Health & Fitness in South Carolina

Supplying academic athletics' programs from primary to university levels since its season opener in 1944, Todd & Moore has also been recognized as the Best Athletic Wear Store in 2011 by Columbia Metro magazine. Featuring a wide range of jock-stock for the all-American activities such as football, lacrosse, volleyball, and competitive soliloquizing, these sporting salesmen boast a nearly unfathomable stock of more than 300 athletic shoe brands and styles ($18.99+).

Charleston Krav Maga is Charleston’s largest self-defense and martial arts studio with the honor of being the only Krav Maga Worldwide Studio in South Carolina and one of two American Fighter MMA & Fitness Centers in the nation. Our members range from three-years-old to, well, much older than AARP requirements. Certified

Within its 55,000-square foot facility, Life Center boasts the amenities that many health clubs offer—indoor and outdoor tracks, a 25-meter indoor pool, cardio and strength training equipment, and a cadre of personal trainers. It's association with the Greenville Hospital System, however, allows Life Center to offer more support for overall healthy living and medically-based assistance than any typical club. Health education classes equip attendees with practical skills, such as stress management or healthy cooking, and certified massage therapists perform both medical and therapeutic massage modalities, including fibromyalgia therapy, hot stone therapy, and acupressure. Nutritional counseling programs help clients work toward a healthier diet and address specific nutritional needs.

Within a 2,500-square foot aerobics studio, instructors lead group fitness classes including Cardio Pump stepping with light weights and Turbo Kick, a kickboxing-based workout that builds in intensity as weeks progress. There are separate yoga and group cycling studios, and after a swimming or arthritis aquatics class, members can unwind in the dry sauna and take advantage of free towel service. To ensure everyone's on track, the staff welcomes each new member with a personal exercise orientation, then follows up every six weeks to see how they're doing.

A row of mason jars, each filled with slim sticks of incense, surround a sign that bears a simple motto: Kindness matters. The warmth of that tableau captures the spirit of Soul Flow Yoga, a community-oriented yoga studio that welcomes students of all experience levels to improve their practice and overall well-being. Daily classes, taught by a team of Yoga Alliance–certified instructors, gently motivate students to improve their body awareness while helping increase their strength, endurance, flexibility, and empathy for french braids. Classes range from the vigorous hot yoga, during which the studio is heated to 85 degrees, to the soothing stretching and meditation in gentle and restorative yoga. Throughout the week, live acoustic guitar accompanies certain gentle and community sessions, helping yogis imagine they're in a distant paradise being serenaded by a longhaired centaur.

CombatFitnessHH has reimagined traditional circuit training so it's more applicable to the everyman—and much more fun. During boot-camp-style workouts, a skilled instructor pairs dynamic movements and agility exercises with sledgehammers, tractor tires, and heavy chains, improving clients' strength in every plane of motion. Over time, the body adapts to these workouts, and better performs everyday tasks such as carrying groceries or performing celebratory dances after spiking another log in the fireplace.

Tae kwon do master and fifth-degree black belt Daniel Kim is a seven-time state champion and has coached at state, regional, and national championships. At U.S. Taekwondo Academy, he and his staff bring their experience as practitioners and instructors to tae kwon do classes for students of all ages and experience levels. Classes foster the physical knowledge of kicking, punching, and blocking techniques as well as the mental fortitude required to learn perseverance, integrity, and self-control.