Dedham Gyms and Fitness

The Athletic Club, located in a renovated warehouse at 653 Summer, has a variety of weight loss options beyond standard workout machines. Consult with their staff dietician about your unfortunate lard-only diet, and she can guide you towards the in-house restaurant for some healthy alternatives. Da Club (as it's known by clever patrons) offers classes like “Group Kick” (martial arts and boxing), yoga, pilates, cycling classes, and the non-ancient art of “Zumba”— a Latin/Merengue/Reggaeton dance-fitness fusion, or the new millennium’s answer to the 90s sensation of “Cardio Funk”. Lovers of both fitness and dismemberment can partake in a “Legs, Butts and Guts” toning class.

Within both MetroRock locations, visitors ascend via bouldering walls and rope-climbing walls or take to aerobic exercise machines and fitness equipment to build strength. With this setup available to climbers of all skill levels, the founders of the climbing arenas achieved their goal of creating a community where scalers can congregate, share their passions, and hone their climbing skills.

During indoor and outdoor classes, instructors create lessons that help each climber reach their goals. Indoor courses help instill students with basic climbing skills, rescue techniques, or the brute strength needed for bouldering or to intimidate mountains out of their lunch money. Outdoors, American Mountain Guide Association and Single Pitch–certified instructors teach alpinists skills that include how to secure top-rope anchors and how to climb ice or scale for sport. The centers' founders and their teams also organize climbing-centric programming that includes youth climbing teams and team-building events that challenge groups while forming bonds.