Channelview Gyms and Fitness

At Sound Fitness, one can almost hear the calories sizzle. Ample rows of bikes, ellipticals, and other cardio equipment let guests build strong, healthy hearts without feeling pressured to give up their machines to other guests or movie cops needing to commandeer treadmills. To propel exercisers toward their goals, certified personal trainers plot custom workout plans and demonstrate how to build specific muscle groups with the free weights and strength-training machines. Babysitters corral pintsize visitors while their parents jog and pedal, and shower-lined locker rooms keep watch over clothes and gym bags to make sure they don't wander home.

The instructors of Lobo Gymnastics build a positive foundation for little ones to grow athletically, socially, and emotionally during dance classes, gymnastics, and afterschool activities. Across the enormous, bi-level gym, little leapers clamber through obstacle courses, spring across trampolines and into pits full of foam blocks, dangle from a rope swing, and whoosh down a two-level slide that resembles a giant yellow curly fry. As children and their burning desire for trophies grow, they can enter more structured tumbling and dance classes or join a gymnastics team led by former Chinese Olympic team coach Jian Hua Xiao.

The first time Lisa Leonard took a Zumba class, it was the fastest hour of her life. She’d had a blast, and it inspired her to become a certified instructor. In her classes, she leads three types of Zumba routines: traditional fitness, which fuse latin dance and exercise, toning classes that incorporate light free weights, and Gold classes, which modify the routines to make them less intense. With each version, students learn moves that, like rickshas, are easy to follow yet still burn a lot calories.

A full-service healthcare and wellness practice formerly known as InterFit, RediClinic pairs licensed nurse practitioners and physician assistants with patients seeking services ranging from physicals and vaccinations to cosmetic consultations and diabetes testing. Typically found inside retail stores, RediClinics don't require any appointments, making walk-in service as seamless as the plot of most Newhart fan fiction. In addition to preventive services, RediClinic has also expanded its services into the realms of proactive health, promoting wellness with weight-loss counseling and programs to help patients stop smoking.

Within a wood-floored studio jam-packed with exercise balls and resistance machines, certified trainers Amanda Kemp-Grant and Caroline Soul work to create a welcoming atmosphere where students of all shapes and sizes can work toward their goals of losing weight, toning up, or figuring out the location to Joseph Pilates' hidden treasure. The duo combine their wealth of experience—which collectively includes backgrounds in Pilates, yoga, spinning, body building, and a bouquet of other modalities—to craft and helm a selection of dynamic classes that includes mat-based Pilates, machine-based Pilates, indoor cycling, and ballet-inspired barre.

Joy Yoga Center's eponymous founder, Joy Winkler, is the walking, talking, posing embodiment of her happy moniker every day at her studio. The upbeat instructor believes that “everything we teach ourselves on the yoga mat is helping us live happier and healthier lives off the mat.” Her background as a dancer gives Joy graceful unselfconsciousness. She uses that experience to guide her students through Vinyasa-style flowing yoga sessions that focus on strengthening bodies and clearing minds until the forehead becomes a translucent hue. Along with a team of 12 instructors, Joy holds classes seven days a week for students of all skill levels, including regular sessions tailored for runners and early-morning risers.

The center’s clients can take advantage of wellness therapies to augment yoga practice or as part of their own holistic health plan. Treatments include energizing sports massage or lymphatic-drainage therapy. Should stagnant energy be clogging up the chi's internal highways, a session of acupuncture or an energy-balancing treatment such as reiki can help to release it.