They say opposites attract, at least when it comes to romantic pairings. But for business partnerships, Carmen Puyo and Maral Habibi prove that the perfect match are people with the same goals, pulling in the same direction, who want to uplift everyone around them to their level of success.
Their friendship started back in 2014, when Carmen was teaching Maral in a group exercise leadership class at Toronto’s Humber Polytechnic as part of its Fitness and Health Promotion program. Carmen took note of Maral’s passion, positive energy, and natural leadership capabilities, eventually taking her under her wing as a mentee. Maral, on the other hand, was drawn to her instructor for completely different, but completely understandable, reasons.
“All the students thought she was so scary,” laughs Maral. “But I really didn’t think so. She’s tough. It was tough love! And she really cares about her students—she made class fun and engaging. I was only 19 at the time, and I was like, ‘I want to be like her when I grow up.’”
It’s a reputation that Carmen takes in stride, and even leans into. Her no-nonsense way of delivering criticisms and compliments alike stems from the high expectations that she has for those she recognizes as having the capacity for greatness.
“But the thing is, I also set those high expectations for myself,” Carmen insists. “With younger people, they don’t see the potential in themselves yet. So I just bring that out, and then when they finally see it, they crush it.”
And crush it Maral did. Fast forward more than a decade, and she’s now also teaching at Humber, under Carmen’s tutelage. But it’s not the only avenue in which the duo are making a difference en masse and affecting the next generation of fitness professionals: enter Group X Academy, a project years in the making with big ideas and even bigger ambitions.
“The beauty of mentoring is witnessing someone’s growth while being challenged to level up yourself.”
Carving Their Fitness Niche
A staple in the fitness industry since 1997, Carmen had seen it all—but not quite everything.
“In my early days, when I first started within the industry, there was no representation of somebody that looked like me,” she recalls. “You have to remember, this was the 1990s. Everybody looked a certain way, and their body type was a certain way.” This meant she had to shift the focus from what people could see to proving to others what she could do, in a space that didn’t often hold room for her.
Maral felt the same, and this became one of the defining catalysts for the creation of Group X Academy, which began in 2025 but officially launched in January of this year. Another cornerstone was the need for mentorship opportunities in fitness instruction, which both Carmen and Maral felt were lacking, as well as a more holistic approach to certification programs.
“We were going to all of these big conferences and presenting at them,” says Carmen, “but there was just something missing.” Fostering a sense of intimacy between the conference presenter and the attendees, and between the attendees themselves, just wasn’t possible with hundreds of people in a single session. Plus, some instructors, especially those who are newer to the industry, may find the vast scope of these events intimidating but not know where else to turn to get the continuing education credits (CECs) they need to maintain their certification.
Group X Academy’s programs differ in that they offer a 360-degree approach to fitness careers, building in topics that larger-scale conferences and programs may overlook, such as business basics and the impact of AI on the industry. And of course, the mentorship piece is deeply embedded in their approach, too.
“We keep in contact with everyone who’s taken our workshops—unlike other workshops, where you may never even talk to [the presenter],” adds Maral. “And sometimes down the line we give them opportunities in the industry. So not only are they learning from us, but there’s networking built into it as well.”
A Fresh Approach
Carmen and Maral, through Group X Academy, are also working to bring the business of fitness back to basics, with an emphasis on foundational movements and education that outlines the “whys,” not just the “whats,” and strips away the fads that other certifications and CECs may place too much emphasis on. Their Mat Pilates Certification program, for example, focuses on the tenets of the practice, minus any trendy add-ons that may currently be blowing up your feed. After all, group fitness isn’t just about “fun classes,” the duo insist. It’s about education, experience, and evolution.
“On all these social media platforms, there’s a lot of fitness influencers that are now starting to teach classes, but they don’t have a fitness instructor certification,” Carmen says. “They look the part. They feel like they can stand there and just run a class. But what happened to getting certified? We’re hoping we can bring that back into the industry with Group X Academy.”
Over the coming years they plan on releasing more virtual and on-demand workshop options online, expanding locations for their in-person events to better serve the population of Ontario, and gradually increasing the size of their classes—without becoming the gargantuan conferences they are trying to disrupt. The ultimate goal: to become a global brand, trusted by instructors from a multitude of backgrounds and interests.
“The beauty of mentoring is witnessing someone’s growth while being challenged to level up yourself” is a motto that Carmen and Maral both return to time and time again, and one they clearly live by. For those who believe it too, Group X Academy’s approach to group fitness instruction may just be what their practice is missing. After all, without the support of those who have been there, seen it all, and are still continuing to better themselves day in and day out, even teaching the most “fun class” is a solitary undertaking—and one look at the way in which Carmen and Maral support each other is all you need to know about why they have come so far already, in such a short amount of time.
Written by Rachel Debling, Editor-In-Chief
Photos by Brogan McNab
