MoveWith Lets You Take Unique Classes With Boston Fitness Instructors

A MoveWith class in progress. Photo provided to bostonmagazine.com

After Holly Shelton left competitive ski racing in her early 20s, she, like so many, became a slave to the elliptical. But Shelton always wanted more, and seven months ago she launched a company called MoveWith to get it.

“I just felt this big void,” she explains. “MoveWith was really born out of this desire to put more meaning into people’s lives, and really believing that that is the motivating factor that will cultivate healthy lifestyles that will actually last.”

MoveWith, formerly called Be Gritsy, is a platform that connects the city’s best fitness instructors with students directly, offering them the chance to teach classes outside the typical constraints of a gym or studio. Teachers from well-known studios like Back Bay Yoga, David Barton Gym, and Sweat and Soul list their independent classes with MoveWith, and the site’s current offerings include things like rooftop yoga bootcamp and a “Vinyasa, Vino, and Vintage” event. All the classes are offered for a one-time fee in the $10 to $15 range, with no membership required.

“MoveWith is not a network of studios or classes, but rather a network of teachers and students,” Shelton says. “Our focus is much more on empowering people and putting the teacher at the center of the experience.”

Right now, the service is only available in Boston, but Shelton says it will soon expand westward to “major metro cities you would expect.” And though major U.S. cities are crawling with fitness studios and services like ClassPass, Shelton says MoveWith’s emphasis on people and community will set it apart.

“It all comes back to what we’re about,” Shelton says. “That people motivate people, and it’s all about who you move with.”