Red Light Method Opens in Commack, and a Chamber Member Bets on Repetition Over Intensity

A Chamber member opened a new kind of studio in Commack last month. Red Light Method Commack took its first clients on Friday, August 7, at 6157 Jericho Turnpike, and the idea behind it is worth understanding before you decide whether it is for you. The owner, Steve Berlin, is not selling a hard workout. He is selling a habit.

Steve has spent more than 25 years running businesses, most of it in finance and operations, and for over a decade he ran two Sky Zone trampoline parks on Long Island. He tells the story of the studio the same way every time. He turned fifty, tried red light therapy on somebody's recommendation, and noticed that it only did anything for him when he kept going back. The studios he found charged enough per visit that going back was the hard part. So he built one around the opposite pricing idea: make each session inexpensive enough that three or four a week is a normal thing to do, and let the results come from repetition rather than from any single visit.

What a session looks like

The core visit is two things in sequence. First, 25 minutes in a private room under a full-body array of medical-grade, FDA-cleared red light. You go in wearing undergarments, under a sheet, with no makeup, lotion or sunscreen, because those block the light. Then ten minutes on a Power Plate, a vibration platform with a screen that walks you through a short routine. The studio has two of them, and on a busy day the platform time is capped at fifteen minutes so the next person is not waiting.

That is the whole appointment: about 35 minutes, no shower needed, no gym clothes required. Steve's pitch is that it fits on the way to work or on a lunch break, which is exactly where a habit either survives or does not.

The rest of the room

Red Light Method is a franchise, and the brand's founder, Allison Beardsley, previously founded Club Pilates, so the Commack studio also has Pilates reformers. The reformer work is guided on a tablet at each machine, with programming written by Beardsley in three levels, so a first-timer and a regular can be on machines next to each other doing different things. There is a far infrared cedar sauna included with membership.

Every member gets a complimentary STYKU 3D body scan, which is a full-body measurement you can repeat over time. That is the part of the business that gives the repetition idea some teeth: if you are coming three times a week, you want something that shows whether it is doing anything.

The wall inside reads, "You are the greatest project you will ever work on." The counter reads, "Get Lit. Get Fit." Both are the brand's, and both are the tone of the place.

How the memberships work

Memberships are sold as packs of sessions, and the studio opened with founding-member packages for the first people through the door. Sessions do not roll over from one month to the next, plans renew automatically, and you can pause for up to four months in a year. Canceling takes 30 days' notice. Because the services are wellness rather than a gym contract, most FSA and HSA cards are accepted, though the studio suggests checking with your plan first. Current pricing and hours are on the studio's website.

A growing brand, and a member of this Chamber

Red Light Method had sixteen studios open when Commack joined the list, with more than seventy in development under CEO Eric Tepper, so this is a young brand growing quickly. Commack is one of its first stops on Long Island, and it is a Melville Chamber member. You can find Red Light Method Commack in the member directory, follow the studio on Instagram and Facebook, or call 631-771-1280 to book a first visit.

If you go, go more than once. That is the entire premise.