Owners Milad and Ella Moghaddam celebrated the grand opening of their pilates and fitness facility, ActiveRange Method, on Sunday
Newmarket has a new pilates and fitness studio aiming to create a “small, healthy, good community” in town.
Owners Milad and Ella Moghaddam hosted a grand opening Sunday for ActiveRange Method, a 3,300 sq. ft. facility with a Reformer pilates studio and weight training room, following a soft opening three months ago.
Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill MPP Michael Parsa, Newmarket-Aurora MP Sandra Cobena and Leslee Mason from the Central York Chamber of Commerce came out to congratulate the couple this weekend.
The studio, located at 16925 Yonge St. near Mulock Drive, is the Moghaddams’ way of bringing their years of fitness and wellness experience to offer personalized classes for all skill levels.
The couple immigrated to Canada from Iran some 15 years ago — first to New Brunswick before moving to Newmarket shortly thereafter. Milad, a civil engineer by training, made a career change into fitness and nutrition inspired by his own personal health journey and started his own gym in Iran. Ella, who serves as ActiveRange Method’s head instructor, holds a bachelor’s in physical education and has taught both mat and Reformer pilates for the past 14 years.
After working at other fitness facilities, the couple started ActiveRange Method in 2023 out of a home basement studio. Their growing client base gave them the confidence to build out the business on a bigger scale in an area they’re fond of, Milad said.
“We love the community, we love the people,” Milad said. “We enjoy spending time with our members, and we were always at the front line working with people, but we didn’t have the power to adjust the service and the quality to what people really need.”
The studio boasts small class sizes, with eight machines in the pilates studio and up to five participants in small-group fitness classes. They plan to open a second pilates studio with five machines that will allow for simultaneous classes catered to members with varying skill levels.
More than 100 members have taken part in ActiveRange Method classes since the soft opening, many of whom have connected over a shared passion for wellness, Milad said.
“A lot of people that didn’t know each other are meeting each other in the space that we made,” he said. “The gym is a good place to find friends since everyone has a positive vibe and positive energy.”