Group Fitness: Find Your Fit in Charlotte
Charlotte offers a variety of organizations and studios that have a family atmosphere, so you can get fit while being social.
by Arden McLaughlin Apr 24, 2018
Group exercise keeps you accountable to your fitness plan and makes every workout a lot more fun. Charlotte offers a variety of organizations and studios that have a family atmosphere, so you can get fit while being social. It’s the best of both worlds!
Work For Your Beer is an umbrella group that brings together thousands of people for free and cheap yoga classes, run clubs and other fitness events at beer-related venues throughout the city. (A little yoga and kombucha at Lenny Boy Brewing Co., anyone?) The events are all-inclusive; meaning you can be in peak condition or brand new to fitness and you’ll find a spot for yourself at any Work For Your Beer-sponsored event. Come early to ensure you get a good spot, and stay after to meet a few new friends.
If your fitness routine depends on an array of scheduled classes and encouraging instructors, check out Flywheel Sports. Boasting some of the top instructors in Charlotte, the studio offers both cycle (Flywheel) and barre (Flybarre) classes, a combination that provides the perfect mix of intense cardio work and long, lean muscle development. Classes are offered between 5:30 a.m. and around 7:30 p.m. In addition to cheering in classes, the community supports one another #FlyFam style, aka through social media shout outs.
Equally supportive and raucous is The JAM: CLT, a group that brings cutting-edge dance classes to people of all ages and fitness levels to locations across the city. (“JAM” stands for “Just Add Music.”) If you’re picturing Richard Simmons’ “Sweatin’ to the Oldies,” don’t—you’ll hear everything from Beyoncé to Frank Sinatra to Hamilton at these cardo-driven powwows. The JAM says “it’s not your great-aunt’s Zumba class,” and its participants have lost more than one-thousand pounds over the years through its confidence-building community.
Looking for a specific sport? Groups like Charlotte Running Club meet at breweries and restaurants throughout the city and the suburbs. It’s free to join—simply find a time and place on the organization’s website that works for you, then arrive five or 10 minutes before the start to introduce yourself. Cyclists can also scout local rides at weeklyrides.com, which aggregates mountain and road biking gatherings as well as those touring the city. Don’t forget to look up athletic groups on Meetup; the social networking site brings together tennis players, in-line skaters, walkers and more.
