Family reason behind studio

After splitting her abdominals while pregnant, Sandra Drygas became a certified personal trainer to correct her stomach muscles.

“I never thought I wanted to be a personal trainer until I started doing it myself,” she says. “I’m from a dance background, so I trained in classical ballet, went into contemporary ballet and ended up working in an office for awhile and decided after having my first kid there wasn’t enough out there.”

Although she started training clients out of her basement in 2008, she recently opened Beaches Fitness on Kingston Road at Hannaford Street. The family friendly small-group fitness and personal training studio incorporates children in workouts and also comes equipped with a play area for older kids.

“It’s geared towards parents, making parents’ life a bit easier,” she says. “Hopefully it sets them up for a good life long base of health and fitness.”

In addition to classes in pre-natal yoga, pilates, zumba and circuit training, she also started fitness courses for teenagers and people over 50.

“Fitness in general, anyone who is new to it, it can be scary and intimidating,” she says. “Most people don’t like it when they start because it is hard work and most people don’t believe me but after a few months of doing it on a regular basis it is addictive and you actually look forward to it.”

Drygas hopes her daughters Aurora and Elliott, who can often be found at Beaches Fitness, will also benefit from being surrounded by healthy and active people.

“Selfishly I started this studio so I could have my kids near me.”