Battle Creek, MI Health and Fitness

Internationally trained and Pilates Method Alliance–certified instructor Ahmé Bovée channels more than 15 years of experience as a fitness instructor into her core-strengthening workouts. After ending her five-year career as the host of Canada's popular Pilates in Guelph television series in 2007, she founded her open, sun-kissed studio. At Pilates in East, she helps students of all ages and abilities boost flexibility and endurance with resistance bands, weights, and reformer machines during group Pilates classes and private training sessions. This busy instructor deftly divides her time between these Pilates classes. She hosts teacher training certification programs and—like that dollar bill with the online tracking URL—travels the country to present at Pilates on Tour conferences.

As the sun rises each morning, the smell of dew summons golfers to Orchard Hills Golf Course, a scenic, 27-hole complex with one 18-hole course and a separate, 9-hole track. Cleaved through 6,026 yards of tree-lined terrain, the 18-hole monolith requires precise play and whispered Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes to conquer its topographical challenges. The par 72 layout showcases multiple memorable shots, including forced carries onto water-protected greens on both the second and fourth holes.

Slightly shorter than the other two nines, the East course blankets the countryside with a straightforward layout that begins with a tricky, 425-yard right dogleg. A staff of golf pros presides over Orchard Hills’ pro shop, where guests can upgrade their equipment, schedule a lesson to hone swings, or learn to read greens written in their doctor’s handwriting.

18-Hole Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Length of 6,026 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 68.0 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 116 from the farthest tees
• Three tee options

Sculpted into the landscape a half-century ago, Arrowhead Golf Course enhances the native scenery with dense tree lines that frame every hole and creeks and ponds that bisect lush fairways. The front nine features more straight-on layouts with undulating greens, and the back nine can test any bag of trick sticks with numerous ponds and sweeping doglegs on the final two holes. On the par 4 18th hole, the course’s hardest rated hole, a dogleg left is guarded by an oak tree at the bend that swats shots trying to cut the corner and a fairway-splitting stream that lures thirsty golf balls.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• 6,188 yards from the farthest set of tees

• Three tee options

• See details on each hole

Snap Fitness's around-the-clock gyms enable visitors to fortify their physical well-being with a cornucopia of advanced fitness equipment and certified personal trainers. With 24-hour access, members don't have to let The Man or one of his many secretaries tell them when to help themselves to Snap's strength-training gear or top-of-the-line cardio machines, which feature televisions and other media diversions. A friendly, unintimidating atmosphere provides a refreshing change of pace from aloof gym employees and ear-splitting pump-up jams. Members also enjoy nationwide access to all Snap Fitness locations, ideal for working out while traveling.

Cascade Yoga Studio's trained yogis teach students to rekindle inner harmony. With an emphasis on body awareness and the controlled inhalations and exhalations that support each posture, they teach this ancient yet progressive holistic practice. Classes of all skill levels take place in rooms adjusted to heat levels between 72 and 90 degrees to augment each class's effects. The studio works to abolish physical and mental limitations with a variety of yoga types, which include Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar, and Yin.

Most of Cascade's instructors migrated to yoga from careers in healthcare, and many are practicing physical therapists or have knit sweaters for cold stethoscopes. Cascade Yoga Studio also illuminates the path for aspiring yogis by hosting teacher training classes, which teach meditation, key alignment principles, and each yoga style's effects.

At Holland and Grand Rapids locations, yogis of all levels practice within a space maintained at a balmy 95 degrees, a temperature ideal for releasing toxins, warming leftover lasagna, and boosting flexibility. Seventy-five-minute cardio-heavy classes tone muscles and keep hearts steadily pumping blood through the body. Senior instructors lead Absolute Beginners classes, teaching the fundamental poses and terminology of Vinyasa sequences so pupils can eventually move on to more advanced Power Vinyasa courses.