Amanda Duckstein's Journey to Wellness & Entrepreneurship

Two things I have a deep respect for are female founders who go out and turn their dream into a reality (with the help of hard work) and people who manage a regular fitness regime (which is also hard work.) Hamptons newest Solopreneur and trainer Amanda Duckstein combines both.

But let me start at the beginning. When I got a text from Robin Mueller a few weeks ago who is just about to open Alpina, a Swiss bakery in Water Mill (right on 27) with his dad (they own Alpina, the restaurant in Greenport) telling me that there is this super nice girl opening a new pilates studio next door and maybe that could be something I am interested in?  He knew I would be. And I was; for two reasons. First: I am always curious to meet new women business owners and connect them with the BossMoms. And Second: I really do need to get into shape. Or you could say I am at that age now, where I need to do something or I will be in trouble very soon.

Functional fitness and low-impact exercises like Pilates are "particularly important" for people 40 and older because that's the age that muscle mass and function can start to decline, says Nima Alamdari, honorary professor of sport and health sciences at the University of Exeter.

On top of that Pilates was the most popular ClassPass workout of 2023, with booking reservations up 92% from 2022, according to data shared with Axios. Which brings me back to Amanda, because she - no doubt - is on to something. 

So let's take a look at her new place. It is called Shadowbox Pilates, because Amanda offers some classes that after 40 minutes on the reformer end with a 10 minute shadowboxing segment to get your heart rate up and any tension out. The studio space with views of the Mill across the street is equipped with ten machines, an infrared sauna that can be booked separately and a charming merchandise room that has Amandas favorite things for sale (#BossMom Katherine Long's Gratitude Journal for Busy Women is also on her shelf!).

What stands out is the heart behind all this. This is not just another studio that is hip and polished and has no soul. Amanda has been teaching Pilates for over 13 years, she specializes in Pre and Postnatal Pilates, neurological specialities, and osteoporosis. Together with her dad she renovated the whole space, you can tell that this is her dream - which brings me to why I am writing this post. Starting a business is hard, entering a competitive market like the Hamptons with an idea that is not the reinvention of the wheel but a slightly different take on it and doing all this with a big smile, determination and a ton of enthusiasm is something I want to celebrate and cheer on. 

Amanda hosted us for a Hamptons BossMom member's class last week. We had a blast and we will hopefully make this is recurring thing. Spending that morning in the company of inspiring women, making sure our "muscle mass and function" is alive and kicking (or sliding, in our case) and building even more of a community out here got us far more than we paid for (speaking of: a drop in class is $40, Amanda offers memberships and class packs at a discounted rate. More on the rates here.) I will be honest, I never really got into the let's work out in a group thing. I am too competitive and far too not good enough to survive a TA class or something of that kind. I would injure myself early on. But, I have to admit that this was the most fun I had in a long time doing this and it got me motivated to go and try the next class (stay tuned for that - I had to go to the city for this one - for now). Long story short - I get it, and I will be on that reformer a lot from now on. I think I found my thing :).

Amanda offers between three and four classes per day (starting as early as 7am). Let's help Amanda grow her following, and as mentioned before you will be very much on trend doing it, here is the statistic to proof it:

Yelp searches for Pilates increased 25% from the previous year. 

Consider this your search result and let us know in the comments what you thought when you went. 
I'll be over here working on my upper cut 🥊!