Health & Fitness in Carmel

It’s hard to imagine a trainer more dedicated to fitness than Josh Kuklak, the owner of Survival Fitness Gym. An ACE-certified personal trainer, Josh holds state records in powerlifting on the bench-press and deadlift platforms, and has also competed in hockey, tennis, karate, and weight training. Along with Diana Fisbeck, also an ACE-certified trainer, he leads boot camp-style workouts that call upon muscle confusion—through constantly varied routines—to promote building strength and melting fat.

Their boot camps fuse cardio, resistance training, and plyometrics into workouts that change every day to prevent workout burnout. Leaving treadmills and weight machines behind, the sessions incorporate a slew of nontraditional fitness equipment. Students might flip oversize tires and hang from gymnastics rings one day, and then heave sledgehammers and box heavy bags until they cry uncle the next. Their basic-training class focuses on core work and endurance, and strength training blends elements of powerlifting, bodybuilding, and functional training to pack on muscle and annihilate fat. The fitness duo also leads personal-training sessions, motivating clients to reach their goals and harmonizing with them during workout songs.

Like many success stories, the Core Fitness tale begins when a business executive quit her job to pursue her true dream. For Nanci Mora, her dream was to become a fitness instructor. After 10 years of training and working as a trainer, she began conducting her own Pilates classes for three friends in her home. As word of Nanci's replenishing and invigorating Pilates workouts spread, her class size continued to expand in an inverse relationship to her students’ waistlines.

Today, Nanci continues to teach Pilates at her own professional studio, Core Fitness, where she and a staff of dancers, Pilates instructors, and fitness professionals teach workout classes throughout the week. Amidst the studio's earth-toned walls and towering mirrors, professional Pilates reformer machines help clients tone bodies.

Though Bang Fitness Project stands by traditional gym staples—a welcoming setting, programs suitable for families or singles, and affable trainers—it also embraces high-tech advancements. With DotFit Nutrition, guests plan their meals by accessing a gigantic database of food statistics and advice from NASM professionals. The gym's Visual Fitness Planner pulls 3-D images from potential futures, showing users how an exercise or diet regimen could affect their physiques and ability to make carry-on luggage fit. Visitors armed with this knowledge can then jog aboard television-facing treadmills, heft free weights, and test their muscles on strength machinery from Precor and Life Fitness.

Seasons Light Therapy's team of aestheticians harnesses the restorative powers of noninvasive light to tone tired faces and banish skin discoloration. The succinct menu boasts LumiLift treatments, also known as nonsurgical face-lifts, during which strobes of pulsating light and micronized currents travel deep into the dermis to stimulate collagen production and tighten slack muscles without stern reprimands. Clients can also settle under the LumiFacial's Soli-Tone wraparound panel, which, like a malfunctioning rainbow, emits four different colors of healing light. Taking in these vibrant rays has been shown to reduce the appearance of sun damage, fine lines, and acne. Microdermabrasion treatments also target these epidermal symptoms, smoothing over skin with fine sprays of exfoliating mineral crystals.

The research staff at 7E—a medical-aesthetic company that prides itself on skincare innovations—designs noninvasive treatments that combat the effects of aging and bolster all-over wellness. Once staff members have perfected a solution, they share the fruits of their labors with clients at 7E Fit Spa. One of these many fruits is the Torc Plus, an FDA-approved body-contouring machine that works to deplete inches and bulk up muscles in bodies through electrical stimulation. The spa’s noninvasive face-lifts tighten visages while evening out skin tone, reducing puffiness, and increasing circulation, and saunas detoxify the body and relax clients with infrared heat shoplifted from the equator.

Dr. Richard Zeph has been helping people look and feel younger for more than 25 years. Doubly board certified as a head and neck surgeon and a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, he shares his extensive knowledge at local medical centers and symposiums across the country. At his private practice, Zeph Cosmetic Surgery, he performs procedures ranging from rhinoplasties to DOT-laser-resurfacing sessions. Dr. Zeph specializes in facial treatments, and employs advanced technology to leave features as firm and chiseled as all four faces on Mount Rushmore.