With her headset and microphone on and an upbeat remix of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” blasting in the background, Michelle Pretekin instructs me and about 20 other women though a workout that would have my calves, thighs and quads burning for days. After spending years listening to overweight coaches scream in my ear that I wasn’t lifting enough, running quick enough or shooting enough – while they stood idly to the side – seeing Fit Girl Studio owner Pretekin encourage her fatigued clientele as she wiped sweat from her own brow was an unfamiliar yet welcome change.
Since it opened in October 2011, Fit Girl Studio has drawn a wide range of patrons in the North Shore area, with over 500 women checking in for classes weekly. From Northwestern students to stay-at-home moms, the downtown Evanston studio offers a variety of workouts that attract women of all ages, shapes and sizes.
“I wanted to open Fit Girl Studio because I really saw the need for a specialized studio designed particularly for women that did more than just one thing really well,” Pretekin says. “I wished for somewhere that had it all at one place. So that’s where I came up with the idea, and it’s really worked really well thus far.”
Often, following spinning Pretekin and the other instructors recommend participants to stretch out or take a yoga class, since it offers a post-workout stretch while still working the core muscles that can be missed during spinning workouts. Pretekin learned these tricks while studying physiology at Ohio University and bytaking numerous exercise classes. Her physiology degree coupled with her passion for yoga, barre and spinning led her to open her own studio.
Pretekin says she appreciates the diverse group of local women that attend classes at the studio.
“If you come into a class you will see people who are maybe a freshman in college working out next to someone who has lived in Evanston for 50 or 60 years,” Pretekin says.
Instructors at Fit Girl Studio, including Pretekin, understand the woman’s body and cater to its needs with their personalized workout classes centralized around barre, spin and yoga.
“Each instructor that works here really brings in their personality, because everyone really uses their own creativity to make their classes unique,“ says Fit Girl instructor Ashley Gross. “We’re not core power or a daily method where it’s a franchise, where they want the business to have a cookie cutter layout or mold, and I think that is what makes us stand out."
Classes include Barre, Spin45, Ballet Conditioning, Yoga + Sculpt, Candlelight Yoga, Yoga Flow 1 and Dance Party Yoga, with all classes suitable for both beginners and advanced participants. With classes such as Dance Party Yoga, participants are able to engage in yoga while dancing around to the latest pop music. Meanwhile in Candlelight Yoga, clients are able to relax in a soothing environment of flickering candles and soothing music. Salutations are performed at a slower place, which allows for a softer workout. Classes average around 60 minutes in length; customers also have the ability to schedule appointments online or over the phone.
“We don’t ever want the body to plateau, so you constantly have to introduce new techniques, new moves and challenge the body to go further, so we add in a ton of different classes that are cardio based, strength based and yoga based on mediation,” says Fit Girl Studio instructor Amanda Gross. “We believe at Fit Girl that you need all three of those different tools to kind of build a perfectly toned body.”
Clients such as Northwestern student and Communication freshman Sarah Loughman are seeing the efficiency of these workouts and are becoming daily visitors at the studio.
“I tried a lot of other classes at different places like SPAC and LA Fitness and nothing has been as varied and effective,” Loughman says. “Most of all I just feel motivated to work out there and to push myself.”