Gut Check Fitness

Joe Decker isn’t your ordinary fitness trainer. He might just be the planet’s buffest human, at least according to Guinness World Records. He earned the title of World’s Fittest Man in 2000 after mastering a 24-hour challenge comprising a 100-mile bike ride, a 10-mile run, 1,100 pushups, and other exhausting feats. Today, his boot-camp program, Gut Check Fitness, helps exercisers tackle goals that are just as lofty with outdoor workouts that have won top honors from CityVoter.

Each ever-changing workout leads participants into the great outdoors, where they discover the true meaning of “gut check,” a military term used to denote a test of courage, character, or physical resemblance to Santa Claus. With the help of several talented trainers, Joe propels athletes through a gauntlet of fitness drills that torches dozens of calories and fortifies muscles throughout the body. Though many of the maneuvers involve dumbbells, the classes’ main piece of equipment is the earth, which provides hills for climbing, gravity for resistance, and solid ground for sprints and bodyweight exercises. In addition to basking in the trainers’ shouts of encouragement, the group cheers one another toward each milestone, fostering friendships while creating an ongoing incentive to achieve.