Susan McGurn and Maria Ochavsky-Gomez spent nearly a decade working together in new age fitness training before combining their talents to open Body in Balance in Mineola last November.
McGurn had previously supervised exercise programs for Valley Total Fitness in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Westchester and Long Island. Ochavsky-Gomez had worked under McGurn full-time as a group exercise coordinator for four years and had continued working for her on a part-time basis after taking a position as group exercise coordinator at Health Tracks in Garden City several years ago.
The two women were both seeking new challenges in their field, and circumstances brought them together in a partnership to open the new alternative fitness center at 258 Herricks Road.
“I was looking for something else to do. Maria was going to partner with somebody else and that didn’t work out,” McGurn said. “This is our passion.”
Body in Balance offers classes in yoga for all levels of ability, yoga tune-up, zumba, pilates and pilates reformer.
“We’re very accustomed to teaching multi-level people. We’re able to multi-task,” McGurn said.
Ochavsky-Gomez figured to draw some of her clients from Health Tracks in nearby Garden City. Both women saw the opportunity to fill what they perceived as a void for a fitness center focused on the disciplines they offer in the area.
Parking in the area hasn’t posed a problem at the new location. Many of their clients walk to the classes.
Saturdays are Body in Balance’s busiest days and they also offer Sunday morning classes. Weekday classes are offered in the morning and the evening.
“Yoga over the past 10 or 15 years has been growing. So has pilates,” said McGurn. “Pilates reformer isn’t available everywhere.”
PIlates reformer provides finely tuned exercise resistance on a bench apparatus that allows one to work very precisely to develop good alignment, core strength, and flexibility.
Body in Balance offers daily classes in yoga, zumba and pilates. Pilates reformer, in 10-session increments, is offered by appointment.
“The zumba classes are very popular. That’s the fastest-growing right now,” said McGurn, who said they typically run classes of 20 people.
Yoga and pilates classes typically contain five or 10 people.
“People can just walk in. They don’t have to pre-register,” Ochavsky-Gomez said.
McGurn said the work is particularly rewarding when clients tell the teachers that they’ve helped them solve a particular physical problem.
“It’s about teaching people and helping people,” she said. “When people come in, they feel good.”
Responding to a suggestion from high school girls taking zumba classes, Body in Balance has scheduled a Zumba Dance Party for teens aged 13 to 18 on Friday, June 15 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission is $15. A Summer Heat Zumba Party with guest instructor Raphael Francois, will follow on Friday, June 22 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with pre-registration suggested by June 15.
Member fees for that event is $15 with a non-member fee of $20. Admission that night is $25.
Body in Balance is also offering a Summer Solstice 2-for-1 promotion with two people sharing the price of 10 classes for $120.
For information about classes and rates are available on the fitness center’s Web site, www.bodyinbalanceli.com, or by calling 516-747-4997.
