Valrico, FL Health and Fitness

TBC24 Fitness Center owner Mark Bodine’s 18-year personal-training career began at another gym, where his sessions became so popular that he eventually landed his own private studio within the gym’s walls. That studio grew into the 24-hour fitness center he operates today. In addition to being the official training destination for the Lakeland Raiders indoor-football team, the TBC staff hosts personal and group training sessions, all of which are accompanied by nutritional coaching that helps clients choose the right foods and avoid eating the meat of nutritionless cookie monsters. Their workouts, such as Boot Camp, Kalorie Killer, and Plyometrics classes, make extensive use of the facility’s free weights, strength machines, and treadmills as well as a separate studio stocked with Pilates reformers.

Staffed by a certified team of yoga-teaching women—some of whom have racked up more than 700 teaching hours—Asana carves out a serene space where people can refuel energy reserves. Students from every skill level downward dog into a variety of classes that cycle between Vinyasa and hot flow to stimulate circulation, feeding muscles with oxygen, or guided meditation that unwinds tendons in classes that focus on relieving stress with meditation. Expectant mothers wind limbs around baby bumps in prenatal sessions, and classes for kids aged 5–10 initiate little ones with stretching exercises, focused breathing, singing, and games. The studio itself reflects inner peace as beams of natural light amble through sheer floor-to-ceiling curtains and soothing music gives patrons back massages.

Golf Etc. Lakeland helps golfers through the entire process of upgrading their arsenal, from finding brand-name equipment to adjusting their current gear to fit their game. Brothers Luke and J.J. Miller—the latter of whom coaches golf at Southeastern University—run the shop and personally oversee the custom club-fitting process. In the hitting bay in the back of the store, visitors are likely to see Luke—who fits and maintains clubs for many local pros—analyzing a client's swing with technology that helps him prescribe the right club or zone in on any modifications, such as adjusting the length of the shaft or replacing the club head with a jai-alai basket. Golf Etc. also features an indoor putting green for golfers to test out prospective flatsticks, and J.J. and Luke regularly perform club re-gripping and repair services.

As a biology major, Angela Boatright was on track to become a traditional doctor. Experiencing acupuncture's positive effects firsthand, however, was enough to change her plans. In 1995, she began her education in Chinese medicine, learning how to wield tiny acupuncture needles to realign qi and stitch hats for field mice, and interning at a hospital in China. She then teamed up with acupuncturist and doctor of Oriental Medicine Carol Chandler in 2005, and they opened Natural Medicine Center of Lakeland.

The center's team of Chinese-medicine practitioners, psychotherapists, massage therapists, and acupuncturists administers a sprawling selection of treatments. Techniques range from the time-tested, such as herbal therapy or lobotomies for surly teens, to the modern, such as infrared thermal imaging, which helps identify the earliest signs of breast cancer and heart disease.

A member of the American Chiropractic Association, Doctor of Chiropractic Robert Blackburn leads a team of licensed massage therapists and bodywork specialists within a full-service chiropractic clinic. Along with spinally minded stretching exercises, the clinic offers a variety of services, from relaxing massage therapy to corrective rehabilitation, to soothe injuries and reawaken sleeping pinky toes.

From his three offices, board-certified dermatologist Dr. Christopher Ewanowski and his knowledgeable staff help restore epidermises with cosmetic, medical, and surgical skin treatments. With a stable of seven lasers, including the Candela GentleLase, Palomar StarLux IPL, and the 2,940-nanometer Whisper, Suncoast’s trained technicians rid skin of unwanted hair, sun damage, broken blood vessels, and tattoos of broken blood vessels. For more invasive procedures, including eyelid-lifting blepharoplasty and Dr. Ewanowski's specialty, the cancer-ridding Mohs micrographic surgery, the doctor treats clients in the in-office surgical suite. Suncoast’s resident aesthetician pampers with medical-grade spa services, using products from such skincare brands as SkinMedica, Avène, and glo.