Conti Raises the Barre: New Workout Room Opens Inside Oceanside Pilates

Ellen Conti has announced that the “Barre” room at Oceanside Pilates and Yoga, 315 Shirley Street, is open.

The Barre room is home to the Barre workout that involves a ballet barre and combines exercises from ballet, pilates and yoga.

“The Barre workout will be offered on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8:30 to 9:30 and on Saturdays,” said Conti, owner

of the new studio that was the previous home to Body In Sync.

Molly Kelleher, a full-time certified barre instructor, will be teaching the class. There are also certified pilates and yoga instructors at the studio.

“Barre is an integral workout where you do a little bit of stretching and mat work; you use some hand weights and do some upper body work – and then you go to the barre and do some stretching and different types of exercises,” said Conti.

Conti said the workouts are done to music. “It’s a fun workout but it’s a pretty intense workout as well. Workouts last about 45 minutes.”

Conti said she was a barre enthusiast at another studio prior to bringing the workout to Winthrop.

“We’ll have 10 people per class but it becomes more popular, I’ll get more barres,” said Conti.

Conti took over ownership of the studio in September. Body In Sync had operated at the location for more than three years.

“As a client of Body In Sync for three years I couldn’t bear to see the studio closed down,” said Conti, who is also a co-owner of nearby Streeter Plumbing and Heating. “We had such a great clientele that I didn’t want people not to have a place to go.”

Conti grew up Winthrop and graduated from Winthrop High School. She and her husband live in Swampscott and have two children.