Today we’d like to introduce you to Collin & Heidi Christensen. They shared their story with us below:
We’ve always had a goal to own our own business. When Heidi first started working with a Reformer she instantly fell in love; she knew it was the perfect business opportunity for us. We looked at other franchise opportunities as well as opening our own studio startup, but they were never the right fit.
When Heidi started as an Instructor at the BODYBAR in Farmington it took about 20 seconds for her to realize this was the opportunity we had been searching for. Collin started his research right away and we began conversations with the Franchisors Matt & Kamille McCollum and were hooked! BODYBAR is all the things we want in a business. We love the brand, the values, the people, the atmosphere, and the goals of the franchise!
With Collin’s background leading teams, creating processes, developing talent, and Heidi’s marketing and retail experience we are excited to have the opportunity to own a business doing something we both enjoy where the focus is helping people feel better and live healthier lives.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Heidi’s Story: I thought I’d start by telling you a bit of my story. My love for Reformer Pilates started over 5 years ago. I have always been active, but after several knee surgeries and an over 100lb weight gain, due to postpartum and immobility, I found myself so discouraged.
My last knee surgery (which included some rods & screws) left me unable to kneel, walk up and down stairs, bend, walk too much, and just do the day-to-day things. I spent over a year, 6 days a week, at Orangetheory and found myself only 8 lbs lighter and even more discouraged. I quit and pretty much gave up. Then, gratefully, a trainer I had met at Orangetheory and who knew my background/struggles, called me and told me about Club Pilates. I went down that day and signed up without even doing a class.
After my first class, I was obsessed! After a week I could bend my knee further than I had in over 2 years! After a month I could kneel. After 3 months I had lost 25 lbs. After 2 years I’d lost nearly 100 lbs and I had full movement in my knee. My plantar fasciitis has gone away. And I feel so good!
I am completely in love with Reformer Pilates. It changed everything for me. My knee will never be as it once was, but the strength, flexibility, confidence, and mobility I found with Pilates have been life-altering, which eventually led me to take the Stott Reformer Pilates training. I completed my training in October of 2020. I did my BODYBAR training and certification in August of 2021.
My passion has always been to help people live happier and healthier lives. Teaching Pilates is the perfect addition to that. I love it so much! I truly feel that there isn’t anyone that can’t benefit from some time on a Reformer. I don’t care how much you can deadlift at your CrossFit class, getting on a Reformer will make you stronger in ways that nothing else can! And don’t get me started on how it helps after injury or surgery!
From Collin: Getting to this point where our new studio is now open has been 2 years in the making. It’s sort of crazy to look back and see how far we’ve come and reflect on all the obstacles we had to overcome to get here. It’s been a roller coaster of firsts and I’ll admit, we’ve hit some small roadblocks along the way, but we never let that deter us from pushing through to get to the finish line. The goal was always clear; we found the business we wanted to open and nothing was going to stop us from doing just that! We felt strongly that the Downtown SLC community needed what we had to offer and we couldn’t wait to bring it to them. It was also our dream to own our own business and to create the life we want for our family. We never would have thought it would take the better part of a year just to find and lease a space for our new studio. The commercial real estate market was a little crazy last year but we finally found the perfect spot. It’s right off of 400 South and 300 E in Downtown SLC on the corner of the new Avia building. We LOVE the windows and how light and bright the space is! It looks like a high-end fitness boutique that you would find in Beverly Hills, but incorporates all of our personal touches that make it warm and inviting to welcome our amazing community of members. Heidi and I spend quite a bit of time at the studio so it’s definitely become our second home, but we LOVE it! We even added an office space in the back so our kids can come and be with us when they aren’t at school. We love meeting people who have never been on a Reformer before and are excited for their first class. We love welcoming new members to the studio for the first time and then greeting them again by name next time they visit. It’s our goal to know each member by name! We really believe it’s these types of personal touches that make us different from the other fitness concepts out there. People may decide to cancel memberships but they won’t cancel relationships. Both Heidi and I and our amazing team at the studio are striving to build meaningful relationships with all of our members. We want them to feel they have a place at our studio no matter where they are in their fitness journey. Our studio is a safe place for everyone where you can come and take time to focus on yourself for a change and find a happier and healthier version of you in the process. We are so grateful for our amazing founding members who joined us even before the studio was open and can’t wait to welcome others in the future!
Thanks – So what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Collin was most recently the Department Manager for a healthcare technology company focused on the customer experience. He has 13+ years leading teams, managing departments, innovating programs, and scaling operations for various companies: eBay, Discover Financial, B-Stock Solutions, and most recently Collective Health. He will now be focusing on the financial and operational aspects of BODYBAR Pilates and pursuing the endeavor full-time.
Heidi has nearly 20 years of experience in Marketing, working for various Marketing firms and now doing freelance. She also worked for Gap, Inc. opening new retail stores and creating/implementing product merchandising and sales. She has been a Residential Realtor for the last 14 years.
She also became a Reformer Pilates Instructor in October 2020 and has been working with group classes and private clients from home, but will now be an instructor at her BODYBAR in downtown Salt Lake City.
What were you like growing up?
Both of us have always been super driven individuals from a young age. We are both the oldest siblings in our families so growing up we learned how to take care of our younger siblings. Heidi is the oldest of 6 and Collin is the oldest of 4. There’s a certain amount of responsibility that just naturally falls to the oldest child. You’re doing everything first and there’s a good amount of pressure to do it well and to always set an example for your siblings. We both felt that to an extent and it helped to shape us into the people we are today. We enjoy working hard and then playing hard as a family! We have two daughters, 11 & 9, so we spend most of our time being parents, but we do love traveling as a family. We love Mexico, cruising, anything Disney, and all beaches. We are fortunate to live close to all our extended family so much of our time is spent playing games, making great food, and being together with them.
We love being outside, hiking, river running, horseback riding, exploring and camping. We love going on walks all together along with our 2 pups! We have a 7 year old Chorkie named Lola and a 2 year old Micro Golden Doodle named Penny. They love to protect our home even though combined they barely hit 15 lbs. We love going to movies as a family or curling up on the couch with some blankets to watch what our kids call an “old fashioned movie” even though it may have only come out 20 years ago. We’re also big foodies! Eating, baking, cooking, Traeger smoking; if good food is involved we’re there!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bodybarpilates.com/studios/saltlakecity/
- Instagram: @bodybardowntownslc
Image Credits
Ethan Gillespie
