River West Fitness bottles up exercise routines inside a loft-style fitness studio with exposed brick walls and wooden beams. Dancer and personal trainer Heidi Milby inflects workouts with fluid movements rooted in Pilates, yoga, and gyrotonic sessions, which use pulley machines to strengthen and stretch muscles without jerky movements. Guests can chisel physiques during private lessons, wallop punching bags under the guidance of former professional boxer Johnny Higgins, or steal ab muscles by osmosis from others exercisers during group classes. Aching bodies can retreat to the massage table, where massage therapists soothe sores with the kneads of deep tissue, Thai, or Ashiatsu modalities.
