When Sarah Maresca mentions her teenage love interest, “Jim,” she’s not talking about a man. She means gym, and she’s been in love with it since age 18.
So much so that she opened a boutique gym in East Northport in January 2025 called Find Your Balanced Life. A man had nothing to do with it. And men still don’t: A sign in the window makes the gym’s focus clear. It says “Girl’s Club” in black capital letters with a pink border. The gym has 60 members — all female.
From left, Maddie Hunter, Marie Gousse, Camryn Friedberg, owner Sarah Maresca and Elizabeth Famiglietti form the Wednesday workout squad at Find Your Balanced Life in East Northport. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin
“We’re very big on community,” Maresca, 26, says. “We can talk about things that maybe men don’t want to talk about, about our bodies.”
Gyms catering to women aren’t a new trend — Curves: Women’s Health and Fitness Clubs has offered women-oriented workouts for decades and a Curves venue still operates in Sayville. Even before that was the Lucille Roberts chain, with a remaining location in Queens, which launched in the 1970s and is named for its founder. The desire for women-only spaces is reinvigorated on Long Island with new businesses entering the scene — in addition to Find Your Balanced Life, there’s Killer Body Fitness in Mineola.
No-judgement zones 
Marie Gousse, of Northport, trains at Find Your Balanced Life in East Northport. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin
Women who work out at the gyms name a number of reasons they prefer the spaces.
Some say they are intimidated in front of men, especially when they might move beyond the treadmill or elliptical to start lifting weights or using machines for the first time. “I don’t have to worry about making a fool of myself,” says Tracy Winthrop, 58, of Kings Park, a Find Your Balanced Life member who works for a financial institution.
Others say they feel more comfortable in a space where, while bodies are naturally on display because that’s the focus of a gym, they don’t feel like they are being assessed or judged. Angelina Iadanza, 22, a college student from Douglaston who works out at Killer Body Fitness, says she appreciates that she doesn’t have to worry about anyone “invading my private space or approaching me when I’m just trying to remain focused on my workouts.”
Patti Pensabene, of Holbrook, who works out at Curves, definitely agrees with that sentiment. “I’m 76. I don’t need that crap,” she jokes.
Pensabene says she’s made good friends with other women who work out at her gym. Iadanza echoes her. “We also have fun outside,” she says. For instance, several women recently organized a girls’ night out at Cabo RVC Mexican restaurant in Rockville Centre.
Same mindset
With other women, members say, they can open up and be vulnerable when discussing personal issues and goals. There’s a camaraderie, they say.
“It’s more like a sisterhood to me,” says Marie Gousse, 25, of Northport, who works in mental health and is also studying computer science at SUNY Farmingdale. She works out at Find Your Balanced Life.
“I feel like a lot of women struggle with the same sort of things,” Find Your Balanced Life owner Maresca says. “I wanted to create the kind of space where you’re not alone. We’re all in this together. We’re all trying to feel good about ourselves mentally and physically.”
We’re all in this together. We’re all trying to feel good about ourselves mentally and physically.
– Sarah Maresca, owner of women-only gym Find Your Balanced Life
Maresca has had her own struggles — she was anorexic as a teenager and at her most ill weighed just 85 pounds, she says. Her journey to recovery led her to focus on physical fitness at age 18 and later inspired her to open her boutique gym. Sharon Boyle, who co-owns Curves with Lorraine Lerner, was on the other end of the weight spectrum — “I was very heavy,” she says.
These body issues are common in women, says Dara Freeman, 30, a graphic designer from Huntington who works out at Killer Body, which was opened by owner Brittany Cole in 2019 in Floral Park and then moved to Mineola in 2020. Freeman says that makes the women more empathetic and supportive of each other. “They’ll recognize your wins and they’ll tell you,” Freeman says. “We lift each other up.”
Rachel Weiner, 23, a survival swim instructor from Dix Hills who is a member of Find Your Balanced Life, echoes her. “I’m surrounded by a group of girls who all have the same mindset,” Weiner says. “Women in so many different ways have to work harder for certain things. I feel like I’m surrounded by a bunch of cheerleaders for me.”
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
