Pike Creek Valley Gyms and Fitness

At Powerhouse Pilates, owners and instructors Annie and Victoria Maxwell lead exercisers through classes designed to strengthen and stabilize the core muscles, also known as the body's "powerhouse." Beyond traditional Pilates mat and reformer classes, the duo offers a handful of fitness sessions that put a more modern spin on the centuries-old program. The Piloxing class—which has gained attention from NBC10 and Phillyburbs.com—keeps heart rates up by fusing together intervals of boxing, Pilates, and modern-dance moves performed to horror-movie soundtracks. Standing barre classes, on the other hand, put the focus on balance and endurance by incorporating weights into a standing routine. Every class focuses on applying Pilates methods to everyday movements––a practice Powerhouse dubs "pre-habbing"––in order to train muscles to move properly and avoid injury.

While waiting for a group of tour participants aboard his kayak on Cape Island Creek, Bob Lubberman made a new acquaintance when a 4-foot great blue heron landed on the nose of his boat. It's not an entirely new experience for the owner of Miss Chris Kayak Rentals and Tours, as opportunities to commune with nature came often as he crabbed and fished as a child from his grandmother's dock. Now he's able to connect visitors to this ecosystem as they independently paddle rented sit-on-top kayaks or as they participate in guided kayak or boat tours.

Paddlers on kayak tours often catch close-ups of ospreys, terns, and other birds, and see diamondback terrapin turtles sunning themselves on the shore or trying to hold their own ice-cream cones. Day and sunset tours let guests explore the wildlife-rich salt marshes, and night tours led during high tide let them paddle over grassy terrain to otherwise inaccessible areas. Guests explore similar territory on tours aboard the Osprey as they watch migrating shore birds or look out on the harbor's historic buildings. Kayak tour guides include an associate naturalist and a Cape May Bird Observatory field associate, and land-based staffers maintain a touch tank on the Miss Chris mooring dock, which they temporarily fill with conches, eels, and other sea life pulled up using open-sided conservation traps.

The image gurus at Body Images command a fleet of tanning beds in five different levels and the skills to artfully apply a custom, airbrushed glow. They stock their shelves with an array of lotions, balms, and gravies, including the entire MR International line of professional skincare products, such as iRenew, for a spectrum of desired results. To complement newly darkened skin tones, the team also offers slimming chocolate mud wraps, teeth-whitening services, and a collagen bed, to encourage more youthful-looking skin.

The room is filled with people, all of who are moving to music that thrums through their bodies with palpable bass. At the DJ booth, colorful LED lights pulse in time with the beat, and tube lighting frames the stage and mirrored walls in a white glow. Blacklights bathe the room in bright violet tones, transforming the colors of everyone’s clothing into electric neon.

Suddenly a voice cuts in on top of the music.

“All right, everyone! Let's shake it!”

Though UniquePhyZique looks light a nightclub, it’s actually a fitness studio. Founders John and Julie White recently expanded and remodeled their space, updating it to reflect their mission to help clients fall in love with fitness by keeping it fun. In the high-energy space, students gather for sessions of Zumba, a Latin-inspired, dance-fitness workout and Turbo Kick, a fusion of kickboxing, and sports drills. The schedule also includes PiYo, an inventive blend of pilates, yoga, and strength training, and Tone & Sculpt, a class in which students use stability balls and neoprene-coated free weights to sculpt legs, upper bodies, and abdominals. And soon, the schedule will also be expanding, as the team is currently working on certifications in Beachbody's P90X and Insanity.

Not only is John and Julie’s space fun, it’s also very user-friendly. Members check in simply by scanning their keycards, and can help themselves to water and towels before and after classes. Additionally, a dozen membership types allow clients to choose anything from low-commitment punch cards to unlimited 6- or 12-month agreements with automatic monthly payments and a secret member handshake

At Bikram Yoga West Reading, instructors promote deep, detoxifying stretches during their 90-minute hot yoga classes. Developed by yoga master Bikram Choudhury, 26 postures combined with two structured breathing exercises unwind muscles, defog minds, and unclog inner energies in a studio heated to a humidity of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. After recalibrating bodily systems and ridding minds of hard-to-forget gum commercial jingles, students can decamp to men’s and women's shower facilities. A comfortable reception area and private parking lot also help make workouts as convenient as they are sweaty.