2018 People’s Choice: Health and Fitness

“The latest and greatest” is now open, says Gb3 owner George Brown. The new 50,000-square-foot Gb3 Super Club at Champlain Drive and Shepherd Avenue opened at the end of December with eight complete lines of circuit machines, group exercise classes, like cycle, Pilates, Zumba, yoga and kickboxing, giant LCD TVs throughout, a 75-foot indoor pool and sauna and a daycare with a four-level space maze for the kids (a nominal fee applies).

“The response has been tremendous,” Brown says, and if you’re already a Gb3 member, you’re welcome to use the Super Club at no additional cost.

The Super Club features new machines like a VersaClimber, and functional training areas allowing members to do CrossFit-style training with pulleys, balls, ropes and climbing apparatuses.

In addition to the new club, Gb3 boasts four more clubs throughout Fresno and Clovis. Each club offers more equipment choices than its competitors, Brown says.

“We keep all our equipment new, clean and up to date,” he says.

All clubs feature leading fitness equipment with brand names like Star Trac, BodyMaster, Precor, Cybex, Hoist Roc it and LifeFitness.

Working the late or swing shift? Gb3 at Milburn and Herndon avenues is open 24 hours four days a week. Other clubs are open for 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

“We give so much value for basically $1 a day,” Brown says. “We work really hard to please our members. Everything in the club is included [in the membership price]. And, members are in charge of their membership. They can freeze their membership any time.”

Gb3 offers a free one week trial for perspective members, who can sign up online or in the gym.

“It’s low-key — no pressure,” Brown says.

Stay tuned for more exciting news from Gb3 toward the end of the year.

Feel Good Chiropractic offers complete chiropractic care and massage therapy using a holistic approach.

“We treat every patient how we want to be treated,” says Dr. London Jones, D.C. “We treat all aspects of their problems. When they leave, we want them feeling better than when they came in.”

Feel Good Chiropractic appeals to all the senses in the human body, Jones says, with soft music, pleasant scents and a saltwater aquarium in the lobby.

“Right away, it puts their stress at ease,” Jones says. “It’s an escape. We’re like a chiropractic spa.”

The office features different stations that work patients’ muscles. There’s a table with massaging water jets (that won’t get you wet), a roller table, massage chairs, tables for electric stimulation and ultrasound machines. And, for a full head-to-toe massage, Feel Good Chiropractic has massage therapists on staff.

Jones has been practicing since 1996. He has treated patients of all ages, including patients who have been injured in auto accidents as well as athletes from high school to professionals.

Jones adjusts the full spine by using techniques to fit each individual on a patient-by-patient basis in order to achieve optimum results. He uses the Diversified technique, which is a combination of the top techniques commonly used in chiropractic institutions. He also adjusts the extremities (arms and legs). Every joint in the body can be adjusted through chiropractic.

“We accommodate the patient according to their needs,” Jones says. “We also give them the information and knowledge they seek.”

At Feel Good Chiropractic, patients can receive expert advice on diet, nutrition and exercise.

Jones has extensive post-doctoral training in different areas of chiropractic care.

“Our goal is to get the patient back to a quality lifestyle so they can enjoy life to the fullest,” Jones says.

Weight Watchers has always believed that dieting is just one part of long-term weight management. A healthy body results from a healthy lifestyle — which means mental, emotional and physical health. Weight Watchers does not tell members what they can or can’t eat. It provides information, knowledge, tools and motivation to help members make the decisions that are right for them about nutrition and exercise. It helps members make healthy eating decisions, and encourages them to enjoy themselves by becoming more active.

Weight Watchers recently launched the new WW Freestyle program. In a six-month clinical trial, participants who followed WW Freestyle saw great weight loss and impressive changes on and off the scale. The new program is still based on WW’s science-backed SmartPoints® system, which encourages members to eat more fruits, veggies, lean protein and less sugar and unhealthy fats.

New to the program are more than 200 zero Points foods, that you don’t ever have to portion or track.

Even Oprah endorses the new WW Freestyle program: “Less counting, more enjoying. I have never felt better!”

Nearly 60 years ago, Weight Watchers founder Jean Nidetch began inviting friends into her Queens home once a week, to discuss how best to lose weight. Today, that group of friends has grown to millions of women and men around the world who use the products and services of Weight Watchers to lose unwanted pounds. After that first Queens meeting, an estimated 1 million people, from Brazil to New Zealand, come together each week to help each meet their weight-loss goals at Weight Watchers meetings. And now, Weight Watchers is reaching others via the web at WeightWatchers.com.

Tracing its roots back more than 75 years, Eye Medical Center of Fresno is proud of its legacy. The founding eye doctors established a long tradition of high-quality eye care, and their professional prestige attracted the first doctors to the Central Valley with subspecialty training in retinal, corneal and oculoplastic surgery. The tradition of superior eye care continues today with 19 eye doctors currently practicing at the Eye Medical Center, making it one of the largest eye care medical facilities in the Central Valley. The fellowship trained doctors perform refractive laser eye surgeries (LASIK, PRK and Clear Lens Exchange), retinal vitreous surgery, corneal transplant surgery, cataract and glaucoma surgeries.

The optometrists at Eye Medical Center perform primary eye care exams, eyeglass and contact lens services, as well as medical eye examinations. The center has specialized pediatric ophthalmology, optometrists and optical staff specifically trained to work with children of all ages.

It is the mission of Eye Medical Center of Fresno to offer comprehensive personal eye care to patients of all ages in a dignified setting by specialists with the highest qualifications in the region. The eye care team provides comprehensive eye care services ranging from routine eye examinations to very complex medical and surgical eye needs.

