Health & Fitness in Edmonton

British Columbia local and Lakers player Steve Nash created his fleet of namesake Fitness World & Sports Clubs to honour the tenets of healthy living. The classes at both Fitness World and Sports Club locations are taught by engaging instructors who impart students with methods for getting fit that don’t involve traditional livestock lifting. Group fitness trainers lead exercisers through Bball Blast's stability-ball training, ICE indoor-cycling intensives, and Cardio Core's combinations of step, cardio kickboxing, and abdominal exercises. The Nash Smash class uses full-body metabolic training to sternly badger moping muscles into action, and Women on Weights builds toned musculature by pitting females against leaden opponents. Personal training sessions fit workouts for each client, tailoring them to individual's goals and personal theme song.

The amenities at each club differ—the Burnaby location boasts a swimming pool and spacious whirlpool. The staff strives to create a healthy environment for members and the earth alike, with floors made from sustainable bamboo and locker panels build with recycled car tires.

Founded 29 years ago with a single, small club, World Health expanded its healthy presence across Calgary with today's 7 locations. Ultramodern equipment and friendly staffers fill each hub, supplementing a variety of group fitness classes and personal-training sessions with flexible membership options. In Revs and Revs Plus classes, bike-mounted students pedal through aerobic drills before slow-downs allow for safe speed-bump crossing and heart-rate recovery. Fight-inspired Kick classes coalesce self-defence moves from karate, boxing, and kickboxing; Breathe’s gentle combination of yoga, Pilates, and tai chi beckons internal peace with flexibility and balance exercises. For a solo workout session, personable trainers customize sessions that chase each individual’s fitness goals. With the help of a personal trainer, exercisers often note a greater sense of motivation and accountability, improved fitness and nutritional knowledge, and biceps that literally take the shape of pistols.

StillPoint Healing Centre greets physiques with holistic massage, acupuncture, yoga classes, and workshops for nurturing the body and mind. Skilled yogis shepherd sun-saluters to peace of mind with a slate of sessions, such as classes for beginners, advanced dynamic-flow sessions, and sunrise meetings for early risers and insomniac owls. The centre's registered massage therapists and acupuncturists ease aches with five distinct massage modalities—such as deep-tissue, hot-stone, and Thai massage—and the precise placement of microfilament needles. Benefits range from stimulation of the circulatory and lymphatic systems to relieved tension to improved range of motion, which can help when running backward to stare at and still escape from an attractive ghost.

Aromas of warm cedar emanate from the recycled cork flooring where instructors lead Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, yin yang, or detox classes within a studio heated to a warm 34–36 degrees Celsius or a hot 40–42 degrees Celsius. As the heat helps bodies release toxins and deepen stretches, the yogis guide their students through fluid movements and deeply held postures designed to strengthen muscles. After completing limb-limbering poses, students repose on a rented mat to experience a deep relaxation that's second only to sharing a sauna with Plato.

Once they complete muscle-toning workouts in the cedar-ceilinged studio, guests can freshen up in the vibrant orange changing room or socialize in the welcome room.

Voted Best Gym in the Bay Area 2011 by the San Francisco Bay Guardian, World Gym San Francisco is home to plentiful cardio and weight machines, group fitness classes, and chiropractic care facilities. After receiving a towel in the sea foam-green lobby, guests set foot in one of the gym's spacious exercise rooms to stretch on mats while waiting for exercise balls to hatch into personal trainers. Inside cardio rooms equipped with flat screen TVs, guests can catch up on news while their hearts catch up on skipped beats.

Steam rooms and dry saunas relax bodies tuckered from group classes such as boxing, spin, and yoga. A cafe vends fresh smoothies approved by the gym's nutrition programs, and a tanning bed bronzes newly toned physiques.

Since 1998, the instructors at Salsaddiction have been infecting students of all ages with their passion for Latin dance, helming classes at numerous locations around the city, including the 4,000-square-foot Integration Pilates dance studio. Once they turn on the music, they’ll divulge salsa styles, such as the flamboyant L.A. school or the group-based, partner-swapping rueda de casino. The fiesta continues at regular social events where students can try out their moves between conversations with peers or uncooperative pairs of feet.