Ridgefield resident expands holistic fitness studio in town: ‘I have been blessed’
RIDGEFIELD — A private gym that has survived the pandemic has a new address in town.
Last summer, Stephanie Weiss Training and Coaching relocated from Ethan Allen Highway into a larger space on Danbury Road to serve more clients and expand its menu of health and wellness offerings.
Weiss, the eponymous owner, has raised her two children in Ridgefield for the past 22 years. She credits the success — and survival — of her boutique business to the support of the community.
The pandemic “made me realize that all these years I’ve been working as a sole proprietor, it really was the community that kept me afloat,” she said. “This is an opportunity to give back to the community what was given to me.”
Weiss holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in counseling. Her career as a personal trainer began 12 years ago after she took a Strong Interest Inventory test.
The assessment helps people match their interests with potential educational, career and leisure activities. By assessing one’s preferences in a variety of areas, it aids participants in discovering what they’d most enjoy doing with their work and free time.
Weiss uses this assessment, as well as the MyersBriggs Type Indicator, to help her clients identify potential barriers they may face while achieving their fitness goals. Whether they want to lose weight, get fit and stay fit, or make a lifestyle change, the tools provide
a different approach to do so.
The new location has enabled Weiss to expand her coaching practice, where she works with clients one-onone so they can more effectively set and maintain goals. And while she uses traditional training methods to yield results, the space itself is anything but.
The gym is set up in a building from the 1700s. Weiss gave the front door a new paint job when she moved in, which evokes a warm, golden yellow.
“You feel like you’re working out … at home, which is atypical of a gym,” she added. “It’s a juxtaposition of what people think fitness is gonna be.”
Weiss also invites practitioners to the studio that specialize in different services, including a massage therapist, a stretch therapist and a private yoga instructor. Clients will soon be able to attend group yoga sessions as well as community
meetings, which are intended to sow connections, Weiss said.
As the pandemic persists, Weiss hopes her business can continue to be a place of healing.
“People suffered not only financially but physically and spiritually, and the tidal wave is not done hitting,” she said. “People who were not able or not ready to deal with … the trauma, those are the people who are coming in now.
“I tell all of my clients that this is a reciprocal relationship — it’s a give and take,” she continued. “I have been blessed with the clients that have come through my doors.”