Since the rise of the Internet, people have struggled to tear their now-useless phone books in half. Bulk up to succeed where others have failed with today’s Groupon: for $59, you get a 10-visit punch card to Rochester Athletic Club (a $120 value).
The Rochester Athletic Club houses resistance and free weights, cardio equipment, and multiple group-exercise studios in an impressive 28,000-square-foot facility. Burning lungs can search for buried treasure and long-lost breaths on the cardio island, where stationary bikes, ellipticals, and treadmills gather to glean survival tips from Gilligan on strategically placed flat-screen TVs. The weight area stimulates muscle growth with equipment such as the challenging Cybex circuit and numerous free weights. During the warmer summer months, the club takes advantage of its location next to the Paint Creek Trail and Rochester Municipal Park by holding outdoor running, cycling, and pine-cone-carving boot camps.
With a 10-visit punch card, exercisers can choose from sweat-provoking group fitness classes such as the Latin-dance-inspired Zumba and yoga, taught in several styles and skill levels. Total Body Sculpt combines weight training with aerobics, making pulses race faster than they do during the part of the movie when the killer bursts out of the hamper. After working out, break from the traditional cooldown and kick back in one of the facility's dry saunas.
The Rochester Athletic Club
Most treadmills require sneakers, or a really rubbery pair of feet. But a special treadmill at The Rochester Athletic Club obliges athletes to don ice skates. The hockey treadmill sends 50 square feet of simulated ice whizzing beneath the skates of training players. Not only can players practice passes along the front lip of the treadmill, where a puck glides to and fro, but they can also tweak the speed and elevation of the treadmill to their skill levels.
This specially calibrated treadmill embodies the contemporary nature of the 28,000-square-foot gym. The modern space's programs include group fitness classes, personal training, and wellness courses for patrons more than 50 years old. Classes utilize abundant cardio equipment, a circuit of Cybex weight machines, and high-definition televisions. And with the Paint Creek Trail and Rochester Municipal Park next door, workouts can get back to basics during boot camp and other seasonal outdoor classes, such as how to outrun a squirrel.