Your body is the only thing keeping your vital organs from scattering to the winds, and a toned physique is the best way to hold onto them. Obtain a physique you can flaunt in front of amazed strangers with today’s Groupon: for $20, you get two one-hour classes at The Bar Method, an exercise superbreed combining the benefits of interval training, isometrics, dance principles, and physical therapy into one revolutionary routine. This deal is good at all three Bar Method studios in Chicago: Lakeview, the Loop, and Highland Park.

Embraced by a slew of celebrities and led by expert instructors, The Bar Method is transformative—much like those cars that transform into mech warriors. You’ll burn fat, sculpt muscles, refine your figure, work out your fitness, and improve your strength and endurance. After a brief warm-up, you’ll tackle the upper body with weights and bar exercises. The workout continues with challenging lower-body positions and floor exercises designed to firm up your thighs, glutes, and abs. Stretch and tone each muscle group, burn fat, and gain definition. This diverse and challenging workout speeds you toward the long, lean muscles and elegant posture of a ballet dancer without the discomfort and inconvenience of wearing a tutu.

Each Chicago-area Bar Method location features two impressively large studios as well as men's and women's locker rooms. Parking is available at or around all three studios: in nearby garages in the Loop; with $2, 90-minute validation in Lakeview; and free in Highland Park. For mothers, fathers, and people with naturally occurring child satellites, the Lakeview studio also offers child-care ($6).

Reviews

The national lengthening-and-strengthening sensation has garnered a slew of press, with mentions in publications from 944 to People to Esquire. Chicago magazine named The Bar Method the Best New Workout in 2008.

*By focusing on large muscle groups – thighs, glutes, and chest – the Bar Method helps raise metabolism more effectively than regimens that focus on smaller muscle groups. – Esquire

• The exercises, seemingly gentle and basic at the beginning, are performed in repetition until thighs are quaking, biceps are taut, and those size 4 jeans in the back of the closet are again a viable option. – Chicago magazine