The Mile High City is bursting with ways to tone your tummy (and your thighs, and your biceps). Every month, new fitness studios open—all with methods sworn to revolutionize the way you work out. While they can’t all be the right fit for everyone, it’s worth giving them a try. (Plus, we can never have too many exercises in our repertoire, right?) We’ve decided to explore as many as we can, one by one, to help break down your options—and hopefully help our readers find the workouts that work for them. No more excuses: Your perfect fitness regimen is waiting for you.


Class: Manic Training

Sweat Meter (1–10): 6–8, depending on your speed and the amount of weight you choose

Instructor: Peter Beuth, surfer, skier (he used to be a photographer for cat-skiing operation Steamboat Powdercats), and the nephew of Dave Barnes, who helped turn Manic Training into a franchise after the original location’s success in Steamboat Springs

Format: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), or short spurts of intense exercises followed by active recovery movements, that runs the equipment gamut. A recent class featured work with slam balls, rowing machines, kettlebells, free weights, step platforms, and suspension training straps, as well as body-weight exercises, but SkiErgs, Airdyne exercise bikes, battle ropes, yoga balls, and more also line the bright orange walls of the one-room gym. The regimen’s designed to be done three times a week—Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and Friday or Saturday—so you can skip Tuesday’s class knowing you already did that workout Monday (if you were that ambitious). Your three classes in a week, though, could be (and often are) entirely different. Even if, say, the rowing machine is incorporated every time, you might be on it for 350 meters as part of a set one day and then try to burn 30 calories on it the next.

The self-explanatory Manic Lite lasts 45 minutes, while the flagship class, Manic Training, spans an hour, with participants completing more sets of exercises or longer ones.

What it’ll (allegedly) do: Increase power, endurance, and strength (especially in your core muscles)

Why it works: Doing exercises that cross multiple planes of motion work muscles that are normally stagnant; the variety means your body doesn’t get accustomed to any one routine; and the HIIT method is thought to increase metabolism by changing how much oxygen your body needs at different points in the workout.

What you’ll need: A water bottle—and a mirror if you like to watch yourself work out, since that’s the one thing you won’t find at Manic. Towels, mats, and all other necessary equipment are provided.

Where it’s offered: The new Highlands Ranch location at East County Line Road and South University Boulevard as well as Steamboat Springs. There are also locations on the East Coast, in East Greenwich and Wakefield, Rhode Island.

Price: A drop-in class is $16, but you can choose the pricing method that works for you, whether it’s a week of sessions at a time ($45) or an unlimited monthly membership for which you auto-pay ($120). Check the website for other options.

Favorite moves: Anything that works multiple parts of your body. For example: Position a kettlebell on the ground between your ankles; walk your hands out and do a pushup; walk them back in, grab the kettlebell and lift it to your chin; squat and then press up; lower the kettlebell and do a reverse lunge on either side; return the kettlebell to the ground and repeat for a total of six reps.

Instructor insight: “An 80-year-old can be working out next to an elite athlete here,” Beuth says. “And it never gets easier for either of them because they can just add more weight or go faster.”

Doesn’t sound like the right fit? Check back next week as we explore other fitness classes in the Denver area.

Follow Mary Clare Fischer on Twitter at @mc_fischer.