The Firm's Charleston Studio

by Melissa Frankfother

I was surprised the first time I saw the Charleston Studio. It's very plain and simple...almost shabby. The display window that faces Wentworth Street shows some of the exercise wear that they have for sale, as well as weights and videos. The entrance, however, is back through an alley. There is a parking spot for Anna Benson, but when we were there, that's where Tracie's Mercedes was parked.

The lobby area is long and narrow. There's a refrigerator case with juice, power drinks, and water for sale. There's also a display case that features their videos, weights, and journals. They sell workout clothing and some logo tanks. Normally, I don't think they sell Firm T-shirts there, but they brought some in for us to buy. In fact, I guess the regular clients were so taken with the t-shirts, that the t-shirts had to be put away so they'd still be there for us on Saturday. The weekly schedule is on the wall; it lists the times of the classes, as well as the types (for example, Slow & Heavy), and the instructor. The studio offers several types of classes, including Slow & Heavy, Fast & Light, Basic Training (no aerobics, just weights...I bet that kicks butt!), and Box (step aerobics on the Step Co. step). They've discontinued the Firm Basics (beginner) classes. There are also two (count 'em, 2!) Cybex machines in the lobby. The Cybex machines are the only cardio machines that the studio has.

Off to one side of the lobby is the smaller aerobics room where the Fast & Light and Box classes are held. The Step Co. steps are set up (with risers) at each station, and then there are big wooden bins with the dumbbells and ankle weights. Also against the walls are dowels, mats, tall steps, rubber balls, and 2 x 4's. The tall steps are in the 12", 14", and 17" sizes. They don't use the shorter sizes that the videos use, since they use the Step Co. steps. The Fast & Light class doesn't use more than 5 lb dumbbells, but there are all sizes available, up to 20 lbs. The instructors who teach in the small aerobics room don't use a headset, which is really too bad, because the music is loud enough that it can be really hard to hear what the instructor is saying. I'm guessing that the smaller room holds about 20 people. There's a raised platform for the instructor, just like there is in the videos, although for the step aerobics segments, the instructor comes down to one of the steps that are in the front of the room and instructs with her back to the class.

The larger aerobics room holds about 35 people. It's set up the same as the smaller aerobics room, with the same equipment, except there are also barbells and plateweights available. The instructors in the large room do use a headset. In both rooms, there are mirrors on all the walls, so you can check your form. One of the murals from Vol. 1 (I think it's Vol. 1) is on the back wall. During one of the step segments in the masterclass, Tracie differentiated between which foot was leading (we were doing straddles), by saying "mural" side or "mirror" side, and Heidi finally told her that she couldn't tell which Tracie was saying! (It was hard to tell.) This aerobics room is the one they use for Slow & Heavy and Basic Training classes. Tracie said that most people originally join because of the Fast & Light and Box classes, but that eventually most of them end up preferring the Slow & Heavy classes. She also said that they have many, many more women members than men, although I noticed that there were several male instructors.

One thing that I thought was interesting about taking classes, was that the aerobic segments were usually more challenging than what they have on their videos. They're not Cathe Friedrich or CIA, but I think that they challenge you more, aerobically, than the aerobic segments in the Firm videos. During the masterclass Tracie had a killer high-impact section (at least it was killer for me, maybe it wasn't for anyone else!). Of course, Tracie's whole sequence that she taught was pretty brutal!

The weight room has both machines and free weights. Overall, it's your basic weight room. (At least from what I've seen of weight rooms.)

There's also a small changing room, (with no showers!), and an instructor's office. The studio also has child care during some of the classes.

The studio does not look look like the set in the videos, and is not fancy (although they did get new carpet for our visit!), but the instructors are very serious about what they do. I should mention here that besides Tracie, Susan, and Heidi, we also met several other instructors, including some that had been in the cast of the early videos. They looked so buff...it was truly inspiring. They looked like they could lead a video right now. (And one of them had 4 kids!) Actually, it kind of made you want to throw up. (Just kidding!) I should also mention that Summer, who did some of the personal training sessions, including mine, and is an instructor, is going to be in one of the advanced videos that are currently being taped. She did a great job of organizing everything for us, BTW!

Everyone there was really friendly, and even though I was expecting to have a good time, it exceeded my expectations. I'm ready to go back!!

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