Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Fort Collins. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Nick George helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Fort Collins, Colorado.
Is your business serving the residents of Fort Collins? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpFortCollins.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
E24: Beyond Pilates: The Legree Method Changing Lives in Northern Colorado
Step into the world of innovative fitness as we meet the dynamic trio behind Fit5 Studio—Wendy DiMartino, Kelsey Miles, and Kelsey Vance. Their story is nothing short of inspirational: three passionate fitness enthusiasts who purchased a studio during the height of the COVID pandemic and transformed it into a thriving community with locations in both Fort Collins and Windsor, Colorado.
The Legree method they teach offers something truly unique in the fitness landscape. Performed on specialized Megaformer machines, it delivers high-intensity, low-impact workouts focused primarily on strength training. What sets Fit5 apart is their warm welcome to absolute beginners—no special introductory classes required. Anyone can walk in and join any session regardless of experience level. This accessibility breaks down the intimidation barrier that prevents many from trying new fitness approaches.
Beyond the physical benefits, Fit5 Studio has evolved into a genuine community hub. As Wendy vulnerably shares, the studio became her sanctuary during personal hardships, and many clients find that same support system within its walls. "The workout is challenging and the most rewarding thing you do, and you come back for the community," perfectly captures their philosophy. Whether you're a fitness enthusiast looking for a sustainable, joint-friendly workout or someone seeking both physical challenge and meaningful connections, Fit5 Studio offers a refreshing approach to wellness that extends far beyond exercise. Ready to transform your fitness journey? Check out their website or follow @Fit5Studio on Instagram to learn more about joining this vibrant fitness community.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of an exciting fitness studio? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, wendy DiMario, and her two other business owners, kelsey and Kelsey, with Fit5 Studio. Wendy, kelsey and Kelsey, how's it going?
Speaker 3:Good. How are you today?
Speaker 2:Good, excellent. We're excited to learn all about you and your business. Tell us about your fitness studio.
Speaker 3:Well, thanks for having us. I'll get started and I'll let Kelsey and Kelsey jump in. We are the owners of Fit5 Studio. We are based in Fort Collins and we also have a studio in Windsor and we teach the Legree method. The Legree method is done on a megaformer machine. Some people like to compare it to Pilates. It's similar, but it definitely has its differences. It's a high intensity, low impact workout for all ages, any type of fitness level. We work with all different types of people coming into our studio that are interested in taking care of themselves and evolving their fitness regime. I'll let maybe Kelsey Bantz or Kelsey jump in with any ads.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so Legree is a strength training based method, so that's a major difference from Pilates. So what we teach is all based on strength training.
Speaker 2:How did you get into the business?
Speaker 3:Good question.
Speaker 3:So Kelsey Miles and I were both clients at the studio prior to owning it and Kelsey Vance was an instructor at that studio.
Speaker 3:And during COVID, the previous owner, who was the sole proprietor, decided that she wanted to sell the business. And Kelsey Miles and I said we did not want the studio to go out of business, have any chance of it closing, did not want the studio to go out of business, have any chance of it closing, and so we knew that Kelsey Vance was interested in potentially owning a studio herself. So the three of us got together and, in a very serendipitous type of way, decided to buy the studio from the previous owner. So we bought the studio in the midst of COVID, so it was in November of 2020, which I think we all like to say. It was a little bit of a risk for us to do so, but it has worked out really well. Obviously, being able to grow the studio now to a second location speaks to the fact that the three of us, I think, had a passion for Legree and the Fit5 business itself and have done really, really well in growing it and expanding it in the Northern Colorado community.
Speaker 2:What are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 4:I would say that you have to know what you're doing. To take your first class, that's really good. Yeah, some people always you know they always get phone calls Like I've never done this before, is that okay? Do I have to take a special class or anything like that before? And absolutely not. You can come in as a beginner and take any class you want on our schedule. Um, so it's very beginner friendly and you can be doing this for years and years and years and still get that challenging workout. So I think people when they think of you know trying something new, they're very hesitant because they've never done it before. So I think a misconception is that a beginner can't do something new.
Speaker 2:Who are your target customers and how do you attract them now?
Speaker 3:That's a great question, kelsey Miles, you go.
Speaker 5:I would say our ideal client is well, typically it's women. Women are just known to do fitness group fitness classes more than men, but we do have men that take our classes, but ideally it's a woman, usually in her would say over 35 to 50 is kind of our demographic Right. It's low impact, so we're looking for longevity of our bodies. Typically it's it's somebody that just really wants to push themselves physically, mentally, physically, mentally. It's a tough workout and even though you're in a group setting, it's really like focused on yourself and where you want to be and how hard you want to make it. So, yeah, do you guys have something to add? No, I think that's good.
Speaker 2:Oh, go ahead, Keep going.
Speaker 3:No, no, that was good. That was a great answer, I concur.
Speaker 2:Outside of work. What do each of you do for fun?
Speaker 5:I'll go, first Things, outdoors hiking, skiing, reading, spending time with my family, my kids.
Speaker 4:Yeah, same thing outside. I mean, we live in Colorado so it's always something to do. A lot of pickleball in my family, always at the park playing pickleball, especially in the summertime.
Speaker 3:And I would say for me again outdoors, colorado fitness, riding my bike.
Speaker 2:I'm just being outside and spending time with my family as well okay, unless somebody else wants to answer this, I'm going to direct the question towards Wendy. Please describe a hardship or life challenge you overcame and how it made you stronger. What comes to mind?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a good question. I think anytime that there's loss in your personal life and that can be through death or relationships I think it teaches you to dig deep and find strength. And I know that for myself and I'm going to tie this back to the business my a way for me to have gotten through those types of situations has been to I escaped by going to fit five and even though it's my business and I own it, I obviously work out there and it's a community-based business and my community at Fit5, inclusive of my business owners, really helped me get through some challenging times. And I think there's a lot of our clients who have found that community within the walls of our studio to where they're faced with whether they're challenges of loss it could even be a loss of a job, anything like that. There's an aspect of the people that are at and go to our studio that really care about each other and that helps them get through it.
Speaker 3:And I'm going to flip it to say, on the opposite side, it's also a place where we celebrate wonderful things together. So you know, this past weekend was the Colorado State University graduation. There's a lot of clients that came in to say that their kids graduated and we're all there to help celebrate and help. You know to support one another in good times and bad times. So for me it was. You know Fit5 was a grounding space for me through some really difficult times.
Speaker 2:Wendy or one of the Kelseys, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Fit5 Studio.
Speaker 4:The workout is challenging and the most rewarding thing you do and you come back for the community.
Speaker 2:the workout is challenging and the most rewarding thing you do and you come back for the community. Yeah, how can our listeners learn more about Fit5 Studio?
Speaker 5:You can visit our website. It has all the information about what Liguri is our schedule. Same with social media. You can follow us on Instagram at Fit5Studio. That's where we post a lot of what's going on for the week, for the month. You can also join our email list through our website. That's where you get a ton of information of all of our special events, special sales, everything like that goes out. Email first.
Speaker 2:Well, ladies, I really appreciate you being on the show and we wish you and your business the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you for inviting us. We appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Fort Collins dot com. That's GNP Fort Collins dot com, or call 970-438-0825.