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For Sara Colletti-Youmans, opening her own fitness studio was never really a question of if. It was more a question of when.
After years of training clients across Long Island and building a fitness business in the Hamptons, Colletti-Youmans finally got the chance to create the kind of studio she had envisioned for years.
That vision became Sculpted, a boutique fitness studio at 176 North Country Road in Mt. Sinai that blends Pilates, functional movement and athletic conditioning into workouts designed to build strength while helping clients move with intention.
The studio opened in June, but its roots stretch much further back.
How it happened
Colletti-Youmans grew up in St. James and spent 13 years living in the Hamptons, where she built a career training clients in Hampton Bays, Southampton and Sag Harbor before launching a luxury concierge fitness business.
“I always wanted a studio,” she told Greater Long Island.
When she moved back to the North Shore with her husband, Ross, and their newborn son, the family planted roots in Sound Beach. Colletti-Youmans arrived with a goal of her own.
“I said, ‘I’m opening a studio right away,’” she recalled.
And it happened fast.
After scouting locations in January and teaching mommy-and-me workout classes at Heritage Park and the Port Jefferson Village Center, Colletti-Youmans found the Mt. Sinai space in April.
By June 1, Sculpted was open. She said the studio itself was built out in just five days.
For someone who had spent years traveling from town to town to train clients, having a home base was a major change.
Today, Colletti-Youmans trains full time, with classes primarily offered in the morning. She is building Sculpted around a philosophy that goes beyond traditional Pilates.
While Pilates is an important part of the programming, Colletti-Youmans describes her approach as a blend of functional movement, personal training, contemporary Pilates and athletic conditioning.
Each 45-minute class begins with breathwork and grounding before moving through three main pillars: activate, isolate and flow.
Colletti-Youmans creates a 12-section flow each month, made up of 36 different exercise blocks that the studio cycles through, with mobility and strength work incorporated throughout.
Sculpted Flow is the studio’s slower, contemporary Pilates-inspired class, emphasizing the core, glutes, posture, mobility and controlled movement. Sculpted Burn adds athletic conditioning, strength intervals, endurance work and cardio, while Sculpted Circuit takes participants through exercises centered on strength, core and functional movement.
There’s also Sculpted Booty, a resistance-focused lower-body workout.
But one class is particularly personal for Colletti-Youmans.
She became a mother while building her business, and her son was just 5 months old when she began developing the studio.
That experience helped shape Sculpted Mama, a class where mothers don’t have to find childcare before finding time to work out.
The baby-friendly class allows moms to exercise alongside their little ones. Sculpted has a changing table, toys and a designated space for babies, while exercises can be modified depending on what each mom — or baby — needs that day.
And a fussy baby doesn’t mean the workout is over.
Colletti-Youmans said moms can pick up their babies, hold them during certain exercises or even incorporate them into modified movements.
Sometimes, she said, the workout simply has to roll with whatever happens.
A baby might be perfectly content one minute and need to be held the next. Rather than treating that as an interruption, Sculpted Mama is designed around it.
“Moms get their time and the kids are able to play,” Colletti-Youmans said. “This is what I always envisioned.”
The concept extends beyond the studio through Lifting For 2, Colletti-Youmans’ baby-friendly wellness platform focused on pregnancy, postpartum and motherhood.
And while Sculpted is a fitness studio, Colletti-Youmans sees it as the beginning of something larger.
“I am trying to build a community,” she said.
She said the response in Mt. Sinai has been encouraging, with the studio bringing together people from very different fitness backgrounds, including some who haven’t exercised in years.
Colletti-Youmans also expects the business to evolve alongside her family.
Her son is growing up, and she knows her own priorities will change with him. She expects Sculpted will change, too.
For now, though, the studio is still young — much like the little boy who helped inspire one of its most personal classes.
If you go
Sculpted is located at 176 North Country Road in Mt. Sinai.
Classes are 45 minutes long and are primarily offered in the morning, with options including Sculpted Flow, Sculpted Burn, Sculpted Circuit, Sculpted Booty and Sculpted Mama.
Take the photo tour
All photos by Julianne Mosher
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