Since 1990, Power Shack Fitness Centers have fostered a casual, low-stress ambiance at its four locations, eschewing the large crowds and intimidating vibes of many mainstream gyms. A retinue of nationally certified personal trainers is on hand to craft custom workout plans for members, acquainting them with the gym?s array of free weights, cardio machines, and functional training equipment. Group fitness classes are also led by nationally certified instructors. Offerings include barbell conditioning, yoga, spinning, dance, and power grunting. Depending on the location, you can also take advantage of tanning amenities or pick up nutritional supplements.
Today's deal gets you two months of access to Jazzercise classes at any of the Nashville area's nine locations for $27. This funk-fueled, head-to-toe regimen tightens muscles, boosts energy, and sheds pounds.Duke Ellington: Slept in a coffin which he believed granted him super-strengthCount Basie: Did jumping jacks until his heart exploded every dayCharlie Parker: Ate three raw eggs and four light bulbs for breakfastMiles Davis: A quirk in his recording contract made him legally unable to turn down a push-up contestJohn Coltrane: Built an Olympic-size swimming pool and filled it with angry lions for him to swim-fight
Today, it's undeniable: Jazzercise is a worldwide empire, spanning more than 1,800 locations and 32,000 weekly classes across the globe. It's also hip; gone are the leotards and legwarmers of the 1980s, replaced with a high-intensity blend of cardio, strength training, kickboxing and power yoga performed to hits by chart-toppers from Shakira to Justin Timberlake. The class formats, which vary according to different toning goals, are just as diverse as the program's move set, with recent additions such as Fusion, Core, and Strike broadening the workouts' variety and application. Instructors cultivate a noncompetitive atmosphere where all exercisers?with the exception of those marked as cursed by jazz-hand palm readers?are welcome regardless of age, build, or fitness background. This sense of community keeps Jazzercise devotees coming back, but so too do the results; benefits ranging from weight loss and boosted core strength to increased flexibility and stress relief.
Jazzercise's continued success can be traced to the innovation of its founder, Judi Sheppard Missett. While teaching jazz dance in the 1960s, she
decided to step away from tradition by offering an experimental class that allowed her students to simply dance without the judgment of mirrors or the constraints of rigid technique. Little
did she know that this ?just for fun? class was the prototype for what would become the Jazzercise sensation.
Nobody envies the punching bags that hang along the wall at CrossFit 43123. The poor sacks take a constant beating from students who pound and kick them into submission. The only relief comes after these students have worked up a sweat and moved on to plyometric boxes, raised bars, and jump ropes.
The atmosphere at CrossFit 43123 is typically charged, thanks to intense workouts that change constantly and offer little room for idleness. That said, the gym's instructors pride themselves on supporting students during workouts by shouting words of motivation and pointing out slippery banana peels.
Members at Curves, a fitness center designed exclusively for women, rotate around a circuit of hydraulic resistance machines that have been designed to work with female bodies and promote weight loss, protect against osteoporosis, and manage arthritis. An experienced trainer is always nearby to help to manage participants’ machine maneuvering and muscle making. Instead of fiddling with weight stacks and losing momentum, the hydraulic machines use your own body weight, fitness level, and aerodynamic water bottle to create resistance that matches abilities, decreasing the risk of soreness or injury. Because traditional lifting and lowering motions create bulky muscles, each machine uses pushing and pulling motions to develop toned, lean muscles perfect for crushing a grapefruit without looking like you can.