Arcadia Gyms and Fitness

The certified personal trainers and former military machos of Extreme Boot Camp are half drill sergeant, half high-school football coach, half mathematician, and all expert. They want you to go tactical on flab but not without realistic encouragement and support. First, these legionaries of lean will uncritically assess your level of fitness. They'll take down your measurements, weight, and body-fat percentage so you'll be able to tangibly record your progress. Then, after receiving some sound nutritional guidance to aid your ascendance to health, you'll be drafted into a squad of equally athletic peers who you'll bond with through muscle burn and un-ironic high-fives.

During his training at King's College Hospital in London, Claude Matar mastered the old-fashioned art of listening. Today, he still believes that the key to providing a successful diagnosis lies in taking the proper time and energy to listen to each client's concerns. Though he no longer practices medicine, the nutritionist, board-certified naturopathic physician, and founder of Pasadena Weight Loss Center has used his ears and his education to help thousands of clients achieve their individual health goals, including former Dallas star Linda Gray and professional football champ Dwight Hicks.

To help clients shed inches, he utilizes the highly personalized Matar method, a system he believes offers patients their best chances for long-lasting results. It begins with an in-depth evaluation including a nutrient analysis, thyroid tests, and identification of any factors inhibiting weight loss. Matar then consults with the client to develop a plan focused not only on diet and exercise but also on strategies for improved sleep, hydration, and detoxification. He and his staff stay in daily contact to answer questions regarding progress or tips for turning uneaten bear claws into table art and will also reevaluate clients' success at a weekly face-to-face meeting.

At the helm of Equilibrium’s two studios is Annabelle Rosemurgy, an equestrian and former Olympic athlete whose performances required enough core strength to pull off a handstand atop her horse during competitions. In her studios, she helms a team of certified instructors that leads a host of amped up Pilates routines and RealRyder indoor cycling classes.

Forty-minute SPX classes initiate novices into the intense practice, designed to keep on incinerating calories hours after the sessions end. The studio’s bread and butter, however, are the SPX and Systeme Dynamique classes—variations on the Pilates method—that use circuit training to target extra weight in the hips and thighs and isolate muscle groups all over the body to sculpt, tone, burn fat, and increase flexibility. Even the studios' indoor cycling sessions target core muscles, strengthen the upper body, and torch calories, getting legs pumping on RealRyder bikes that allow riders to steer and lean, simulating the real cycling experience of avoiding potholes and the maneating Sarlaccs that live inside them.

Few professionals can credit Flashdance with rerouting the course of their career. In fact, Richard Giorla could be the only one. The unconventional dance moves he saw in the film motivated the former Pennsylvania Ballet Company member to hit the streets of his new home, Manhattan, and learn breakdancing from dancers at the heart of the movement, trading his own dance expertise as payment. Richard’s career was in full swing when, struck with an injury, he started teaching a ballet-barre class. Though he appreciated its stretching and toning components, Richard craved a more aerobic workout. So he created his own solution—Cardio Barre.

The unique workout consists of high-energy, zero-impact movements that sculpt the long, slender body of a dancer without a student ever having to step foot in a traditional dance studio. As they balance on the ballet barre, or whichever classmate is closest, pupils direct all their focus to one muscle group at a time, while the entire body stays in motion for maximum fat burning. His approach’s pudge-busting abilities have made the fitness method a favorite of many health magazines and celebrities.

Lauded by Pasadena Weekly for having the best fitness program in 2011, Stadium Fitness earns its praise with a full schedule of energetic workouts held inside the hallowed walls of Rose Bowl Stadium. During each one-hour session, coed groups of all skill levels shed calories as a knowledgeable, certified fitness coach encourages quadriceps to put forth their best effort. Workouts are customized to each attendee's abilities—whether they want to jog up stadium stairs, sprint full-speed across the field's sun-splashed grass, or develop innovative cheerleading routines on the sidelines. Inside, a 5,000-square-foot locker room volunteers its spacious layout, allowing groups to participate in a variety of circuit-training routines or read plaques engraved with quotes from legendary tackling dummies.