Columbia, SC Health and Fitness

Youth, amateur, and professional boxing. MMA fighting and jujitsu. Fitness bootcamps centered on throwing a good punch, and classes that help you find your fighting stance. Fight Club University's team of professional boxers, MMA fighters, and personal trainers teach all these skills and more, as well as helping develop self-confidence, strength, and common sense in young people through the S.T.R.O.N.G. program. Newly toned and slim patrons strut out of the gym past a forest of equipment that includes heavy bags, medicine balls, and jump ropes. Instructors suggest that the courses can help bolster overall health, a sense of timing, and hand-eye coordination.

“It’s like having Mr. Rogers teach your child to swim,” said one parent who left it up to The Swim Lessons Company’s Jim Reiser to show her child the secrets of not sinking. A third-generation swim teacher and coach, Jim approaches his pupils from a gentle, comforting angle that’s especially calibrated to meet the needs of infants, preschoolers, and adults disguised as Toys 'R' Us kids, employing fun activities and drills to impart skills. His friendship with water began in elementary school, and it was a friendship destined to last. To pay for college, Jim leased the university pool and used it to train young swimmers; he went on to teach aquatic courses at the University of South Carolina and lead multiple swimmers to state championships. "The Swim Professor"—a nickname Jim earned after founding Swim Lessons University, an online learning resource loaded with educational videos—now spends his days sharing the magic of swimming with people of every age, imparting the tips and tricks they'll need to survive in a pool, from holding their breath to performing a proper backstroke and catching Marco Polo.

Uncluttered by impersonal equipment, The Firm's mirrored expanse of blond wood floors and taupe walls provide plenty of room for the instructors to move around. Trainers motivate clients to sweat toward svelte physiques during BodyPump sessions and BodyCombat classes that blend cardio and martial arts to get students kicking and punching through excess calories. Most of the classes leverage body weight or light equipment to trim waistlines and tone muscle with the exception of RPM classes, which build endurance and cardio strength using state-of-the-art Body Bikes.

Strength is both a physical quality and a state of mind at Athlete's Arena. Here, NSCA-certified personal trainers, strength and conditioning specialists, and weightlifting coaches propel athletes of all levels toward fitness goals using intense workouts and constant motivation. In addition to teaching drills that boost speed, agility, and joint mobility, trainers lead functional training sessions that sculpt and strengthen the entire body with tools such as kettlebells and weighted sleds. Inspired by Olympic weightlifting and gymnastics, CrossFit sessions teem with barbell drills such as power cleans and functional bodyweight exercises such as pull-ups and burpees. Cardio challenges such as rowing round out these workouts, strengthening hearts and lungs while shaving away calories and moustaches made of string cheese.