New Workout Center Opens With a Ready Clientele

On Fire 4 Fitness—a new fitness studio aimed at serving women in the Prince Rodgers Avenue and Foothill Road neighborhoods—is like a famous TV bar where "everybody knows your name."

"Norma" wouldn't be too surprised to hear her name called out when she comes in, even though the center opened only four days ago: nearly half of the center's clients are former members of Just Right Fitness, which closed suddenly last year.

"It was devastating," Debbie Bischoff, a manager at Just Right Fitness said.

She said "everyone was crying" when the studio was unexpectedly shut down in the middle of the day (although the owners had already announced it was scheduled to close about a week later).

"That club had a membership of 180 ladies—and they were devastated," the center's co-owner, Brenda Linton, added, pointing out the Prince Rogers Road location made it a popular place for residents of the nearby Centerbridge II retirement community. "It was more than a place to go for exercise. These women were cared for."

Which is why Linton and business partner Myla Groth, longtime friends who have worked together on many projects through Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, in Somerville, enjoyed working out—and later working—at Just Right Fitness, too.

Linton, a retired Hillsborough teacher, and Groth, a systems analyst, soon decided to go into business themselves, and found a new location a few doors down at 1329 Prince Rodgers Avenue for their own center, On Fire 4 Fitness. 

While they've acquired all new exercise equipment, and rebuild the Miami Tanning location to better suit their needs, the center has opened with one important carry-over from the shuttered center: about half of On Fire 4 Fitness' current clientele are former friends and members.

Clean wood floors and brightly colored walls bring an airy openness to the center, with the new equipment lining the walls. Groth noted the equipment was selected specifically for the women who had been working out at the other location.

"We needed to use something similar because that's what the ladies are used to," she said. 

It's evident as a steady stream of women enter the center, heading straight for the workout equipment—but stopping a chatting with familiar faces along the way. Happy to get back on a workout routine they're already familiar with—with people whose names they already know—the past-and-once-again clientele is giving the new center a strong start. 

"Everybody's just been waiting for this place to open," Bischoff said. 

Groth and Linton are planning on expanding the services and workout options at the center to draw more customers, with plans for Zumba, pilates and chair yoga classes, as well as personalized workout to follow physical rehab and other individualized training sessions available.

The center is open from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, with slightly shorter weekend hours currently. For more information, call 908-393-6510—or stop by.