Elevate Fitness Owners Bring New Approach to Working Out, Staying Fit
By Norb Garrett
Mazl and Arthur Ohayon closed escrow on their new business on March 19, 2020. About 30 minutes later, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the state’s stay-at-home order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the new, first-time business owners, their entrepreneurial dreams came to a sudden and shocking halt.
“We didn’t even get a chance to meet all of our employees,” said Mazl. “We literally had just signed the paperwork to close on the business and then the state shut down and our employees were sent home.”
Mazl and husband Arthur are decorated endurance athletes and fitness trainers who were both working in the corporate world before taking the entrepreneurial plunge. The couple, both originally from Orange County, had purchased SoCal Boot Camp with its locations in San Clemente and Dana Point.
“We were looking to start our own business, and we knew owning a gym was the route we wanted to take,” said Mazl. “We came across SoCal Boot Camp and thought it was the perfect opportunity.”
Mazl, with her background in operations and finance, had researched the area and was drawn to the demographic profile of the two communities. Arthur, who has a marketing background, recognized the opportunity to rebrand the business to draw a larger clientele.
The two used the pandemic-forced downtime to implement a complete rebrand and repositioning, renaming the business Elevate Fitness and expanding its offerings from the Boot Camp cardio-based training concept to also include yoga, weight training, nutritional programs, personal training and a diversified heart rate-based program.
“We want to be known as the premier Orange County studio, which allows us to expand and provide more services,” said Mazl, who is originally from Huntington Beach, as is Arthur. “With the rebrand, we completely changed the program and refocused everything.”
In October, Elevate Fitness closed its Dana Point location so that the couple could focus on the San Clemente facility, which is twice as large, offering two floors of activities in 6,500 square feet. The San Clemente studio also offers expanded yoga classes and on-location masseuses.
As the pandemic restrictions have abated, Mazl and Arthur have been working hard to rebuild the sense of community and culture that are the hallmarks of fitness and training studios.
“Once a month, we’ve been doing a group hike or find a restaurant to bring members together,” she said. “By adding the new programs, we’ve been able to appeal to a much broader demographic and age profile for our gyms.”
Ultimately, the couple hopes to use the new gym to perfect their vision and then expand into other markets. But first things first: getting Elevate Fitness in San Clemente humming and back to full speed.
“We’re really excited about being in San Clemente,” said Mazl. “It is a great community, and we’re so happy to finally be returning to normal.”
Elevate Fitness
San Clemente: 1030 Calle Sombra, Ste. B
949.218.2267
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