 2025, GST is an initiative that hosts pop-up workout classes across the city each month. It’s “where grief meets fitness,” read the Instagram post announcing the $30 class.
Borowska has taught Liftonic weight-training classes for five years, but her pop-up grief class was the first time she opened a session by sharing how she lost her mother to lung disease.
“Let’s keep going,” Borowska urged on the night of the class. “Grief is heavy, but we’re stronger than that, so let’s prove to ourselves and each other how strong we are.”
