Time is a wild concept. Years feel like lifetimes ago, and days ago at the same time. I blink and it’s been a day but the minutes felt long.
Thinking about celebrating 9 Years of H2L is a wild concept. I can’t remember life without this place yet at the same time 9 feels like a huge number!
What’s even more wild, is where we started, and where we are. So before we can start to creep into our 10th year, and what’s the horizon for us, we need to take a second and celebrate where we’ve been and all the changes year 9 brought us.
Picture it… it’s 2015.
We’re all passing phones around debating over the color of “the dress”. We are dumping cold water on our heads as a part of the Ice Bucket Challenge for ASL. Fifty Shades of Gray the movie was on the big screen. Songs like “Uptown Funk”, “Hello”, “Cheerleader” and “Shut Up and Dance With Me” are hits on the radio. Everyone started getting Snap Chat on their phones and Taylor Swift just released 1989, when she only had 5 albums out.. instead of the 9 she has today.
And at the same time, Don and Jeanne Farinelli are looking at an empty commercial rental space wondering if this would work for a boutique fitness studio. Spoiler alert, it did.
We took a few local fitness instructors we knew well and talked about what the single unit could be. We all taught different class styles, so we knew if we pulled our knowledge we could offer a wide variety. We started with 4 Pilates reformers on the left side of the room and a single barre on the right side of the room. The right side would be for Yoga, Mat Pilates, and Barre.
Can you see the reformers on the left side?! That’s how big our space was when we first opened!
There were days we had 8-10 people and had to move the reformers out of the way to fit them for yoga classes. It was cozy, but we knew after a few months we had something special.
In 2016, The 2 spaces next door were also for lease so after a year we decided to expand. Our wide variety of offerings was about to grow with a room specific for Pilates (no more moving reformers), a bootcamp room, and a state-of-the-art cycle studio. The original space allowed for more barre and more clients in classes. We were so excited that we could be a truly full-service fitness studio. We also added 2 private rooms for massage, reiki, and reflexology.
The day all of our bikes were delivered!
The cycle was a hit, our 9 bikes were always full. So the next year we expanded and bought 9 more. 18 people packed the Cycle Room, and as the only Cycle Studio on the west shore at the time we loved introducing people to this amazing cardio workout that could be fun.
Can you even recognize this room?! Bootcamp/TRX pre TRX.
Our square footage and our team were both growing and we loved the larger community we were building.
Anyone remember when the lockers were on the opposite side? We moved them to fit the Personal Training Equipment and now the Kettlebells live there.
In 2018, we added TRX to our space, a great strength option to complement the yoga, barre, Pilates, and Cycle that was established.
In 2019 we focused on some really fun events, all of which we plan to bring back this year- paddle boarding, kids classes, hiking, and more!
2020 we were unstoppable, until you know we were. But let’s focus on the addition of virtual streaming classes that are still around today. Clients who travel or can’t get to the studio love still taking advantage of these! We offer a few during the week.
2021 we spent picking up the pieces Covid left behind.
In late 2021 (December) we added personal training and built out the TRX room with squat racks, leg presses, and a bunch of new equipment. This was a great addition as so many clients needed and wanted the one-on-one attrition personal training offers.
You can see some of the equipment that is now in the Personal Training Studio hiding in the Bootcamp room!
In 2023 we added a fifth reformer to our Pilates room and those classes you can’t sign up for fast enough! They are such a hit. If you haven’t tried it yet I’d recommend it 10/10! We have more plans to add team members and more classes in that room so stay tuned!
And our latest expansion into a new space that requires a full remodel of two spaces. We moved the barre and yoga room, giving it a fresh feel, and changed our old barre and yoga room into a sweet personal training studio. We just recently expanded our training team and have a ton of openings and new series coming up! I can’t wait to see what this new room and dedicated team of trainers can do.
Even since this photo has been taken we have added new and better equipment!
So that’s that. That’s 9 years of challenges, of growing, of decisions, of community, of friendships, of changes. The path we’ve been on has brought us here, approaching year 10 with heads full of ideas, hearts full of joy, and rooms full of like-minded, kind people who make this community one of a kind.
I am on cloud nine as we head into our Open House weekend. I’m thankful to be here, I’m thankful you’ve read this far, and I’m thankful we get to throw down on April 6th to celebrate. See you then!
You can look back at my past reflections here!
Year 1: 1 Year at H2L: What I’ve Learned
Year 2: A true list of what I love about H2L
Year 3: Change is Good! We’ve all had to try something new at some point
Year 4: Our team of instructors, the masters of their craft
Year 5: We support each other in each stage of life
Year 6: We’ve survived.
Year 7: Why Community Matters
Year 8: Connections