For seven years, Annapolis Athletic Club has earned What's Up? Annapolis magazine's award for Best Annapolis Gym, and a quick walk around the 20,000-square-foot fitness club is enough to see why. Welcoming grunts emanate from workout rooms as first-time visitors make their way along rows of strength and cardio equipment, through stylish specialty fitness studios, and into a full-service dressing room complete with a sauna and steam room.

When they aren’t working with clients in one-on-one personal training sessions. Gym’s experienced instructors fill their schedules with more than 60 group-fitness classes a week. All group fitness classes are included in membership, including Barre (which is often extra at other clubs and studios). Coffee and towels are also complimentary. After particularly grueling workouts, certified massage therapists ease sore muscles with various modalities of therapeutic and restorative massage. Parents can attend personal consultations with staff after sending their kids off to an interactive childcare center complete with fun crafts and video games with weighted, barbell-shaped controllers.