Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Vicera.
Hi Steve, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story really starts with my family. I grew up around a family business — car parts and accessories — so entrepreneurship wasn’t some abstract idea to me, it was the dinner table conversation. I watched my parents build something with their hands, and it planted a seed I didn’t even realize was there yet.
Before Sommet Fitness, I was a bodybuilder and personal trainer. I’d built my whole identity around strength — lifting heavy, pushing hard. Then I hurt my back. That injury forced me to look at movement completely differently, and that’s how I found Stott Pilates. What started as trying to fix my own body turned into a real education in how the body actually heals, and I couldn’t unsee it. I got certified, and I knew I wanted to build something around that idea — movement as medicine, not just fitness for its own sake.
So in 2007, I opened Sommet Fitness in Scottsdale — a therapeutic Pilates studio built for pain relief and rehabilitation. Less than a year later we were staring down the 2008 financial crisis, and years after that, COVID hit and shut studios like mine down overnight. Both times, what carried us through wasn’t some clever pivot — it was our clients. The relationships and trust we’d built. People stuck with us because it was never transactional.
None of it would have happened without my wife, Cherie, and my in-laws. They were there from the beginning, believing in this before there was much to believe in.
These days I’ve built out a small team and lean on an apprenticeship model to develop new instructors — and my own focus has shifted. I used to be the one on the mat with every client. Now I care more about mentoring the next generation of instructors, especially in therapeutic work, so what we’ve built here outlasts me.
If there’s one thread running through all of it, it’s this: without risk, there’s no reward. Every real step forward — walking away from bodybuilding, opening the studio, surviving two crises — meant betting on something before I had any proof it would work.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
People love to hear the highlight reel, but I’ll tell you the truth: there is no such thing as a smooth road, in life or in business. Every part of my story that I’m proud of today has a bruise underneath it.
After I opened the business. Less than two years later, the 2008 financial crisis hit, and we were in the red for two straight years. Two years of watching the numbers and wondering if this was going to be the thing that ended it before it really began. I won’t pretend that wasn’t scary — there were plenty of nights I questioned whether I’d made the right call walking away from a career I already knew how to do. But we kept the doors open, we kept showing up for the clients who kept showing up for us, and slowly, we turned the corner into profitability. That stretch taught me that survival itself is a form of success. Nobody claps for the years you just held on, but those are often the years that matter most.
The other wound I carry is different, and honestly harder to talk about, because it wasn’t the market’s fault — it was a decision I made. At one point I opened a second location and brought on a business partner who, looking back, was never the right fit. I got caught up in the excitement of growth, the idea of scaling something I’d worked so hard to build, and I got blinded by what looked like a shiny object. It turned out to be broken glass. Partnership is a lot like a marriage — if you don’t share the same values, no amount of shared opportunity will hold it together. That one cost me money, time, and a fair amount of trust in my own judgment. But it also taught me, more than any success ever could, what I actually needed to look for in the people I choose to build with.
Then years later, COVID came and shut studios like mine down overnight, and once again it was relationships — not strategy — that carried us through.
If there’s one thread running through all of it — the crisis, the bad partnership, the pandemic — it’s this: without risk, there’s no reward. I didn’t get anywhere by avoiding the broken glass. I got here by getting cut a few times, cleaning up the wound, and building something sturdier the next time around.
As you know, we’re big fans of Sommet Fitness. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We specialized in Therapeutic Pilates as a modality to help people get out of chronic pain.
Our Approach
Address the Root Cause
Pain is rarely about one isolated problem. It’s usually the result of compensation patterns, muscle imbalances, movement dysfunction, and tissue health that’s degraded over time. Our approach targets the underlying cause-whether it’s core instability, poor alignment, or tissues that have lost their resilience and ability to handle load-so you don’t just feel better temporarily, you stay better long-term.
Individualized Assessment
Every decision we make is shaped by a clear sense of purpose. Our journey has been anything but ordinary. Through every step, we’ve focused on staying true to our values and making space for thoughtful, lasting work.
Progress Through Precision
Through controlled, precise exercises, we retrain your body to move correctly-building strength and stability without aggravating existing pain or creating new injuries. Every session integrates breath with movement, creating a mind-body connection that extends beyond the studio. When you learn to move with awareness and intention, your body remembers. You carry this into your daily life-how you sit, stand, reach, bend. It’s about working smarter, not harder.
Any big plans?
We are planning on celebrating our 20th anniversary and launching a new AI software for Postural Analysis that will enhance our client services . I”m also developing a mentorship program for Pilates Instructor how to make a 6 figure income.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sommetfitness.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sommetfitness
- Facebook: tps://www.facebook.com/sommetfitness
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-vicera-7154929
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sommetfitness
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/xUfk1EFkZmc?si=nL9eC7IiyWTtY-3w
