Kalamazoo, MI Health and Fitness

The sounds of pumping weights and bodies in motion echo 24/7 as Snap Fitness members work out at whatever time fits their schedule. A refundable $25 access card gives members the freedom to come and go as they please. Ample staffed hours allow exercisers to develop custom workouts alongside supportive personal trainers or holograms of Richard Simmons. Virtual Active treadmills display videos from the Grand Canyon, state parks, or Chicago’s scenic streets to challenge runners with a variety of terrain types, and MyRide virtual cycling machines coach riders with virtual trainers in HD-quality videos.

As a division of Bronson Healthcare Group, Bronson Athletic Club (BAC) strives to engage people in a healthier lifestyle. Top-of-the-line fitness and sports facilities—including 80 cardio stations with personal theater systems, an indoor track, and a full-size basketball and volleyball court—made BAC a first runner-up in the Best Health Club category of the Kalamazoo Gazette's 2011 Reader's Choice awards. Members participate in multilevel group fitness programs such as full-body boot-camp workouts, yoga, and Zumba classes. Studios feature maple floors that diminish shocks and a warm-water exercise pool for low-impact fitness or walleye diasporas.

Among other amenities, the deli nourishes visitors with a menu of healthy sandwiches and smoothies, and the spa relaxes muscles in whirlpools and steam rooms. The nutrition-savvy staff, which includes personal trainers and a registered dietitian, helps people drop pounds with individualized weight-loss programs.

SWAT Fitness Club's staff members present a wide range of Les Mills fitness classes. They curate a selection of the nationally prominent program's sessions that includes Body Pump, Body Combat, and Body Flow. The latter involves a confluence of yoga, tai chi, and Pilates. In addition to a buffet of diverse classes, SWAT's team promotes health with cardio equipment, which includes Stairmasters, Cybex ARC Trainers, stationary bikes, treadmills, and a cardio theater, where you just watch that scene from Forrest Gump and get fit. Certified fitness experts comprise the staff, and their beats cover the facility's various areas for free weights, Life Fitness and Hammer Strength machines, and an area for women only. The club’s amenities—the café, childcare center, and massage and chiropractic services—augment the classes and workout equipment. Locker rooms are the cherry on top, featuring steam rooms and complimentary towels, lotion, shampoo, and mouthwash.

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.

Slip ‘n’ slides. Mud pits. Tire runs. A tarzan swing. Regardless of whether you choose the 1.5- or 3.5-mile route, the Muddy Patriot has one goal in mind: to get you dirty. With adrenaline pumping and live music from The Bronk Bros. filling the air, racers aged 13 and older take on the Muddy Patriot obstacle course, which is made, like a pig’s-dream montage, almost entirely of mud.

Though it may technically be considered a competition, Muddy Patriot’s founder, Chris Bushart, intended it to be fun, first and foremost. As a veteran of the United States Navy, Bushart’s time spent traversing the globe made him realize how much he loved his country and how much he wanted to give back. The Muddy Patriot not only brings excitement to Michiganders for a day, but also supports local businesses and children’s charities such as Safe Harbor Children’s Advocacy Center.