WILLIAMSBURG — Working out sounds great — until one realizes they can’t bench on par with the gym bros or can’t run a marathon, so why try at all?
But these don’t have to be the incentives to hit the gym and get moving, says J Oien, the owner of Transformation Fitness, which opened in Williamsburg last month. Instead, exercise can be about building the strength to lift a niece or nephew, carry groceries at age 90, bend to tie a shoe without strain or train for a five-day hike in Iceland.
Oien said the motivation for getting into CrossFit after a divorce in 2021 was simple: they had started dating someone who did it. “I thought they were hot and wanted to do whatever they were doing,” Oien said.
But Oien’s mission for their new business, located in the Abide Wellness Center at 206 Main St. just past the Williamsburg-Northampton line, not only involves helping people work toward their why, but also hones in on helping trans people realize their how.
Oien is uniquely qualified to assist people who are transitioning to realize their fitness goals — a service virtually unavailable in the area and in the state, they say. One reason is that in 2024 they had top surgery, a gender-affirming surgical procedure that reshapes the chest. After the procedure, patients typically can’t raise their arms above shoulder level for up to three months.
Oien said people who have undergone surgery for breast cancer have similar post-surgery experiences.
Squats, thrusters and overhead exercises had all been routine for Oien before the surgery. But they had to adapt.
“I got really knocked down when I had surgery and couldn’t even walk down the block for weeks. And so at a certain point your surgeon will clear you for movement, but not really tell you what that means or how to safely get back to movement,” Oien says.
To get back in the swing of things, they entered a six-week hypertrophy strength-training class to rebuild muscle, but Oien was solo in figuring out how to balance limitations.
“I was just kind of figuring it out on my own,” they said.
Oien’s journey to the gym started in 2016 when they enrolled in nursing school. During that time, a professor challenged them to begin a workout routine, arguing that anyone hoping to help others meet their health goals should first gain experience confronting their own. Like most people, Oien had no idea what their goals were or how to get started.
Their workout habits started small, with a seven-minute workout published in the New York Times. But since then, over the course of refining whys and gaining consistency, fitness has been a core feature of Oien’s life. They trained for and ran a half-marathon, got into CrossFit and began powerlifting.
“I’m still on this journey of figuring out what I enjoy doing,” Oien said. “I also like pickleball. Is it a peak workout? No, but you’re moving your body, and so that’s one of the things that I really emphasize — figuring out things that work for you. What are you going to do consistently, what’s going to excite you?”
Oien added, “Your workout might not be the perfect workout, but it’s better than no workout.”
Becoming a nurse taught them the “model” of care they want to provide for those seeking to achieve their fitness goals. Oien, after working in public health and nursing, moved from the Washington, D.C. area to Northampton a year ago to escape what they saw as a dark political cloud under the Trump presidency.
“When the National Guard came to town last summer I was like, ‘this is why I left, because I knew this was coming,'” they said. They moved to Northampton with their partner after being drawn in by event fliers and the ability to find a home and safe haven in Paradise City.
“When we got to Northampton, I think we went to Local Burger… and we were like, ‘I think this is it,'” Oien says.
Working out consistently has given Oien an outlet to achieve greater clear-headedness, whether in the midst of family emergencies or other challenging life experiences. It has also given them the ability to mold their own body. That, they said, is part of the gender-affirming piece of working out. For one, “my quads are huge,” they said.
“What has happened for me is that my body is looking more the way that I want it to, and that’s not to say that everybody’s body should look like mine, or that I have the ideal body for societal standards, but I feel at home in my body,” they said. “It’s both the way my body looks to me, but also the way that I occupy space in my body, like I’m not closed off anymore. I walk around with a proud chest. When I take a deep breathe, I can feel my abdominal muscles, like I just feel embodied in a way that I never did before. It does different things for different people, but that’s what it does for me.”
In additional to doing personalized workout routines, Oien also hosts group sessions at the Ripple Studio, located at 49 Main St., in Williamsburg.
Oien is using a sliding scale payment option, which allows people to choose what category of pricing best suits their economic situations. Home and car owners or people with money in the bank are expected to pay a slightly larger fee as opposed to people economically struggling. Oien won’t ask for pay stubs, just honesty — a model Oien said he hopes more businesses would employ.
Oien also said insurance may help cover costs and said people can check their benefit packages to find out.
“A lot of folks don’t know that they can get reimbursement from their insurance and/or a flexible spending account (FSA) for a gym membership or exercise program, and in many cases I’m able to provide documentation for folks to get reimbursed. This includes many folks enrolled in MassHealth and Medicaid.”
Oien is currently gearing up for a couple multi-month group training sessions. From April 5 through June 12, they will lead a running and training program that will culminate with the Holyoke Pride Rainbow Run 5K. No running experience is required, and payments are a maximum of $240 a month. The running program includes a training plan, twice weekly group cross-training sessions, a weekly group run, and race entry.
Those interested in powerlifting can join Oien from April 7 through May 14 to gain skills in squatting, bench press and overhead presses. Classes will take place Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8 to 9 a.m. in Williamsburg. The course will conclude with the Hampshire Regional YMCA’S spring push and pull contest.