The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

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Innovative Get Fit Ideas from our Sponsors

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Lately, new forms of fitness are redefining how people engage with their physical well-being by blending creativity, technology, and community-driven experiences. Hybrid fitness classes, combining elements like dance, martial arts, and strength training, are becoming popular for their dynamic approach to exercise. These innovative approaches reflect a shift toward more engaging, diverse, and holistic fitness. By embracing activities that resonate, you invest in a healthier, happier version of yourself.

To mesh with our health & wellness theme, we asked our fitness related sponsors what their smart & effective ‘get fit’ solutions are for 2025 and here’s what we found out.

Club Fit in Briarcliff Manor

Unleash your potential with Strike Kickboxing, the latest fitness trend in our new Strike Studio! Whether you opt for a quick 30-minute session or a full 60, our certified instructors deliver high-energy classes that combine skill-building with a killer workout. Experience improved strength, coordination, and cardiovascular endurance while learning precise techniques. Feel empowered as you master new skills, enhance balance, and boost your confidence. Plus, it’s the perfect way to relieve stress and blow off steam in a fun, focused environment. Step into the ring and discover how Strike Kickboxing transforms your fitness journey – one punch, one kick, one class at a time!

clubfit.com/briarcliff-manor

ROAMFurther Athletics

ROAMFurther Athletics is dedicated to inspiring people of all ages to embrace movement as a pathway to health, confidence, and adventure. Specializing in innovative fitness programs based on parkour and ninja-warrior style obstacle training ROAM helps individuals build strength, agility, and resilience while having fun. By promoting a mindset of continuous improvement in an inclusive and collaborative atmosphere, ROAM empowers participants to overcome physical and mental challenges, fostering a sense of accomplishment and well-being. Whether you’re looking to stay active, connect with others, or take your fitness journey to the next level, ROAMFurther Athletics offers a unique approach to staying healthy and living life to the fullest.

roamfurther.com

Armonk Tennis

As a tennis club, our get-fit solution is to get out on the court and play. A lot of people struggle to maintain a gym routine, but a sport like tennis, which requires constant movement and exercises the whole body, is a great way to work out without the focus being on how many reps are left. Cardio Tennis is a particularly good program we have for working up a sweat, but even just rallying with a friend helps burn calories and build stamina. Since reaching any type of fitness goal requires commitment, tennis is an ideal activity because it’s social and fun, providing extra motivation to stick with it.

armonktennis.com

New Castle Physical Therapy & Personal Training

My get-fit tip is to focus on your weakest orthopedic link and slowly build a program around it. You may have the best designed strength and conditioning program, but if it flares up your back, knee or shoulder, your progress will likely come to a halt. Some common exercises that occasionally cause problems are overhead shoulder presses, deep squats, deep dips and sit ups (even crunches!). More mindful replacement exercises would be rotator cuff strengthening, clamshells, planks and side planks. Even with these exercises, it is important to start slowly and build. Avoid the mistake of too much, too soon!

newcastlept.net

The Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester

Our get-fit solution is swimming! Swimming offers the benefit of a full-body workout and can lead to improved cardiovascular fitness, weight management, and stress reduction. At Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester (BGCNW) we offer Learn-to-Swim classes for all ages in addition to: stroke development clinics; the Marlins, competitive youth swim team – nationally ranked in the top 5% of swim clubs; adult lap swim; and, the adult Masters swim team. Water safety is a critical skill, especially for children. Each year in the U.S. the #1 cause of accidental death for children aged 6 and under is drowning. Over 70,000 children have learned to be water safe at the Club.

bgcnw.com

Sweat in Pleasantville

Sweat’s preferred “get-fit” solution is straightforward – consistency. With everything in life, results are a direct relationship between the effort you’ve put in. I can see changes in our clients who have dedicated the time to their hot yoga or skulpt class workouts, consistently showed up for themselves, and committed to prioritizing their health. Sweat has expanded our class offerings – we now have evening classes 3 nights during the week and have also rounded out our class portfolio with a Strength and Conditioning class. Giving new options for our clients to get to the studio in the evenings will hopefully allow for more consistency in their 2025 fitness journey.

