Leicester Gyms and Fitness

Newington Arena’s Zamboni smoothes the ice for a range of blade-based activities, from lessons and hockey matches to freestyle open-skate sessions. Experienced coaches teach new and experienced skaters alike to glide, spin, and casually levitate during learn-to-skate programs and figure-skating academies, and amateurs can independently master their triple axels during public-skate times. Hockey and speed-skating programs warm up the ice, and each Friday night, Ice Jam’s strobe lights and music flood the arena as students 11–15 years old weave around the frozen floor. Newington Arena also houses a snack bar and hosts birthday parties, allowing kids to brag that their shindig was, literally, the coolest.

Floor-to-ceiling mirrors reflect 2,700 square feet of glossy, hardwood floors ringing with the staccato of dancing high heels. Brass poles sprout from the floor, supporting whirling women as they learn sensual routines and build upper-body strength by suspending themselves skyward.

Pole Control Studios' owner, a seasoned performer with a BA in sports science, designs programs that scale up in difficulty while centering around fitness. The studio inducts exercisers in the flirtatious art with an introductory class, where each dancer learns correct posture, transition work, and how to use high heels to tap out Morse code. From there, guests foray into more than 75 types of empowering fitness classes that build on the basics, imparting techniques for climbing, controlled spins, or inversions. Pole Fit and Sensual Stretch supplement pole-dancing prowess with intense cardio, squats, lunges, and body-elongating posework.

M.E.L.T. Fitness Studio's trainers see each body can be defined and molded with the appropriate exercises. Rather than a standard group workout for all their clients, they provide what they call group personal training, modifying and accentuating various exercises to the ability level of their students. They stick to a theme each day, reserving Tuesdays for fat-burning blasts, Fridays for abdominal work, and Saturdays for m.e.l.t.ed cardio, which burns as much fat as possible while building cardio endurance. Within that theme, they provide personal variations for each client to accommodate fitness level or injuries, very often naturally relieving chronic pain by carefully strengthening muscles around the affected area.

The toughest part about working out isn't loading a beached whale onto your back before a breakneck swim; it's finding the motivation to strap on the mammal and go. A start-up consultation with Fitness by Design's knowledgeable personal trainers ($60 value) will get you jazzed about the work ahead and determine your fitness abilities and goals. Cracking open calorie-free fortune cookies of workout wisdom, the able-bodied body shapers at Fitness By Design will show you how 20–30 minutes of slow, concentrated muscle exercises 2–3 times a week can generate superior physical health.

Bolton Ice Palace ditches the red carpet in favor of a sprawling, 200’x85’ rink that has sent New England skaters twirling across its surface for the past four decades. Typically open seven days per week for public sessions, the facility luxuriates each visit with modern amenities, including four locker rooms, a full-service vending room, and an onsite pro shop. Youth and men’s hockey leagues consistently rub elbows with the boards, and learn-to-skate programs—designed by U.S. Figure Skating—help pintsize and full-size gliders alike become comfortable atop their blades. Customers can also rent out the Palace, turning it into a private event space to host birthdays, work functions, or to more accurately pinpoint the location of the zamboni operator’s forlorn howls.

The sounds of jovial chit-chat, sharply struck drives, and golf balls rattling into holes fill the air at Canton Indoor Golf Center, where guests can hone their swings or putting strokes in a festive environment with its own sports bar. Stationed around the center’s perimeter, eight high-definition Year Roundz golf simulators transport clubbers to digital models of courses such as Pebble Beach and Bay Hill. Throughout rounds, swing-tracking technology ensures that each flush tee shot finds the fairway and each errant swing prompts digital avatars to berate their 9-iron. An indoor green fosters freestyle putting practice, and the colorful, pirate-themed corridors of Glow Cove’s black-light mini golf offer a more competitive challenge to slope-reading skills. The multifaceted practice facility provides a climate-controlled venue for lessons conducted by PGA-certified instructors, who use the simulators’ swing analysis features to sharpen their observational prowess and gather intelligence for mankind’s reckoning with intelligent machines.

Sudsy libations from Year Roundz Sports Bar & Grill keep guests in high spirits as they engage in golf fun or simply lounge in the glow of sports-tuned TVs. Guests hungry after a simulated round of golf or a club-shaft-bending competition can curb their appetites with a burger, cheesesteak, or margarita pizza from the kitchen.