Monroeville, PA Health and Fitness

Moonglow Yoga's team of certified yoga instructors guides students through a collection of heated and nonheated classes to hone strong bodies and minds. The studio's schedule boasts classes for students of all experience levels, including beginners Vinyasa classes, in which newbies learn foundational poses, breathing techniques, and how to weave baskets from sticky mats. Teachers dial the studio temperature up to a balmy 95 degrees during Hot Vinyasa sweat sessions, challenging savvy stretches with advanced poses such as half moon, wheel, crow, and robot.

Trainer and Fuse Fitness Studio founder Jason Zawodniak strives to help his patrons overcome their mental and physical obstacles to looking and feeling awesome. His high-intensity express workouts motivate beginners to sculpt lean physiques and fuel fitness diehards with the fire to blast past their fitness plateaus. Although they offer co-ed programs, Zawodniak and his team of nationally certified trainers specialize in women's fitness. Their programs help gals burn fat and build muscle in intensive group fitness classes paired with one-on-one training sessions, which are customized to each individual's goals and needs. In addition to exercise sessions, Jason and his staff keep students on the path to chiseled physiques with ongoing nutritional support, regular fitness seminars, and at-home motivation through emails, phone calls, and telepathy.

Pharmacist and Murray Avenue Apothecary founder Susan Merenstein works closely with patients and their doctors to blend compounded medicines as an alternative to one-size-fits-all treatment options. These custom remedies—which Susan concocts alongside a staff of lab technicians and one other pharmacist—may be special ordered by physicians when a specific remedy is no longer on shelves or if a patient is allergic to certain ingredients in standard medications.

Besides her 30 years of pharmacy experience, Susan has honed her skills over more than 300 hours in continuing-education classes, developing specialties in topics such as general wellness and supplements, hormone balance, sexual health, and skincare. Her team also churns out pet-friendly compounds that soothe greyhounds’ corns and calluses, moisturize dry paws, and safely dye dalmatians' fur to match this season's firefighter uniforms.

Drawing from more than 10 years of dental experience, Dr. Alvaro Lazo emphasizes gentle dentistry aided by advanced technology. Before performing dental services such as root canals, extractions, or cleaning, technicians reveal inner-mouth workings with digital radiography, which reduces the radiation exposure of traditional radiographs by up to 90%. Laser cavity detection and treatment seek out and stop tooth decay without the use of drills that can inadvertently tap into a tooth's precious oil reserves.

The nine-hole course at The Club at Blackthorne stretches for nearly 3,000 yards of expansive fairways and receptive greens designed by Palmer Course Design Company, Arnold Palmer’s namesake firm. Players tee off on the 400-yard par 4 first hole—with the eighth, one of just two holes 400 yards or longer—sending their golf balls flying against a horizon dominated by the Laurel Mountains in the distance. The fifth hole’s huge arc of a dogleg presents golfers with a classic risk/reward shot off the tee, much like hitting shots over a pool of lava onto a green made of chocolate. Golfers can attempt to fly the cherry trees in hopes of reaching the green in one stroke—thereby risking a tight lie in the fescue grasses—or they can lay up near the fairway bunker for a short iron shot into the green. The signature ninth hole demands similar theatrics, as a lake and six bunkers team up to force a 200-yard carry just to reach the fairway, and an elevated green renders approach shots trickier than their short length might indicate.

Course at a Glance:

• Nine-hole, par 33 course
• Total length of 2,947 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 68.4 from the back tees
• Course slope of 135 from the back tees
• Four sets of tees per hole
• Scorecard

The Club at Blackthorne's rates fluctuate throughout the week and year. Though The Club at Blackthorne sometimes features a discounted price online, this Groupon still offers the best deal available.

The Madison Club’s 18-hole, championship course develops over rolling hills and winds through trees for a layout engulfed in a spectacular setting that incorporates the natural landscape into course play. Multiple water hazards characterize a large chunk of the course, as highlighted on the challenging par 3 17th, a hole that forces golfers to carry a short-iron tee shot over open water and has been lauded as one of western Pennsylvania’s best public holes by both the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the fish that cheer on golfers from the green-protecting pond. Though the course cuts through topsy-turvy terrain, the greenskeepers maintain relatively level fairways so accurate tee shots don’t end up on unfavorable, sloped lies. After a day at the links, guests can unwind with a light meal from the course restaurant or toast to the memory of broken golf tees with a drink from its full-service bar.