Meadow Woods Gyms and Fitness

Krista Shirley has spent years travelling the world with an open mind and open heart, learning to infuse her own Ashtanga yoga practice with the global perspective she gleaned in Thailand, Scotland, and India. Now that she’s home, Shirley continues to expand her practice each year by embarking on annual retreats to Mysore, India, where she was authorized to teach by the prestigious Krishna Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute.

Her dedication to preserving the authenticity of Ashtanga is apparent in the thoughtfully constructed classes and workshops at The Yoga Shala. Shirley eschews the gym-like trappings of trendy yoga studios, preferring to establish a school that incorporates yoga's physical and mental benefits into her students' everyday lives. Krista's commitment to education does not stop with her students, however, as her instructors accompany her every year to India to help deepen their mastery of traditional Ashtanga practices.

Within the 2,100-square-foot studio, instructors teach Ashtanga yoga in the traditional Mysore way. This method allows teachers to work individually with their students while guiding groups through each posture. The studio also holds progressive beginners’ classes and Ashtanga flow classes that apply the Vinyasa principles of breath expansion and drishti, which is a focused gaze that develops concentrated intention.

Forte Fitness’s owner, Alicia Streger, gathers a crew of trainers whose backgrounds are as diverse as the exercises performed within her boot camps. When not motivating people to achieve their fitness goals, instructors spend time participating in fitness competitions and charity camps within the community, building strong bonds and increasing their accountability and success as co-trainers. Each instructor's background is reflected in his or her physical and mental fitness, and they try to instill that discipline in students through their 21-day Belly Blast Challenges, boot camps, and regular kettlebell courses, all supplemented with nutritional education. For traveling clients who don’t want to lose the rhythm of their routine, the instructors assemble their 20 favorite body-weight exercises, ones that conveniently don’t require using any particular equipment or punching any particular wall.

Since its 1965 founding in Venice Beach, California, Gold's Gym has dotted the globe with more than 600 locations where professional athletes and exercise newbies gather under the umbrella of personal strength. Nearly 3.5 million Gold's members chart and aim for their fitness peaks, perspiring beneath the gaze of certified personal trainers or pedaling beside peers at cycling sessions. In a diverse lineup of group classes, patrons strengthen cores with Pilates, finger-paint pictures of ninjas in martial arts, and amp up heart rates to the pulsating soundtracks of Les Mills routines. Many Gold's Gym locations stockpile futuristic amenities, such as cardio machines with individual iPod docks and televisions that help keep patrons motivated.

The staff at Medi-Weightloss Clinics heartens seekers of healthy lifestyles with a medically supervised weight-loss program that roves over medical history before delving into a personalized package that's quick to increase metabolism and slim figures. The program, featured on the Today show, begins with a consultation administered by a team of physicians and sultry magicians' assistants who test vital signs, run EKGs, perform a body-fat analysis with Tanita scales, and conduct a complete physical exam.

An online resource center arms health-seekers with weight-loss tools, recipes, and fitness advice, and the clinic's signature supplements, dietary products, and exercise tools ably complement the program. Custom diet plans created by a medical professional, vitamin shots, and motivational guidance round out the weight-loss package and are sometimes supplemented by cheetah cubs to chase you around the block.

Navy SEAL veteran and MMA coach Brian Sargent had a vision of a cutting-edge mixed-martial-arts facility. He knew what equipment was needed, but it was not until 2007—when he teamed with Joe Mannino, a 30-year owner and operator of a health club—that the nitty-gritty details fell into place. With Mannino’s newly envisioned facility and Sargent’s training know-how, the two built Victory MMA and Fitness, bringing on a staff of top-notch trainers to teach a burgeoning clientele of professional MMA fighters.

The sounds of pumping hearts and fists swooshing through the air that Brian and Joe love to hear can be sensed between the glass walls and doors that divide the 22,000-square-foot facility into eight training areas, and there’s room left over for a retail shop and ringside café. A 20-foot mixed-martial-arts cage and 7,000 square feet of mats host aspiring pugilists as they train their wrists and fists. Boxing and kickboxing courses make use of the forest of hanging punching bags, the floor of which is covered with little bits of shredded cotton shaped like pinecones. The nearby cardio and weightlifting areas are the metaphorical psychologist’s couch upon which personal trainers condition their clients, and a cordoned-off yoga studio breaks the black-and-red patterning of the gym with bright white walls and a pale hardwood floor.

At Back to Nature Health and Wellness Center, leading practitioner Argo Duenas's deep belief in the benefits of holistic healing took her off the path of traditional medical nursing two decades ago and redirected her journey toward certification in colonic hygiene, reflexology, and energy adjustment. Inside her clean, homey, brick-fronted clinic, Duenas relies on drug-free methods such as reiki, colon hydrotherapy, and ear candling to purge the body of toxins and attempt to alleviate ailments ranging from high blood pressure to chronic fatigue. Argo also teaches body awareness, preventative wellness, and breakdance choreography through lectures and seminars.