The Member Experience

Tracy Mcllroy has enjoyed taking yoga classes upwards of four times per week at Pura Vida Fitness & Spa...(click above to view article) [...]

Cornelia Mills joined New York Health & Racquet Club and fell in love with Aquacise, a water aerobics class...(click above to view article) [...]

Tamar Rafaeli, 52, is a proud member of “The Back Row Gang,” at Merritt Athletic Club in Towson, Md. Although “gang” is a word usually synonymous with something nefarious, Rafeili assured me her gang is quite harmless. “We older gals that take the class stand in the back and call ourselves ‘The Back Row Gang,’” [...]

Amelia Zupan joined the Crunch Fitness, in West Hollywood, Calif., in June of 2012. At the time of joining she never would have imagined that, in a few months, she’d be running an ultra marathon through the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest with her Crunch personal trainer, Matt Aikin. Zupan’s journey started when a friend suggested she [...]

Before Jake Blanchard joined the Powerhouse Gym in downtown Tampa Bay, Fla., he had been no stranger to exercise. A participant of triathlons, Blanchard knew how to workout at a high intensity, especially when it came to cardio. However, after he and his wife had their first baby, Blanchard’s workouts slacked off, and he gained [...]

The first thing Kay Hart noticed when she walked into the Retro Fitness in East Norriton, Pa., was its cleanliness. “It was really clean, bright and new, and that was really attractive to me,” she said. According to Hart, other gyms she had been to were untidy, which was an extreme turnoff. “Cleanliness for me [...]

Donna Claybrook, 46, said she always had been a fan of fad diets and quick fixes. “Any dramatic measure to lose weight, I was willing to try,” she said. However, a quick fix became no longer an option after her doctor diagnosed her with hypertension. With her health compromised, Claybrook’s doctor placed her on medication [...]

Thomas McCarty, 59, moved to Anchorage, Alaska, also known as “The Last Frontier,” in 1977, and joined The Alaska Club...(click above to view article) [...]

Jamie Smithers, 36, and his son, James Smithers, 12, have always been fans of the outdoors. Avid campers and hikers, they took their fandom to the next level in June 2012 when they attempted to climb their way to the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro — the highest mountain in Africa. An eight-day trek (six days [...]

Around 18 months ago, Becky Woodington, 56, was diagnosed with severe spinal stenosis, anteriorlisthesis and degenerative disc disease — conditions that affected her back and caused her to be in chronic pain. Instead of seeking relief from her discomfort through medication, Woodington looked for ways to seek relief through exercise. A 15-year member at the [...]