Meet Janice Kay Smith of A Women’s Gym in Old Town

Today we’d like to introduce you to Janice Kay Smith.

Janice kay, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 1996 I attempted to acquire a Personal Trainer position in one of the largest chains of coed health clubs in Chicago. There were no job openings close to where I lived. I found myself walking past a health club for women. My sister, Imella, told me to see if they had any openings. Upon inquiring inside, I was offered a chance to use my management degree to manage one of their locations. I decided to accept a position as a class instructor until a personal training position became available. I taught aerobics, cardio kick boxing, toning, resist –a –ball and step classes for approximately 5 months.

After the first month of becoming a personal trainer, I accumulated such a large number of clients, so fast, that I earned the title of “Master Trainer”. This was paramount because this organization had an average of 2 personal trainers in 26 different locations and I was the only one given this title. I was the first Personal Trainer in their history to receive an award. Each day every trainer in their 26 locations was challenged, to increase and maintain their client base using their skill and quality of service. For 4 consecutive years I retained the title “Master Trainer” at that organization until I opened A Women’s Gym.

Ninety eight percent of the hundreds of women I trained in those 4 years hired me as their personal trainer to help them to lose weight. Ninety percent of those women were living with neck, shoulder, wrist, back, hip, knee or ankle pain. A large amount had osteoporosis, scoliosis or just poor posture. The majority of these women had been living with pain for so long they just got used to it and no longer sought help to relieve it.

Women are caregivers by nature, usually putting their needs aside to meet the needs of their family and to be good team players at work. Their family and jobs were their priority not their health. I helped them realize that this was not acceptable. It was clear to me that women needed a specialty club to help them make their health a top priority, get rid of the aches and pains they had accepted as a part of life, stop the weight loss-weight gain circle, make them stronger and increase their bone density. A WOMEN’S GYM is that club.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
A WOMEN’S GYM by Mary Wenzel MD, Member
When you walk in the door, you know it’s not your brother’s gym. You will meet lawyers, homemakers, teachers, students, doctors, retired women, businesswomen, of all ages and ethnicities. Mary, Carole and Themis become “Leo”, “Papillon” and “Raven (their gym names). Others become “BaBa”, “Peaches” or “Biker”.

You step into your gym persona and into a warm supportive atmosphere but you’re not here to party. You are here because you believe what Janice, the owner of A Women’s Gym, believes: any woman of any age or level of fitness can change, improve and maintain the body she wants.

The gym is small, spare and simply laid out with state-of-the-art machines in a longish U shape. You can do circuit training as in the “Boot Camp” (a machine aerobics class) or start anywhere you want. Everyone has a program customized for her by Janice but no one works out alone. Janice is usually there to correct form, to teach skills and nag each of us into doing our personal best. We work, very hard. No one is in competition with anyone else, only herself.

There is socializing in and out of the gym. We attend concerts (sometimes given by one of our own), dinners, spas, marathons and other events together. We can count on each other for support of our causes and there are lots of them.

All in all it’s a place where you keep coming back. Some of us have been working out 2 or 3 times a week for 8 years – an accomplishment we used to think impossible. There are few “exercise drop outs.” We all recommend the gym to our friends. The fees are reasonable. And there’s Janice. She’s priceless.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Absolutely and I say that after 17 years in the same location.

Contact Info:

• Address: A Women’s Gym
  1248 North Wells Street
  Chicago, IL 60610
• Website: www.awomensgym.com
• Phone: 1-312-587-8900
• Email: agym@mac.com
• Facebook: A Women’s Gym
• Twitter: @AWG1248

Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.