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2013 and 2014

Jeff Stewart

Assistant New Car Sales Manager

Stella Koivogui,
assistant health club
director at the for-
mer JCC in Oak Park,
opened Fit|nesse
boutique gym in
December.

Serving the Community Since 1969

248-636-2736

CONGRATULATIONS

GLASSMAN SUBARU

Stella Steps Up

A division of

Glassman Automotive Group

JCC students follow trainer
to her new Oak Park studio.

Serving Our Community For Over 45 Years!

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14 February 18 • 2016

Julie Edgar | Special to the Jewish News

2053660

he closure of the Jewish
Community Center in Oak
Park last August sent the neigh-
borhood into a tailspin, not least of all
because it offered an Orthodox-friendly
place to work out and swim.
Some people left for other clubs,
but many held out until JCC assistant
health club director Stella Koivogui
opened her own studio. She promised
she would.
Their commitment paid off. In
December, with the backing of a private
investor, Koivogui, 36, opened Fit|nesse, a
boutique studio on Coolidge in Oak Park.
Some 80 former students from the JCC
returned, along with three or four regular
instructors.
“They like ladies-only, and they feel
comfortable here,” says Koivogui, a native
of Ukraine who worked at Beaumont
Hospital as an exercise physiologist before
joining the JCC about six years ago. “They
want to be around women they know. It’s
maintaining the community feel.”
The comfort part is true for Connie
LeBel of Detroit, a diehard exerciser who
made some very good friends in her
JCC low-impact aerobics class. She is not
religious, but she liked the sense of com-
munity.
When the JCC closed, a few of LeBel’s
fellow travelers migrated to the Royal
Oak YMCA and a studio in Ferndale.
But when LeBel and the others learned
Koivogui had hired instructors they knew
and that she would accommodate their
schedules and their fitness levels, they
headed to Fit|nesse.
“We like the new blood, and we’re
working differently. We work out three
days a week and get a different workout
every time,” says LeBel, 83. “I could work
out in the house, but I like the social part.”
Oak Park Mayor Marian McClellan
recently visited Fit|nesse — and signed
up for a dance flow class.
Oak Park City Manager Erik Tungate
says Fit|nesse is a piece of the city’s overall
economic redevelopment plan, which he
vigorously champions.

“I am excited to welcome them to
our community,” he says. “The Coolidge
corridor is becoming a more and more
diverse shopping district. As more pro-
grams detailed in our development plan
emerge, the city’s commercial corridors
will continue to become more viable.”
Koivogui of Oak Park offers personal
training for men and women, women-
only studio classes, Zumba for ages 3-5,
dance and yoga for girls ages 6-10, Krav
Maga for boys and kickboxing for teen
girls. There’s babysitting for a small fee.
Shaindy Sorscher of Oak Park, a
10th grader at Yeshivas Darchei Torah
in Southfield, takes kickboxing with
Koivogui who, she says, provides great
motivation.
Koivogui started offering classes for
younger people because parents asked
for it.
“I did a test drive. I said, ‘Get me 10
teens and I’ll run a class.’ There weren’t
10; there were 18,” she says.
Koivogui has already added two sec-
tions of Krav Maga, an Israeli form of
self-defense training, and she plans to
expand class offerings, building her per-
sonal training business and streaming
her classes live. Women who’ve taken her
classes while visiting Detroit want to work
out remotely.
Dentist Rick Schwarcz of Oak Park
started training with Koivogui two years
ago. When the JCC closed, he says, he
had no intention of looking for another
trainer.
“She looks like Mary Poppins, but
treats me like she’s a guard from Siberia,”
Schwarcz, 53, quips. “She can compete
with any trainer in any community.”
That she opened in the neighborhood
is a bonus, he says.
“I think it’s a win-win having such a
high-caliber gym in that location.”

*

Fit|nesse, 25591 Coolidge (at Sherwood) in Oak
Park, will host an open house from 9 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 21. Women can try free group exercise
classes (and enjoy free babysitting). Men can try a
group fitness lesson and Krav Maga classes from
noon-1 p.m. For more, visit www.Fitnesse-mi.com.

