No pain, no gain
Trends in physical fitness offered at local businesses
By Linda Saulnier
Townsman Correspondent
Rob Shapiro, 31, opened BodyScapes in Playhouse Square in April. BodyScapes specializes in private, one-on-one personal training programs and custom fitness plans. Wellesley is Shapiro's second location. He opened BodyScapes in Newtonville three years ago. He has a staff of 12 instructors with varying fitness expertise. Many have four-year college degrees in some form of exercise science, physical therapy or athletic training, and some have six-year degrees.
Shapiro is a graduate of Union College, where he majored in history and political science. While managing a health club, he did what managers often do when they are running a business for someone else-he took note of what he would do differently. What caught Shapiro's attention was the reluctance of some people who were overweight or out of shape to exercise next to buff 20-somethings. He developed concept oriented more toward a spa than a health club based on a quiet, personal-training environment. He wrote a business plan and, with a loan from the Small Business Administration, opened his first BodyScapes location on Walnut Street in Newton.
Shapiro, who grew up in Newton Center, said his Newton location has doubled its growth annually in revenue and membership every year since it opened. When a significant number of clients from Wellesley began making appointments, Shapiro went back to the SBA, secured another loan and opened his second facility in Playhouse Square. It has 2,700 square feet, showers and lockers and exercise equipment. New clients start with a consultation to discuss any cardiac issues or other risk factors, past injuries and whether the person exercises. "We deal with a highly educated client because education and fitness go hand in hand," Shapiro said. Shapiro's client Maureen Phillips began a personal fitness program at BodyScapes three years ago to redirect her energy after years of working 50 to 60 hours a week as an attorney.
"I was working like a lunatic and my mother and one of my sons would both need me for something important on the same day, and they were not even living in the same state," Phillips said. She needed a stress buster and a morale builder. BodyScapes provided both, she said. Phillips said BodyScapes appealed to her because it offered personal training. "I thought, maybe if I made an appointment to exercise with a personal trainer, I would stick to it and I have," she said. "The trainers are wonderful--never intimidating or obnoxious." She credits Shapiro for the staff's friendly attitude. "I would crawl in at 6 a.m. and say, 'Just pretend there is a bag over my head.' Then, after my workout, I'd shower and get dressed for work and their reaction was, 'Oh my gosh,' and I would say, ' I know, the monster is gone.'" Soon, she began to feel better about herself. "A glass of wine or a long bath doesn't have the same impact as a 150-pound leg press," Phillips confessed. "Now, I feel like a new woman, even though I will turn 50 later this year. I ski better at 49 than I did at 39. My goal is to run the Boston Marathon next year."
