Wixom, MI Health and Fitness

At Spirit Rising Yoga & Healing, the 2011 winner of CityVoter's Best Yoga Studio award, yogic poses double as medicine for the body, mind, and soul. Owners Stacey and Jeff Coffey help their students find a peaceful way to navigate the tension and obstacles present in everyday life. Stress melts and muscles strengthen during private yoga instruction and expert-led classes, which range from athletic Ashtanga sessions to gentle Yin routines that bolster connective tissue in the hips and spine. Complimentary mats, pillows, blocks, and belts may be borrowed to assist students' practice or Rube Goldberg machines. In addition to leading yoga classes, the studio specializes in alternative healing techniques, such as reiki, massage therapy, and auricular acupuncture, that retune the body's natural energy flow.

The Links at Whitmore Lake challenges seasoned swingers and golf greenhorns alike with 18 diverse holes spanning meticulously manicured fairways. The picturesque course, designed by William Newcomb, boasts arbor-lined greens, five boardwalks, and scenic water hazards along 254 acres, nearly one-half of which is protected wetlands. Golfers can hone their skills while chipping out of pesky sand traps and tremor holes, and masterfully avoid stepping on cracks that break mothers' backs by rolling over them in the included golf cart.

When Kelle Ilitch turned her dream Pilates studio into a reality, she spared no consideration. The airy blue space is instantly calming, although its abundance of high-tech Reformer machines makes it clear that she and her fellow instructors mean business. The space accommodates many class styles, from classic mat Pilates lessons—including specialized sessions for seniors and kids—to ballet-barre-based workouts. Like Pilates and cummerbunds made of cement, the barre workouts strengthen cores while lengthening and toning thighs. The staffers also teach Kinesis, a form of strength training that allows for an entirely free range of motion, making it easier to tone muscle groups across bodies simultaneously.

David Krainiak has been fit his whole life, participating in athletics at a young age, graduating from college with an exercise degree, and garnering 15 trainer certifications in his professional career. But the impetus to start a women's-only boot camp began before all that. It started with his grandmothers and his mother, all of whom he watched struggle to stay fit while dealing with their demanding lives. When starting Michigan's Adventure Boot Camp, he sought to create a workout environment that would have welcomed any of his matriarchs--an accessible, noncompetitive camp for women of all ages.

Each boot camp spans four weeks of exercise, with classes held five days a week, with students making sure to attend on three of those days. Classes might meet indoors or out, depending on which of the nine locations a client chooses to attend, but the regimen of exercise remains the same. Trainers cook up new routines daily, which might include fitness kickboxing, jump-roping, obstacle courses, or sport yoga, in which the class plays a scrimmage using the first student who manages to contort themselves into the shape of a football.

Real Ryder Revolution pedals circles around monotonous workout routines and spin programs with a fleet of 30 RealRyder bicycles stationed at each of its studios. The RealRyder design allows exercise bikes to tilt and bank laterally, adding another dimension to stationary-cycle workouts and engaging the entire physique. Pulsating music energizes visitors as they power through 45- to 60-minute Rydes at their own pace, following instructors’ cues that challenge legs, cores, and comprehension of Simon Says rules. Real Ryder Revolution’s staff emphasizes that anyone can attend the cycling sessions and adjust the intensity of their rides based on their own fitness level. Depending on the location, Real Ryder Revolution also offers group fitness classes on TRX suspension training, boot-camp drills, and boxing techniques.

At the Center For Medical Weight Loss, physician Gina Randhawa uses a program rooted in scientific principles to help patients achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Dr. Randhawa employs tools such as body-composition analysis to customize each treatment plan, enhancing the effects of a low-calorie diet with appetite suppressants and injections designed to boost energy and metabolism. Her medical expertise also allows her to identify barriers to weight-loss success, from medications taken for separate health conditions to walls built around gyms.