The Boot Camp Guy, Chicago

After attending boot camps for a while, Maizah's motivation fizzled and she dropped the course. But refusing to accept defeat— even if it weren't his own—The Boot Camp Guy's cofounder, Chris Brown, gave her a call and made a case. He showed her some before-and-after shots of people she'd met at the sessions before she left—and was astounded by their transformations.

"That could have been me," she kept thinking. So she headed back to class determined that this time, it would be. Months later, she'd gone from a size 16/18 down to a size 12 with extra energy to boot.

As a former Marine with 18 years of professional fitness experience and a passion for helping people reach their goals, Chris The Boot Camp Guy has found a way to push people to a higher level. He knows that boot camp isn't about the stereotypical screaming Drill Instructors depicted on TV but wanted those in search of a greater physical challenge to have something close to what he experienced as a United States Marine. He and his trainers employ a realistic, no-scales and no-diets philosophy and focus on supplying their students with the motivation they need. Whether training for an outdoor obstacle course race or wanting to get into the best shape of your life, they identify each student's fitness level within moments and calibrate their workouts accordingly. This approach seeks to get students to their own desired level of "skinny", whether that's a size two, size 14, or any other goal. The trainers further outfit their boot-camp base model with nine different tracks—with one designed to shed weight—and total-body sessions up the ante with weights, resistance bands, and mat exercises to strengthen entire physiques. They also encourage students to eat the food they enjoy, and to be mindful of which nutrients their body needs to address deficiencies and restore balance.

The fitness menu unfurls a feast of other group classes that come free with the purchase of this Groupon. Cycle circuits combine intensive spinning with ab work on the turf and toning dumbbell drills. Cardio-kickboxing classes blend aerobics, boxing, and martial arts. All told, they offer more than 100 classes each month from their well-stocked studio, which the staff stocks with free weights, strength-training machines, exercise balls, and resistance bands, as well as an indoor obstacle course.