Husband And Wife Behind Intelligent Fitness Win Several Best Of LI Awards

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — How are husband and wife team Phil Sottile and Stacey Lerman celebrating having won multiple categories in the 2025 FourLeaf Best of Long Island Awards? By continuing their "special and unique work for the people" who helped elevate the couple in the first place.

That dedication to people both in their facility and across Long Island is, perhaps, what led Sottile and Lerman, who founded Intelligent Fitness in East Northport and Commack, to win several categories in the awards — previously known as the Bethpage Best of Long Island Awards.

Intelligent Fitness is celebrating its 25th anniversary with four awards:

• Phil Sottile and Stacey Lerman — Best Personal Trainer on Long Island (eighth time since 2016)
• Phil Sottile — Best Life Coach on Long Island (ninth straight year)
• Intelligent Fitness — Best Fitness Facility on Long Island (two for two in the category's history)
• Intelligent Fitness — Best Bootcamp on Long Island (third straight year)

Sottile said that being a small, non-franchised business model being named "the best" by Long Islanders is a "special accomplishment."

"It speaks to the strength of our message, unique brand identity, and after 25 years of serving Long Islanders as Intelligent Fitness, the affirmative recognition that we continue to set the benchmark for maintaining the highest standard in the professional practice of fitness and wellness service," Sottile told Patch.

Sottile said the current state of the fitness services market is "dominated by corporate franchise models that leverage hundreds of thousands of group-funded marketing dollars" that small businesses must compete with.

Sottile lauded the dedication of the people who voted for he and Lerman for "best trainers" among a field of dozens.

"Let it be known that we take special pride in our unique way of doing business in a market space that is — and should be — about th ehealth, vitality, and quality of life of each and every individual who is seeking enhanced wellness," Sottile said.

Sottile, who fought cancer, said he has worked to improve people's quality of life. He said he knows how powerful good health is to giving someone a better shot to make it through an illness.

Sottile shared statistics that, he said, express the importance of people working out to get more fit:

• Around 77 percent of young adults are unfit to serve in the military.
• Around 74 percent of the population is overweight or obese.
• Around 50 percent of adults have conditions that lead to diabetes or have diabetes.
• Around 28 percent of teens are pre-diabetic.
• Around 18 percent of teens have fatty liver disease.
• Early-onset cancer, globally, is up 79 percent between 1990 and 2019.

"Nearly ALL of these metrics are resolved through an individualized plan of prescription exercise and sound nutrition," Sottile said. "It is now more important than ever to find the right professional to improve your overall quality of life and, 'Get busy livin'!"

Intelligent Fitness has a "simple formula" behind its success, according to Sottile.

"Serve at the pleasure of the fitness consumer and build the company, 'one body at a time.' To do this, we market ourselves as a relationship business. Not to sound crass, but we will not work with just anyone. In fact, we sometimes respectfully pass on offering our services to someone if we cannot align with their requests and refer these consumers to other providers if they seem more ideally matched to a different business model."

Intelligent Fitness has ways of determining compatibility between instructor and consumer. Prospective clients are invited into the facility, and Sottile or Lerman start a dialogue with them called "discovery." If there is an ideal match, a short-term program is offered, Sottile explained.

"We NEVER offer long-term commitments to begin," he said. "We only offer one-month programs in order to develop trust, rapport, and gauge compatibility. It is in this format that we have successfully built long-term relationships."

Sottile said 25% of Intelligent Fitness's client community — both private training and group fitness services — have been with the business for longer than 15 years. Four clients are approaching 24 years with Intelligent Fitness, he said.

Sottile and Lerman only coach approximately 6 to 10 people per class.

"Supervision and service are the hallmarks of our approach," Sottile said. "Limitation of attendance also speaks to exclusivity. The larger the group, the more it becomes relatively challenging to personally engage every single person. Informally regarded as the 'original fitness boutique' on Long Island, it was always part of our formula to scale to a point of profitability without sacrificing and overlooking individuality in our service model. In this way, fewer people get more out of their time with us and will tend to renew year after year. With over one-quarter of our community spending more than 15 years with us, that record speaks for itself."

People may visit the Intelligent Fitness website here.