Our Twisted Students

“We are family, I got all my sisters with me.”

~ Sister Sledge ~

Every gym or studio says that their students are the best, and we don’t doubt they mean it. But when it comes to transforming lives, bonding, support, commitment, hotness, and Girl Power, our students not only take the cake, but they eat it too! (Because what’s the point of working out if you can’t eat a little cake now and then?)

We have students who have been here since the beginning in 2005 who are still Members to this very day. Not only do they attend classes regularly, but they’ve become the self-appointed hostesses of the Studio, making every new girl who walks into a classroom feel welcome and at ease. If you talk to any number of students and ask them why they come here, you’ll hear words like, “gives me confidence,” “fun workout,” “makes me feel sexy,” “helped me lose weight and get healthy,” “changed my body,” “supportive environment,” “saved my marriage,” and even “saved my life.”

You’ll find students who have met their very best friends while spinning around a pole; students who say they never liked other women (“they’re too catty!”) until they met the women here. You’ll find students supporting other students with encouraging words, an extra mat to cushion their knees, or a watchful eye to make sure that new pole trick is performed safely. You’ll find older students becoming “big sisters” to younger ones, and younger students in awe of older ones because they never knew a woman could be sooo sexy after 30. And you’ll find a level of respect and commitment to a place…an idea…a feeling…that you never thought could exist outside of a family.

But that’s how we think of ourselves… as The Family We Got to Choose. And nowhere is this more apparent than on this website and the photos and videos you see on it. The picture above features just a few of the 50 girls who remained after an intense 12 hour day of shooting… and they’re still smiling! Only Family would endure the long hours, physical exhaustion, and controlled chaos that it required. Only Family, with their unconditional love and support, would willingly hang upside down by a toe from a pole for more than 10 seconds while we got “just one more angle” of the shot. Only Family would repeatedly perform exercises for almost 9 hours straight and never complain (at least not to your face). Only Family would still hug you at the end of the shoot, say thank you, and tell you how much fun they had – and you got the sneaking suspicion that they were NOT totally lying.

The students who helped make this website possible did it – as Rio would say – “for the Love.” For the Love of their home-away-from home that they want to make sure is around for decades to come. For the Love of the future students who will find refuge and comfort here as they did, along with a bangin’ body. For the Love of their fellow students – their Twisted Sisters – who share their blood, sweat, tears, fears, joys, laughter, and hope. For the Love of the Instructors, who both inspire us and push us to become the best versions of ourselves on a daily basis. And for the Love of Rio and her courageous leap of faith that made this magical place a reality. These are the kind of women you will find gracing our Studio every single day.

We affectionately call our students and Instructors Hotgirls, not only because of their physical beauty, but because “hotness” is an attitude – courage, confidence, camaraderie, kindness – any and all the adjectives that make a woman strong enough to live each day for herself and countless others. A Hotgirl, we believe, is every woman who walks through our doors.

If you’ve read this far, we hope you understand just how special a place Studio Rio’s Twisted Fitness is, and even if you cannot join us, we hope that you see how important it is for women to celebrate and encourage other women – to take it outside of our Studio walls and make it a lifestyle. Because everyone has struggles in life and we are here to support one another. As we all know too well… All girls have been there, and that is why we are here.