sweatnewyork.com

Kathy Joyce Fitness in Pleasantville

My tip. Ladies, lift heavy weights 2-3 times a week! Women over 40 must prioritize strength training. Muscle mass starts to decline rapidly after the age of 40, and as estrogen decreases, building muscle becomes harder. High rep, 8lb weights won’t cut it. “Heavy” is different for everyone, but it means lifting a weight that challenges you at the 4 to 6 rep range. Strength training not only helps build muscle but boosts metabolism and bone health. So, step away from the Peloton and start lifting heavy weights! Your body will thank you.

kathyjoycefitness.com

DIVISION ONE: “More than an Athletic Gym”

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Karl Pfshtner, owner and Head Strength Coach at Division One Prep
Karl Pfistner, owner and Head Strength Coach at Division One Prep

“This place is really [a gym] for everybody.” It’s with this idea that Karl Pfistner, owner and Head Strength Coach at Division One Prep, on the border of White Plains and Armonk, runs his lively fitness facility. No matter who you are, or what level of training you’re at, Pfistner assures you, “You’re going to come in here and feel like you belong.”

A strong advocate of “effective training” over “just working out to work out,” Pfistner–a former athlete at the high school, collegiate and professional Arena Football levels–prides himself on Division One’s unique approach to training, which, in keeping with his beliefs, focuses just as much, if not more, on the mental health, body control and overall movement aspects of the workout as the actual physical workout. “You could come in here and squat 400 pounds, [but] if you can’t move on the field, that means absolutely nothing,” he explains.

divisiononeaEager to instill his clients with this same way of thinking, Pfistner creates any given workout in the same way. “My focus is on getting you moving,” he says, straightforwardly. “It’s about quality over quantity or time [spent], and achieving the absolute best possible results for your body.”

To that end, while every workout covers several key focus areas–agility work, strength training, core work, and static stretching–the specifics of each session, 60 minutes in length, are tailored to each individual’s needs. “We push clients to their full maximum potential, so that they get full range of motion, and receive full maximum burn,” says Pfistner, adding that programs are further categorized into “sport-specific” exercises, so they can easily be translated onto the appropriate field/court/pool, etc.

Essentially, no matter what your age, conditions or limitations, “You’re going to have a workout that really caters to your goals and what you’re looking to accomplish.” (For the record, Division One’s staff also includes a Nutritionist and Life Coach to give clients the full “mental health” experience).

Another element Pfistner cannot emphasize enough? Structure. “That’s the biggest difference between us and other fitness facilities or high school gyms,” he explains.

“There’s a big difference between having a history teacher sitting there supervising an open gym, and an actual structured, laid-out program. Especially with colleges as competItive as they are to get into nowadays, athletes need structure. It can really set them apart.” Though his gym is indeed open to people of all ages, as a dad of four– who range in ages 5 to 15, he can’t help but hold a special place in his heart for the youth athletes. “I love working with youth,” he says, stressing the importance of instilling children with these values and ideals at an early age. “They’re hungry for knowledge; they just soak everything up.”

But, as mentioned, they’re not the only age group he sees: “I have a 45-year-old ex-college football player that wants to train before he goes to work on Wall Street.

I have two middle-aged tennis pros, who also used to play football, I have a 62-year-old retiree who’s looking to pursue a new passion and lose some weight. It really runs the gamut.”

And with so many people of different ages and abilities, and various levels of training, filtering in and out of the gym at any given time, Pfistner acknowledges it’s hard to say who will retain what they’ve learned after leaving the gym.

Still, he’s fully aware of the role he plays in the lives of his clients and strongly encourages them–and everyone else–to follow through. “The bottom line is it’s a small piece in a much larger puzzle,” he explains, in reference to his clients spending just one hour (out of 23 others) at the gym.

“My goal is to motivate my clients and instill in them a desire to stay healthy, so it’s ringing in the back of their head throughout the day… It’s my job to make you want to come back, and to give you the right training to get you excited about working out. If I can instill that idea in my clients, and have them carry that [healthy outlook] on through their life, then that’s a win for me.”
Division One Fitness Prep is located at 4 New King Street in West Harrison. For more information, please visit www.divisiononeprep.com.

