It was a party-like atmosphere, filled with balloons and a DJ at the grand opening of the Meta Burn Fitness center on Tuesday, April 28. The fitness center at 68 West Main St. had a special ribbon cutting ceremony with the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Chamber of Commerce and local politicians, including Oyster Bay Town Clerk James Altadonna and Councilwoman Michele Johnson.
“I’m happy to be here tonight to welcome another business in town,” said Chamber of Commerce President Dottie Simons. “People are raving about this new gym and it brings a great energy to the area.”
Meta Burn Fitness is co-owned by fitness consultants Rahsheen “Rahz” Slaughter and Greg Kalafatic. The pair also own a Meta Burn Fitness studio on Forest Avenue in Locust Valley.
“We were looking for a new location to serve our clients who had trouble getting to the Locust Valley gym and thought opening one in Oyster Bay would be a great opportunity,” said Slaughter, who has been in the fitness and nutrition business for more than 15 years. “Our clientele is generally women in the 35 to 60 age range. We specialize in fat loss and focus on proper nutrition for a healthy lifestyle.”
Slaughter and Kalafatic consider themselves “adaptive coaches” helping their clients to lose weight and teaching them the value of eating the right types of nutrients. Slaughter focuses more on the cardio/weight training area and Kalafatic is the nutrition expert.
“We cater to our clients’ lifestyles instead of forcing them to change,” said Kalafatic. “We cater to the stay-at-home mom with the family, the kids and responsibilities and set them up with meal plans. We focus on what to eat and what not to eat, what types of macronutrients they should be putting in their bodies.”
Slaughter said that he has his clients follow his “triangle of success.”
“It consists of a certified nutrition plan, a personal training aspect and mindset coaching for all of our clients.”
The Meta Burn Fitness centers have six different coaches working at both facilities and more than 115 clients in their database. Prices vary for personal training sessions, with some packages running as low as $180 and others running upwards of $700.
Denise Burns, who was a previous client and now is a coach at Meta Burn, said she began training at the Locust Valley location seven months ago and loved it so much she joined on as a coach at the center.
“I was really into working out and then I had my three boys and began putting on weight,” said Burns, who worked for 12 years as a physical therapist. “Coach Rahz and Coach Greg taught me how to eat right and lift heavy. Their regimen has helped in my goal of weight loss, my energy and confidence levels are up, my attitude is more positive and I’m living a healthy lifestyle.”
