In March, Routine, a fitness studio located at 21 Stanwood St. in Brunswick, opened up and changed the workout game in town.

Routine is owned and operated by Michaela McVetty, a Maine local who studied Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management at the University of Southern Maine. She started in the food service industry and opened Sisters Gourmet Deli in Bath with her husband, Nick Roberge.

“Owning Sisters [Gourmet Deli] taught me so much about hospitality, community and creating a place that people genuinely want to come back to—all of which ended up shaping Routine, too,” McVetty wrote in an email to the Orient.

Routine offers pilates, yoga and strength classes as well as red light therapy, sauna, compression, massages, IVs, vitamin shots and food. The grab-and-go options are offered through their partnership with Sisters Gourmet Deli.

“More than anything, I wanted it to be easy,” McVetty wrote. “Instead of driving to five different places for the things that make you feel good, what if they could all exist under one roof?”

Her transition into the fitness world stemmed from a back injury that made her upkeep at the restaurant much harder. McVetty doesn’t have an extensive sports background beyond participating in group sports for the social value, but she took up dance and loved it. After she graduated high school, she stopped dancing and couldn’t find a fitness routine she wanted to stick to.

Then, McVetty started taking pilates classes at a studio in Portland and loved how they made her feel.

“At the time, I was spending every day in Bath at the restaurant, and I kept wishing there was a space closer to home where I could take classes more consistently,” McVetty wrote.

That experience helped shape what she wanted Routine to be.

“Our whole philosophy is ‘Feel good. Do it again,’” McVetty wrote. “I think movement becomes sustainable when you actually enjoy the way it makes you feel and want to come back. Not when you’re forcing yourself through something you hate because you think you’re supposed to.”

To gain exposure among Bowdoin students, Routine launched an ambassador program last spring. Selected participants were given codes for Bowdoin students to try a class for free. The program has since evolved into a Social Media Intern position. In this role, the intern creates at least two pieces of short-form video content each week. In exchange, they receive a Full Routine membership, which includes unlimited classes and wellness treatments.

“I actually think the new structure is a much better fit,” McVetty wrote. “It gives someone real experience working directly with a small business and building content for an active brand, while giving us another creative brain in the room. And it’s open to local students—it isn’t specific to Bowdoin. Anyone interested can apply directly through our website.”

Amelia Alpren ’28 used an ambassador code to try her first class. Her class of choice was hot sculpt, and she loved it so much that she bought the unlimited pass for her summer on campus. Alpren started reformer pilates classes back home and was excited to have an option to continue in Brunswick.

“When you walk in, the staff greet you, which is very sweet, and they knew my name, which is very welcoming,” Alpren said. “They just offer such a wide range of classes with different levels. You can, as you get more familiar, take more advanced classes, which I think is very accessible.”

Routine was designed to be a space that’s useful for all kinds of people, and for Bowdoin students, this includes both athletes and non-athletes. For athletes, that might mean using the compression boots between runs, trying red light therapy for recovery, taking a stretch class or spending time in the sauna.

Janie Lytle ‘27, a student-athlete on the women’s squash team, enjoys taking Routine classes because it is a way to move her body that isn’t tied to her sport or performance.

“It gets me out of my head and into my body in a way that is wonderful and recentering, especially as a college student who is super busy,” Lytle said. “It provides a really wonderful community and a different kind of movement than what I usually get when I stick to my program and go to practice.”

For students who aren’t athletes, there are just as many reasons to come in. They can take a class, meet people from outside the Bowdoin community, or simply grab a coffee, hang out and get some work done. The idea McVetty had in mind for Bowdoin students is to create a space where students can move, recover, socialize and spend time outside of campus.

“I want Routine to feel like a place you belong, not somewhere you have to prove you belong,” McVetty wrote.