Like many good entrepreneurs, Fenom Fitness founder Aresh Mohit saw an opportunity where most people didn’t.
By Annette McLoughlin
Like many good entrepreneurs, Fenom Fitness founder Aresh Mohit saw an opportunity where most people didn’t. He was working for Danny’s Cycles in Scarsdale when he discovered that many parents today don’t have the time or the wherewithal to teach their children to ride a bike. So, he started offering it as a service, traveling all over Westchester and to Riverdale to take over a task that was traditionally the exclusive domain of moms and dads on warm spring weekends.
He hit a publicity jackpot — and an entrepreneur’s dream — when a writer from The New York Times overheard him discussing his business with a client and took an interest. An article was published in September 2000 and “From there it just took off.”
Mohit moved on to teach a variety of sports. He worked the warm weather sports “from daylight savings to daylight savings” and branched out to winter sports — skiing and snowboarding. Ten years ago, he started to conceptualize his idea for a family fitness center, and last November he made his dream a reality in Harrison.
When you spend time with Mohit at Fenom it quickly becomes apparent that the creation of this unique fitness center took a lot of study and thought.
Mohit is passionate about his mission, which is to help people of all ages approach fitness in a balanced and diversified way. “I like to see everyone good at everything versus trying to be amazing at only one thing.”
The facility, while not large, was cleverly designed to accommodate various sports without any wasted space. When I arrived for an interview, a baseball clinic was taking place in the batting cages. By the time I left, that area had been quickly reconfigured for a girls’ soccer team drill session. The basketball court has been designed to accommodate a floor hockey rink later in the year.
Fenom aims to be a family facility, offering as much for children as for adults, potentially at the same time. “So while you spin, your kids are in a baseball clinic.”
There’s a popular afterschool program that is centered around seasonal sports (currently baseball, softball, and basketball), and includes drills, game development, and a scrimmage as well as overall conditioning, strengthening, and core. Instructors are specialized and highly skilled and classes are kept intentionally small for a high level of personalized attention. This approach is what Mohit feels differentiates him from the competition: “We have a private school mentality in terms of the level of service we deliver to our clients,” he says.
The birthday party business at Fenom is quickly becoming popular. The parties are, of course, sports-themed and can be individually tailored. One of the most popular party activities is the obstacle course, a high-energy activity and total body exercise.
For adults, Fenom offers high quality private training, as well as a menu of classes based on Mohit’s philosophy of well-rounded workouts. Their signature class, “Fenom Fusion,” incorporates up to three separate exercise techniques into one action-packed class.” They also offer group classes in yoga, spinning, Pilates, Zumba, and something called Surf Set. This new fitness concept is designed to intensify a core workout by emulating the movement of surfing. When working out on the Surfset board you need to use your core to keep from falling off which means that every yoga pose or push up is made exponentially harder with that added core challenge.
The future for Fenom — and it promises to be a bright one — includes plans to develop excursion-based programs in skiing, cycling, and hiking. And after spending time with Aresh Mohit and seeing what he’s done so far, you have no doubt that he’s going to do whatever he sets out to do and do it very well.
Fenom Fitness is located at 62 Grant Avenue, close to downtown Harrison and the train station. For more information, visit fenomfit.com or call 732-3000.