Matt Smith is a writer and regular contributor to The Inside Press. For more information or inquiry, please visit www.mattsmiththeatre.com.

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For Empty Nesters, Getting Back into Shape is a Worthy Challenge

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When Grace Bennett, this magazine’s publisher, saw the last of her children leave for college, she found herself with a bit more time to commit to getting into shape. But the added time at the gym, along with weekly walks with a friend, weren’t leading to the results she envisioned.

“My regular workout wasn’t helping me keep the pounds at bay,” Bennett recalls. “I just wasn’t pushing myself very much, and I definitely wasn’t watching what I ate very well.”

Bennett’s problem is one many empty nesters, and others looking to jump into a training program, encounter after only months of working out, says Saw Mill Club Fitness Director Billy Goda.

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Personal trainer Sarah Eichorn showing Grace proper form

“People think that they just need to learn the best ten moves, do them two-to-three times a week, and they’re good,” Goda explains. “They’re looking for an easy solution. There’s not an easy solution or quick fix.” “Routine,” concludes Goda, “is the opposite of fitness.”

Looking to step up the intensity of her workouts, Bennett decided to hire a personal trainer. She had trained a few years ago, but for the sake of convenience and consistency, she wanted the personal trainer to also be inside the Saw Mill Club, where she had recently become a member. “I gave up on the idea again that I could do this by myself,” she says. Still, she now admits that she wasn’t exactly looking forward to being pushed to her limits. “I fully expected [the trainer] to be something of a taskmaster. I thought, ‘This is going to be really awful.’”

In her first meeting with her new trainer, Saw Mill Club’s Sarah Eichorn, Bennett realized her fears were unfounded. Eichorn pushed her to gradually up her intensity without going beyond what Bennett could comfortably handle.

“With her we circuited between getting her heart rate up, going to an upper body [workout], then a lower body,” Eichorn, a Mt. Kisco resident, explains. “As she learned these movements individually, we started putting them together.”

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Soon, Eichorn saw great improvement. “I noticed a big change in her cardio, with the respiratory, with her heart rate,” Eichorn says. The two also developed a nice rapport and personal connection. “I feel very comfortable with Sarah; she is both low key and knowledgeable about fitness and health.”

Goda says Saw Mill Club gets many men and women in their 50s, like Bennett, who decide it’s time to get back into, or just into, shape.

“One thing that we stress is that what you’re going to do in your 50s,” Goda says, “that’s going to determine how you feel in your late 50s, your 60s, your 70s, and beyond.”

But while joining a gym is a good first step, there are many potential pitfalls that can derail one’s fitness program. Often, Goda says, people in their 50s join a gym and do the same simple workout every time, leading to some early but unsustainable progress.

“In the third month, when things aren’t going well, they disappear for a year,” Goda says. “What we try to do at the Saw Mill Club is we try to make sure people don’t just disappear.”

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Goda gets the club’s clients to focus on the five major components of fitness: muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, cardio health, and body composition. Trainers may have their clients start by improving their range of motion, then add weight to the movement, and then throw in a twisting motion.

Communication, Goda stressed, is essential so clients know what they are doing and why they are doing it. This will not only help them see quick results, but will better the chances that they continue to push forward six months to a year in the future.

Goda also points out that no one is too old to start training, and said that working out can alleviate problems like back pain.

“My oldest client is 92 years old,” Goda says. “I put him in all these different movement patterns, and he is pain free.”

When Bennett began her training, her focus was on the number she saw when she stepped on the scale. Eichorn convinced her that this approach was misguided, as losing weight and getting fit are not one and the same.

“People are telling me that I look better,” says Bennett. “I feel better in general from day to day. I feel like I have a little more energy. I’m coupling it with much better eating too.”
For info on membership and training packages, visit www.sawmillclub.com.

PHOTOS BY: Philip Holt/Mad Shots Photography

Andrew Vitelli is a Westchester native and the editor of Inside Armonk.

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