When you talk to customers at Auxo Fitness, the one word that overwhelmingly pops up is “community.” Although the services and classes offered focus on your body, Auxo Fitness has offered more than just fitness and strength to its customers, it has provided a positive and friendly environment where strangers become friends and sources of encouragement and support.
Auxo’s core vision and mission is to be “a place you will call home while learning about yourself with the help of a caring community to accomplish a state of being you didn’t know was possible.”
“I have never found a workout regimen that develops my mind and body before this,” said customer Lynne Bramlett. “The staff and instructors make an effort to know you. The other people have become my friends and a support network. I have never exercised with a group of women who truly care and do not judge until now. We celebrate accomplishments in class and life. That all starts with the environment that Brinn creates.”
Originally Barre Forte, in July the business transformed into Auxo Fitness to more closely describe its range of services and classes for customers. Three years ago when Strange moved to the Gainesville area, she noticed that there were no barre studios in town. Knowing that Gainesville was a fit-minded and healthy community, she felt it could meet a need for its residents.
Strange knows that many gyms and fitness centers can make people feel anxious because of their fitness level, size or age. When she founded the business, one of Strange’s main goals was to have a studio that was not intimidating for members, where customers are embraced and celebrated for who they are.
“From the moment a customer walks into the studio, they are welcomed and catered to,” said Brinn Strange, owner of Auxo Fitness. “We are here for customers at all levels of fitness and all ages.”
Barre workouts are designed to trim, tighten and tone the entire body. It is a blend of ballet-inspired strengthening, Pilates core conditioning, and Yoga stretches. In addition to barre classes, Auxo has grown to offer more classes like Bodyflow™ ,which is a combined Yoga, Tai Chi and Pilates workout . They offer stand alone yoga, pilates and hip-hop dance classes. They also offer restorative classes which provides relaxation and flexibility exercises and helps to treat muscular and skeletal pain. Auxo is located in the shops at Magnolia Parke.
“Our goal is to teach safe and effective classes where moves are performed correctly and really work,” Strange said. “I wanted to bring barre to this community because I have done a lot of fitness workouts all my life, but barre is the only one that targets all the smaller muscle groups, like inner and outer thigh muscles and all areas of your core.”
Shireen Sims has been a longtime customer at Auxo Fitness joining shortly after they opened. She has seen wonderful results in core strength and training and loves the variety of classes offered at the studio.
“The staff and instructors at Auxo make an effort to know you. Before class everyone is talking and catching up—I love the energy,” Sims said. “The classes can be modified for all ages and fitness levels, and I enjoy that in any given class there might be a college student and a grandmother, all working super hard, and working at their own level. The instructors encourage you to be your best.”
Kara Bolton has also been a longtime customer at Auxo Fitness and the workouts have helped her to lose 30 pounds over the past three years and also helped her work through challenges in her own life.
“Going to the studio helped me mentally as well as physically,” Bolton said. “When I was there I felt fully loved and supported by the people there and it also allowed me to take care of myself and focus on my own healing. I have made so many great friends there.”
In addition to the slate of classes offered, Auxo Fitness hosts monthly special events for its members and to introduce others to the barre concept while having fun with fitness. Bad Girlz at the Barre, for instance, as a (little wild) club-themed class. Bring a Boy to Barre allows customers to bring their husbands, boyfriends, sons or friends and introduce them to barre.
Barre to Brunch features various classes on Saturday mornings followed by mimosas at One Love Café. Barre to Bar is an evening program that ends with dinner at One Love, and Yoga Brew takes place at First Magnitude Brewery. Those and other events can be found on the Auxo website with an active blog where news is posted. These events developed organically because of how tight-knit and friendly the Auxo Fitness customers are to each other, Strange said.
A critical part of the Auxo experience is the individual attention that the customer receives when they attend. They want to make the classes and events as accessible as possible.
“We want each customer that comes in to feel seen and heard. We ask them about their goals, get to know them and their fitness journey,” Strange said. “All of our moves have modifications that work for each member.”
Auxo offers a free trial week for any customer as well as packages that serve individual customer needs. They have a variety of class packages with tiered pricing based on numbers of classes and also unlimited packages with tiered pricing as well.
“I would definitely recommend AUXO Fitness. Brinn and her team have created a warm and supportive environment to get a fantastic workout. The variety of types of classes means there is always something that will fit your mood and your body’s needs,” Sims said.
By Tracy Wright
