Tucson Health and Fitness

Stand Up Martial Arts and Fitness devotes its programs to helping clients discover their ideal body type. In a noncompetitive yet challenging setting, martial-arts instructors might helm private lessons or workouts geared toward sports performance. During group classes, guests perspire together toward their wellness goals, and women-only boot camps compile intense drills to burn calories. Trainers welcome participants from all fitness backgrounds, coaching professional fighters, stay-at-home moms, and dedicated seniors with the same amount of devotion and the Hulk's pair of magical hand wraps.

Urban Athletics' experienced instructors and professional motivators, Paul Rose and Naomi Reed, have over 28 years of combined fitness and fat-burning pyrotechnics experience, which gets flexed to the fullest with the Express Performance package. The boot camp's six intense fitness classes will burn up to 700 calories per session with a hard-hitting, constantly changing workout regimen packed with surprises and shocking plot twists, as new exercises are assigned without warning and characters long thought dead make dramatic reappearances just before the session ends. Each 60-minute workout is designed for all fitness levels, ages, and shoe sizes.

Randy Brown was overweight and felt uncomfortable with his body. When a friend encouraged him to try boot camp, he reluctantly joined. Through hard work and with support from his instructor, he transformed his body and felt better than ever before. Today, Randy is a certified personal trainer and wants to help others do what his instructor helped him to do years ago: get in shape, gain confidence, and whistle Beethoven's Symphony no. 9. Through the years, he has grown Brown's Boot Camp from one class of 25 students to 14 different camps, and some of his students have gone on to become personal trainers themselves, which speaks to the success of his workout regimen and the camp's communal atmosphere. Randy's program focuses on improving total fitness, which not only includes strength, cardio, and flexibility but also nutritional counseling.

Before getting married, Tony and Marcy Brown both held impressive fitness records. Tony moved from a personal-training career to teaching yoga, and Marcy—a seasoned law-enforcement officer and former owner of a personal-training studio—kept her finger firmly on the pulse of gym trends. The pair decided to captain CrossFit Purgatory after becoming convinced of CrossFit's superiority over other popular health regimens. Now, they welcome guests of all ages and abilities to participate in their WODs (Workouts of the Day), emphasizing the values of community and commitment for those trying to rewrite their physical limits.

CrossFit Purgatory rejects superfluous furnishings in favor of a tough, minimalist vibe, decked out in functional training equipment such as kettlebells, Olympic rings, medicine balls, and mammoth bones. The gym's industrial feel is offset by the warmth of its occupants, who welcome new members to tackle the day's routine with open, sweaty arms. Because CrossFit maneuvers are universally scalable, anyone can adjust them to suit their strength level—the coaches have guided patrons from sports competitors to complete newbies to 2010 Biggest Loser contestant Jessica Delfs.

Professional fighters such as Eddie “Crazy Face” Arizmendi and Chad “Grave Digger” Griggs call Apex Mixed Martial Arts home, but owners Joey “Boom Boom” and Nicole Rivera treat each client like a champion. Inside the cages and on the grappling mats, instructors lead a variety of martial-arts programs such as striking, adult and kids' MMA, grappling, capoeira, and professional practice. Native Brazilian Melissa Morgensen leads energetic Brazilian samba classes, and Apex also hosts other special events such as kids' camps.

Though An Elegant Smile Dentistry's 16 dentists are spread across nine locations, they all share a common philosophy of dedicated preventive care. The team, whose members have been lavished with numerous Top Dentist awards from Phoenix Magazine, earns its accolades by determining the specific needs of each patient's mouth. Although routine cleanings represent the bread and fluoridated butter of their approach, they also mend smiles with cosmetic and orthodontic services designed to keep aesthetics in line with good oral health.