Name of business: Lifted Fitness
Type of business: Women’s strength and bodybuilding gym
Location: 2242 Maryann Drive
Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday
Contact information: 209-427-5555
Specialty: Group classes and personal training
History of business:
What began simply as a vision to provide women with a safe, comfortable place to work out has now grown into a 100-member strong business venture for Turlock resident Hannah Grace, who along with boyfriend and co-owner Doug Mutoza, opened Lifted Fitness just under a year ago. Since then, the gym has catered to female fitness enthusiasts of all ages and sizes with a philosophy created by women, for women.
“When I was just starting out, I sometimes felt uncomfortable going to my gym…some exercises were awkward to do in front of guys, and a lot of the time there were no other girls in the weight room,” said Grace. “It was always a dream of mine to open a place where girls can lift heavy like the guys and feel comfortable.”
Grace first turned to fitness after a struggle with unhealthy eating and dieting habits led her to the gym. Mutoza, an experienced trainer, began to show her how to fuel her body with proper nutrition and how to shape her body with weights and soon, she was hooked. Today she is a certified personal trainer, and with the help of other female trainers employed at Lifted Fitness aims to inspire women to love and take care of their bodies.
“I don’t want men to think I’m discriminating or am a ‘man-hater,’ because the truth is there are a lot of nice guys out there, but some women feel more comfortable working out with just other women,” said Grace, adding that because she is a woman, she better understands her clients’ bodies and what will work for them if they are female as well. “Here, they can get good training from other girls who know what they’re doing, and there are no distractions.”
Lifted Fitness offers weekly group classes that range from High Intensity Interval Training circuits to heavy lifting, and also provides personal training for those that are looking for a one-on-one gym experience.
HIIT classes, which provide a full body, fat burning workout, take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the morning and in the evening, and in the late afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The gym’s “booty camp,” known as Rock Bottoms, is held twice a week in the evening on Mondays and Thursdays and focuses on lower body.
A unique class at Lifted Fitness takes place on Saturday mornings – MMA Fit, which is taught by Mixed Martial Arts fighter Grace Buchan and includes fighting drills, punching bag work and even some self-defense lessons.
“They sweat a lot in that class,” said Grace.
Soon, Lifted Fitness will have yoga classes on Saturdays as well, and hopes to eventually expand into the building next to their current location, located just off North Walnut Road behind Turlock Regal Cinemas. Perhaps that eventual expansion will grow to include men, said Grace, but for now, Lifted Fitness is dominated by women.
A full schedule of Lifted Fitness classes, with pricing, can be found on the MINDBODY App.