Eye Medical Center also specializes cosmetic procedures, including brow lift, blepharoplasty, Botox, laser skin resurfacing, oculoplastic surgery, injectable fillers, Latisse and more.

Clovis Community Medical Center provides quality care and expanding patient services across a broad spectrum of medical needs. One of its latest projects is a 100,000-square-foot cancer center, scheduled for completion in the summer of 2018.

It will be the first of its kind in the Valley, says vice president John Strubert, who adds: “We are creating a seamless experience for our cancer patients using best practices to provide timely, coordinated and high-quality care.”

In one location, the center will provide imaging, radiation, chemotherapy and other vital services – all designed to ease a patient’s journey through treatment.

Clovis Community already has earned a reputation for excellent cancer treatment at its Marjorie E. Radin Breast Care Center. Patients find imaging, diagnostics, surgery, radiology, emotional support and other services under one roof.

Meanwhile, babies bring a joy to Clovis Community, and in fiscal year 2016, 5,508 babies were delivered there. The Leon S. and Pete P. Peters Future Generations Center serves Valley families with compassionate, personal care during their pregnancy and childbirth experience, says Bonnie Brock, assistant chief nursing officer.

She adds: “From prenatal testing to parent education to the big-day excitement of the baby’s birth, our nurses and doctors are here to give the best care possible to our growing community.”

Pacific Martial Arts offers students the opportunity to get a physical workout while learning self-defense skills.

Classes offer “a sense of community and allow students to overcome obstacles with the help of teammates,” says Matt Smith, owner of Pacific Martial Arts. “It helps them develop confidence through competence.”

The most popular classes are Brazilian jiu-jitsu, boxing, karate and muay Thai (Thai boxing). The classes challenge students physically and mentally as well as providing a balance of traditional martial arts and modern training, Smith says. “They’re also the arts that are widely used in MMA [mixed martial arts], so people are somewhat familiar with them,” he adds.

Pacific Martial Arts has a class in Samurai Combat Arts. It focuses on traditional Japanese swordsmanship and how those skills can be applied to modern self defense against knives or other weapons. “It’s a niche class, but students who do it love the class,” Smith says.

A variety of other classes are available:

▪  Wrestling, taught by Olympic silver medalist Stephen Abas.

▪  Historical European Martial Arts. Pacific Martial Arts is the only academy between the Bay Area and Los Angeles that offers the class, Smith says.

▪  Eskrima – a Philippine stick and knife martial art. The grand master who still teaches the class on occasion started training in 1941.

▪  Taekwondo – a traditional Korean martial art which combines kicking techniques and extreme flexibility.

Whole Body Boot Camp is a bit of a misnomer. Boot camp classes are offered, sure, but so are Pilates/bar fusion classes, cardio kickboxing, mobility classes, plus an indoor rowing team, run clubs and running clinics. Yoga, Spin and kettlebells are offered along with high fitness. The two-building “compound” also features an obstacle course training program.

“We bring the variety because it’s out there,” says owner Debbie Coate. “Our women, 35- to 60-year-olds, are more concerned with being healthier.”

Coate’s mission is to combine healthy habits with clean eating and fitness. Whole Body Boot Camp brings all three of those to the table.

Coate and her staff address the whole body by educating clients on the principles of clean eating without dieting through classes, blogs and recipes. They address healthy habits by educating clients on concepts like the importance of drinking water and getting enough sleep.

“It’s fitness with a purpose. Hence, ‘whole body,’ ” Coate says. And, they’re good at it.

Last year, Whole Body saw three to four people lose 100 pounds or more.

“Oodles hit 50 pounds,” Coate says, and even more hit a 25-pound loss.

Whole Body Boot Camp recently began collaborating with Ride 54.

“Cycling is the gold standard,” for cardiovascular improvement, Coate says, so joining with Ride 54 brings cycling to more people. Clients can workout at either or both Whole Body and Ride 54.

Another unique aspect of Whole Body Boot Camp is its indoor rowing team. The local team competes on Concept2 Rowers regionally, nationally and internationally.

Owner Britney Easton fell in love with yoga during a transitional period in her life. In 2010, she attended a teacher training and went on to teach in “really cool places, like Nice, France, and New York City,” she says.

“I always wanted to open my own studio,” so two weeks after moving home from France in 2013 to be with now-husband Mike, she bought Blue Moon Yoga.

So what makes Blue Moon Yoga different from other studios?

“The biggest difference is the heat — we heat the room to 105 degrees with 40 percent humidity,” Easton says.

This proven combination of heat and humidity increases your heart rate providing an incredible cardiovascular workout while increasing your metabolism. It also warms your muscles, making them more pliable, and makes you sweat (a lot) allowing you to release toxins, cleanse your body and melt away excess fat.

“Once you get used to the heat, it just works,” Easton says. “Try it, feel it for yourself.”

Easton, who runs the studio with husband Mike, is proud to have some of the finest, most experienced yoga instructors the Valley has to offer. With decades of combined experience, the staff provides a warm, welcoming environment to all.

Low lights give Blue Moon Yoga a relaxed atmosphere.

“It feels private — it’s not as intimidating,” Easton says.

Blue Moon Yoga is the only yoga studio in the Central Valley that teaches the 26 and 2 series (based on the Bikram Method). This systematic practice taught by certified instructors is a series of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises designed to work and recharge every single muscle, organ, cell, system, ligament, tendon, bone and joint in the body all while melting away excess pounds.

The studio added Inferno Hot Pilates classes in January, which complement the yoga practice.

“Yoga is growing in popularity in Fresno, and it’s really exciting to see,” Easton says.

Blue Moon will open a second location soon in the Trading Post Shopping Center at Clovis and Herndon avenues.

This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 6:00 PM with the headline "2018 People’s Choice: Health and Fitness."