Plainfield Gyms and Fitness

Kristin was nervous before her first pole-dancing class. Sure, she’d spent years as a fitness specialist with a background in classical dance, but she was also working as the volunteer director at her church. What would people think? At her first turn around the pole, however, her fears vanished. “I felt like a goddess and an acrobat,” she says.

Today, Kristin is a certified pole instructor, a master trainer for Pole Move, Inc, and a member of the Pole Fitness Association. Inside her 3,400-square-foot studio, she works alongside 16 PFA-certified instructors to teach women body acceptance through pole dancing. More than 3,000 female students so far have sampled the studio's liberating, confidence-boosting classes. There's a broad selection of class types, including eight stages of pole dancing, burlesque, aerobic classes, and core conditioning. Each class caps attendance at 10 students to ensure instructors know everyone’s name and favorite sandwich, and that they can keep an eye out for safety and technique.

At HomeTown Fitness, guests of all fitness levels can pinch inches in a spacious gym, more than 20 exercise classes, or personal training sessions with knowledgeable staffers. Equipment including treadmills, elliptical machines, and free weights help clients build muscles on their own, while group spinning, kickboxing, and yoga classes can also be tailored to meet each individual's fitness goals. The upscale health club caters to different age groups as well. The nationally recognized SilverSneakers program targets senior citizens, and a Kid's Korner engages children 3 months to 11 years old with games, activites, and Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions led by trained babysitters.

Carriage Greens Country Club’s 18-hole course stretches across 6,395 yards of pristine fairways hemmed by native wetlands and mature trees. Cattail-lined water hazards loom on the edges of 10 holes, testing golfers' course management and sustaining a sophisticated underwater civilization that uses golf balls as currency. Golfers can prepare for the round with a stint at the club’s driving range, refuel with a hearty nosh at the Sandtrap Grill, and recapitulate flush drives and pinpoint approaches with a classic martini at the 8700 Club & Lounge, open Friday and Saturday evenings.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 70 course
• Length of 6,395 yards from the farthest tees
• Three tee options
• Scorecard

At Ideal Weight Loss, helpful technicians work with clients to develop lasting weight-loss plans using noninvasive methods—meaning no surgeries, medications, or shots. At the root of the clinic’s mission is the Ideal Weight Loss method, which begins with complimentary consultations and is nurtured via a partnership between staffers and patients. Working as a team, they attempt to set realistic goals, which can be achieved in part thanks to the provided gourmet protein diets. In addition to the four-phase long-term plan, the clinic also offers body-sculpting services such as wraps and LipoLaser.

Designed in a country-club style by PGA professional Gordon Cunningham, Woodbine Golf Course welcomes linkspeople with 6,020 yards of challenging tracts populated with bentgrass tees, fairways, and greens. The layout’s five ponds, natural-grass preservation areas, and clusters of grabby-branched trees have beckoned both low- and high-handicap golfers for nearly a quarter of a century. A contorted fairway and aquatic hazard make the 14th hole the course’s hardest, and the 4th hole ranks second hardest with a tricky dogleg left whose elbow hosts a sand bunker that lures distractible golfers with a siren song of sandcastles. 

After games, golfers can retreat to Woodbine's clubhouse. At the Timber Restaurant and Bar, flat-screen TVs flicker above a long wooden bar, diners feast on pasta and pot roast, and a stone fireplace provides the ideal backdrop for tales about 9-irons that transformed into 10-irons with hard work and a little gumption.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 70 course

• Length of 6,020 yards

• Two tee options

• See the scorecard