Wekiva Springs Gyms and Fitness

Nick Parker, a certified celebrity personal trainer who has appeared on FOX, Good Morning America, and a range of other media outlets, partners with a team of able coaches to propel exercisers of all levels toward slimmer, healthier bodies. Five days a week, the crew leads boot camps designed to promote weight loss and tone muscles throughout the body. Most sessions incorporate cardio, which burns calories, and strength training, which increases lean muscle mass and the possibility of making a bull run from you. The staff encourages camaraderie and a mutually supportive environment during especially tough drills, which can forge bonds that may lead to friendships. Coaches also provide inspiration by varying the workouts, cultivating a welcoming atmosphere, and praising participants as they chase down their fitness goals.

Manager Rhett Wickham unites his 25 years of experience in the guest-services industry and the know-how he cultivated as an amateur bodybuilder into guiding others to fitness achievement. He helms the Winter Park Anytime Fitness, the doors of which are open 24 hours a day. Personal trainers and tanning assistants are on hand to help guests until 7 p.m. Monday–Friday and until 4 p.m. on Saturday. During these hours, they help clients navigate the rich forest of strength training, cardio equipment, and tanning beds.

Inside Rhett’s gym, rich purple and bright-green walls—relieved by huge panels of mirrors—surround sand-colored hardwood floors. Soothing blue carpets grip the bottoms of the weightiest weightlifting machines to prevent them from sliding around. Flat-screen TVs hang above rows of treadmills and cycles to entertain and encourage guests while their legs busy themselves burning calories and wishing that kneecaps had eyes.

Certified golf instructor Chris Bonner draws on more than 14 years as a professional teacher to tailor lessons for each player's unique tendencies. Thanks to his flexible teaching style—perfected while teaching for three different Golf Digest Top 50 instructors—Chris feels right at home with golfers of all stripes. Lessons begin with proper fundamentals and move into swing mechanics, always taking into account the player's personal goals and abilities.

Surrounded by 9,000 acres of conservation land, the Wekiva Falls KOA campground immerses visitors in nature and wildlife, and maintains controlled water-recreation areas and modern amenities. Staffers block out sites for large camping trailers, and also reserve tent sites nestled in view of the river and picnic tables that are kept primitive to facilitate a rough wilderness experience or decked out with electric and water hookups. The campground also rents canoes and kayaks so visitors can paddle up and down the adjacent Wekiva River taking in the lush shoreline scenery. In a separate swimming area fed by a large sulfur spring, guests can frolic around a 40-foot waterfall or plunge down dual tube slides, and they can also lounge in a heated outdoor pool in the event of cooler temperatures. Alternative forms of entertainment are also available including a full bar; crafts sessions; themed parties and dinners; and day trips to local golf courses to cartwheel down the fairways.

A division of the Orlando Rowing Club, the instructors of Orlando Dragon Boat Club train clients in an ancient Chinese sport dating back nearly 2,500 years to the invention of the first ocean. The club's instructors maintain a twofold goal—to foster the sport's celebratory, social atmosphere, and acquaint paddlers with the traditions of another culture. To do so, they lead clinics where students learn how to row in sync in order to balance and propel the narrow, 40-foot canoe-like boat named after the Chinese symbol for protection. They also maintain two club teams—Warriors on Water and ScORCh—as well as oversee several corporate and community squads. Orlando Dragon Boat Club's philanthropically minded leaders have partnered with organizations such as Women Playing for T.I.M.E., and regularly raise funds for the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

JoAnne, or “JoJo,” discovered her love of dance at the age of 5 through ballet, jazz, and gymnastics training. She founded Allure Dance Studio—which she considers to be a women-only club rather than a fitness center—to empower women with confidence while helping them make strides toward healthier lifestyles and toned physiques. She and her team of instructors, which is made up of gymnasts, professional dancers, and aerial-silks performers, teach women to unleash their inner vixens while carving long and lean muscles with a diverse roster of pole-dance, sultry dance, and inventive fitness classes. Taught amid stage-like lighting and ambiance, gals boost their self-confidence and upper-body strength through seductive spins, choreography, and climbs. To prepare for class, ladies should don a tank top, shorts, and high heels with an ankle strap in lieu of steel-toe boots. Instructors can help clients further hone their skills and overall fitness through customized workouts in one-on-one personal-training sessions and private lessons. Allure Dance Studio captures ladies at their most glamorous with boudoir photography and flirty party packages that teach women to strut their stuff with burlesque moves, classic striptease, belly dancing, and parakeet mating calls.