A Pilates studio will be opening its doors in Gloucester in the next few weeks. Maggie Jeffrey, weightlifting competitor and local mom of four, has started Pilates Athletica to offer the community a place to enjoy moving their bodies with intention, while learning proper form. Jeffrey’s goal is to open her studio (located at 6661 Hickory Fork Road in Hayes) around the first of September. “My reformers—the apparatus we’re going to be moving on primarily—are due to be shipped a week, give or take, from August 15,” she said. Pilates, named after Joseph Pilates, the German physical fitness specialist who devised the program, is a system of exercises using special apparatus, designed to improve physical strength, flexibility and posture and enhance mental awareness. Currently she is the only instructor at the studio, with eight years of experience under her belt. “I love it very much,” she said. “I’m very passionate about movement of the human body in general and doing it properly—different...