By Andy Warrener
Getting into shape shouldn’t be torture. Yet, on the other hand, if your instructor isn’t pushing you, it can be difficult to attain your fitness goals. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a place that struck a balance between the two?
Tucked into the Shoppes at New Tampa Plaza on the southeast corner of S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in Wesley Chapel, a place like that just happens to exist.
Pura Cycling Studio, a locally–owned fitness center, aims to get clients sweating off those extra pounds with a good workout burn, mixing a small comfortable setting with just the right amount of intensity.
“We try to present a welcoming, relaxing environment where it’s not so intense and overwhelming, but where people can still achieve results,” co–founder Stephanie Carroccetto says.
Stephanie and her husband Alfio opened Pura Cycling Studio in November of 2012 when they were only dating, and they didn’t draw up the concept out of thin air. They say they were inspired after a trip to South America.
“I did some volunteer work in college in Costa Rica and I fell in love with the people there,” Stephanie says. “They know when to play hard and when to work hard, too. I wanted to bring that type of feeling back here.”
The mantra in Costa Rica is “Pura Vida,” which translates literally from Spanish as “pure life.”
However, Pura Vida is more of a concept, a philosophy, an idea. Stephanie was so taken by the concept that it made its way into the name of their new business.
When the Carroccettos opened the studio, it was just that, purely an indoor cycling facility. Over the last three+ years, however, Pura has grown into a multi-faceted fitness and nutrition center. Pura now employs or contracts out 10 different trainers of varying fitness disciplines. All instructors have to be certified by a nationally -accredited association and also be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
“After more than three years of training in Wesley Chapel, and helping hundreds of people lose weight and feel better about their lives, I couldn’t be happier with what Pura has become,’’ says Alfio. “It’s truly amazing to be able to do this as a lifestyle.”
Indoor cycling is still the primary program at Pura, but the Carroccettos and their studio also now offer resistance and strength training, as well as yoga and core classes. Class settings range from small groups of 5 or 6 to as many as 17, says Stephanie, who also offers 1–on–1 personal training sessions.
Indoor cycling classes are offered in 45- and 60-minute sessions, where more than a dozen participants work the resistance dials on the bikes to increase or decrease the intensity of their respective workouts. Core and yoga classes, usually 30-minutes long, often precede or follow a cycling class. The strength training sessions are 50 minutes long and are broken up by specific muscle groups.
Non-cycling classes have a maximum of 10 participants.
“We want people to know we are much more just than a cycling studio,” Stephanie says.
The Carroccettos are both local Tampa Bay-area products. Stephanie graduated from Palm Harbor University High and played for the girls soccer team, one of the top programs in the state. She continued to play club soccer while attending Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she studied marketing and entrepreneurship. A knee injury forced her off of the soccer pitch and running trails she enjoyed. That’s when she discovered indoor cycling.
Alfio graduated from Zephyrhills High, and has a background in advertising and sales.
“He knew how to push the business, I knew how to start it,” Stephanie says.
It was a match made for both business and life partners.
“We saw an opportunity in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area and we wanted to bring both indoor cycling and the idea of Pura Vida to the community,” Stephanie says.
So, Pura Cycling launched and grew quickly. A handful of clients ballooned into dozens of long–time members, all working towards their individual fitness goals, many of which have been laid out by Stephanie and Alfio.
“We’re a results–oriented studio,” Stephanie says. “If our clients aren’t getting results, we’re not doing our job.”
Clients who “buy into” the programs at Pura Cycling tend to stick around. At our press time, Stephanie and Alfio had roughly 200 clients for their indoor cycling classes, and another 60 or so for the other training services.
“Most of our clients have been with us for years,” Stephanie says.
Take Sue Andreychuk, for instance. The wife of former Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk, Sue has been a Pura member for the last two years and says she feels like she’s found a place to stay.
“I’ve been to a lot of bigger gyms but I like the smaller, group setting,” Sue says. “There’s a lot of support and they’re great people. They come in every day with smiles on their faces.”
Even first–timers leave with a good impression. Melanie Mainwaring suffered from knee injuries similar to the ones that kept Stephanie from running before she opened the studio, but now has little problem getting in a good workout.
“They’re really good people, friendly instructors and helpful,” Mainwaring says. “They made me feel at ease and the workout was pretty hard.”
Pura Cycling uses Spinner NXT bikes, which Stephanie likes because of their “heavy fly wheel” and “durable base.”
“You can really beat them (the bikes) up and they won’t fall over,” she says.
Stephanie also notes that she likes to use popular music to spice up her classes.
“It’s easier to get people into it when you put on a beat they’re more familiar with,” she says. “Everybody wants to rock out to their favorite jam.”
Pura Cycling Studio is as much a social group as it is a gym. Members often participate in group challenges outside of the studio. Stephanie, whose knees have recovered enough for her to run again, has taken her clients to the Ocala National Forest to run trails. And, more recently, she took a group of 15 Pura members to Airheads in Tampa, where they worked out on trampolines. She also has run a hula-hoop class and other challenges.
Pura Cycling brings fitness full circle as it offers a FitPro Accelerator Program, which bundles everything together: workouts, nutritional guidance and monthly assessments from either Stephanie or Alfio. Pura Cycling even has a partnership with PlateJoy, an online meal-kit delivery service that offers personalized meal plans based on your weight-loss goals, your dietary restrictions and the amount of time you have to exercise.
Looking for a boost to your exercise regimen as well as a little nutritional guidance? Pura Cycling Studio is located at 1822 BBD Blvd., next to Firehouse Subs. For more info, visit PuraCycling.com, call the studio at 501-2124 or see the ad on page 4 of this issue.
No comment yet, add your voice below!