Cicero, IL Health and Fitness

Since 1982, the family behind Contacts and Specs has outfitted eyes in a slew of designer frames and contact lenses. Each in-house optometrist draws from at least a decade of experience when determining prescriptions through 20- to 30-minute exams or providing Lasik consultations. The knowledgeable staff helps clients to navigate through neat rows of designer frames from brands such as Ray-Ban and Mont Blanc. A curtained-off area lined with damask wallpaper, curvy, white mirrors, and whimsical lighting provides a discreet place for clients to try out frames or reenact favorite fashion montages.

The mouth doctors at Art of Modern Dentistry's Lincoln Park and South Loop offices hail from some of the top dental institutions in the country and attend to the multitudinous needs of teeth with preventive, restorative, and aesthetic treatments. As patients recline in comfy exam chairs while watching movies flash across flat-screen TVs, dental hygienists evict tartar and temporary tooth tattoos during routine cleanings. X-rays capture images of roots and jawbones that dentists can later glue to their break-room collage, and whitening procedures brighten smiles by removing coffee and tea stains. The team also performs surgical procedures, such as implanting custom-made artificial teeth.

While teaching jazz dance in the 1960s, Judi Sheppard Missett decided to step away from tradition by offering an experimental class that allowed her students to simply dance without the judgment of mirrors or the constraints of rigid technique. In these sessions, she began infusing popular dance moves with specific fitness workouts to forge a distinctive blend of cardio exercise, strength training, and dance instruction. Little did she know that this “just for fun” class was the prototype for what would become the national fitness sensation known as Jazzercise.

Today, Jazzercise takes its aerobic techniques from a variety of sources that include jazz dance, hip-hop, resistance training, Pilates, yoga, and kickboxing. The class formats, which vary according to different toning goals, are just as diverse as the program's move set. Two-time Dancing with the Stars champion Cheryl Burke is a big fan of the improvisational routines, although her advanced skills aren't needed to get the most out of classes. Instructors cultivate a noncompetitive atmosphere where all exercisers—with the exception of those marked as cursed by jazz-hand palm readers—are welcome regardless of age, build, or fitness background.

At Pure Vibes Fitness, Power Plate vibration equipment stimulates 30–50 reflexive muscle contractions per second to augment a schedule of cardio, sculpting, and strengthening classes. Trainees can hone their physiques in independent workouts or don tweed tracksuits for seminar-style sweat sessions capped at five participants, including kickboxing, barre, and Pilates. The vibrations of tremor technology help build bone density while stimulating up to 97% of the body’s muscle fibers.