Sara King opened the doors of Longevity Studio at 84 Wabasha St. in July 2016. She’d had a successful Pilates studio in her home for 10 years before she made the move into this brand-new space. King wanted to be able to serve more students and offer them a greater variety of classes than she could accommodate in her home studio. Longevity is located in the retail level of the West Side Flats Apartments, just over the Wabasha Bridge from downtown Saint Paul, and it gave her the chance to hire teachers and expand what she could offer to her clients.
“While I enjoyed working from my home studio, I found that it could become isolating,” King says. “I was looking for a location where I could not only retain my current clientele, but also expand into a whole new market, and this location has been perfect. There’s a wonderful energy to this area—being right by the river makes it feel ideal.”
King believes a good studio must create a healthy community. “My dream has always been to create a community at the studio for all who enter. I believe the best way to do that is to hire the very best staff, and I have—each of them bring something unique and all their own to the studio.”
Longevity has a full schedule of fitness and wellness classes and programs, which include Pilates, barre, yoga and cardio, as well as workshops on topics such as acupuncture and meditation. Then there’s SurfSet.
SurfSet is a physical training program done on a board meant to simulate the balance and core engagement that develops from surfing. The board looks like a surfboard mounted on a base which has air pockets and bungees used to ramp up or reduce the difficulty. King says that in many ways SurfSet complements some of the other offerings of the studio. Pilates, barre and yoga all emphasize core strength, balance and flexibility, and SurfSet checks all those boxes, too.
“At its heart, Longevity Studio is a Pilates studio, so whatever I look at bringing into Longevity needs to have the core principles of Pilates: concentration, control, center, flow, precision and breathing,” King says. “Surfset brings those principles to the table. You can come in and take a core/cardio class or take a full yoga class on the board. It’s challenging, but really, really fun. And we should be having fun with our exercise, we should look forward to it.”
King also thought that the popularity of stand-up paddle boards, or SUPs as they are known by enthusiasts, meant that there must be some Twin Cities folks looking for a way to SUP in the winter. The summertime outdoor activity has to be completely abandoned when the lakes freeze, but now SurfSet gives SUP practitioners (can we call them SUPpers?) a way to stay in shape year-round.
“SurfSet really challenges your strength and balance, and it’s awesome to see clients progress and get stronger each class. We hope to work to a place where we can see their confidence increasing each week,” King says.
With summer fast approaching, you might want to check out a SurfSet class to get ready for daylong paddle board tours. Another plus? If you lose your balance in the studio, you don’t find yourself treading water.
