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Enterprising Ideas - Silicon Valley Business Journal - December 8, 2005 ENTERPRISE
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Profile
FITNESS
accessible
By Kaci Elder
sanjose@bizjournals.com
Marianne Vladislavich grips either end of the metal exercise bar above
her head, slowly lowers the bar to her chest, and releases. With her final
rep complete, her trainer wheels her to the next machine. Living in a
wheelchair shouldn't preclude a good workout.
Like most of the 45 clients at Accesssible Fitness Gym in Santa Clara,
Ms. Vladislavich has multiple sclerosis. Every week she trains with Judy
Luu O'Lone, 36, and Paul O'Lone, a former Mr. North America bodybuilding
champion who was diagnosed with MS in 1997.
As Ms. Vladislavich trains at one end of the 2,150-square-foot gym, Mr.
O'Lone gestures toward a seat-less stationary bike whose petals sit near
the floor, an example of the gym's adaptive equipment. Trainers can gingerly
strap their wheelchair-bound clients' feet to the petals, and the motorized
bike moves their legs in circular motions.
"We have people who get on this machine, who have spinal cord injuries
and haven't been able to move their legs, They begin to make connections
with their legs and are able to move the machine on their own after a
couple months," says Mr, O'Lone, 37, who owns the gym with his wife,
Ms, Luu O'Lone.
The gym's 22 training stations, designed by Equalizer Inc., are equipped
with familiar exercises - the vertical bench press and vertical butterfly,
for example - that are accessible to people with disabilities. Removable
seats provide wheelchair access, lighter weights complement less strenuous
workouts and foam padding protects weaker chests.
Unlike her husband, Ms, Luu O'Lone hasn't lost myelin, the protective
tissue enwrapping nerve fibers that, if damaged, weakens the central nervous
system. But she has lost weight. And gained it. And lost it
again.
When she immigrated to California three decades ago, the diminutive child
reached for something comforting, a salve to ease the unsettling transition
from wartime Vietnam. She chose the potato chip. Thus began a saga of
yo-yo dieting spread over decades, her skin's elasticity tested by a high
of 180 pounds, a low of 125, and many undulations in between.
Ms. Luu O'Lone is seeking other women like her, creating Accessible Fitness'
first branch: Weights
for Women, fitness training using the same space and adaptive equipment
but tailored to overweight women, another subculture intimidated by mainstream
gyms. "I'm wearing a size of clothing I haven't
worn since before I met my husband," said Vickie Gilflix during a
mid-workout break. As the newsletter editor of the Silicon Valley chapter
of the MS Society, she joined Accessible Fitness in 2004 to improve her
balance and lost 25 pounds along the way.
Running an accessible gym wasn't Mr. O'Lone's plan. Since his teenage
years, his body had been a temple of muscle and bulk. In 1993, the Amateur
Athletic Union crowned him Mr. North America, a revered title just a few
steps from Mr. Universe contention. Then he began to lose his balance.
In 1997, he was diagnosed with MS and the disease hit rapidly, leaving
him blind, wheelchair-bound, depressed and overmedicated.
"People with MS lose their drive to eat and take care of themselves,"
he says. One of their clients, a licensed dietician with MS, had been
living on M&M candies until she joined the gym.
With help from Ms. Luu O'Lone, who he met through an AOL chat room, he
began to reconnect to his body, first exercising on his knees and eventually
on the treadmill.
The couple married in 2000, and before he relocated from Pennsylvania
to California, Mr. O'Lone wheeled himself into South Bay gyms, inspecting
their accessibility.
"The parking might be accessible but, sometimes, that's all,"
he says. "You can't even get a drink from the water fountain at some
gyms."
MUSCLE CONTROL: Paul and Judy O'Lone work with client Ellen Klein, who suffers with MS, as they focus on exercises that strengthen muscles, improve flexibility and help prevent spasms.
PAUL AND JUDY1UU O'LONE
Co-owners, Accessible Fitness,
Santa Clara
Children: Tyler Christian O'Lone,
born Sept 13,2001
Mr. O'Lone's background:
Awards: US Achievement Award from the MS Society, Silicon Valley Chapter (2002); Mr. USA and Mr. North America (1993)
Professional: Trainer, Club One Gym in Santa Clara; certified trainer, American Council on Exercise; adaptive training certification, Foothill College; owner and operator, A to Z Entertainment; owner, A Class Act Entertainment
Ms. Luu O'Lone's background:
Fitness director, Weights For Women; certified trainer, American Council on Exercise, adaptive training certification, Foothill College
Financially, "It's been up and down, as for any business in the first couple of years," he says. "A challenge for me is that most people with disabilities have a limited income."
Although research vouches for adaptive training's benefits, insurers aren't convinced. Clients payout of pocket, although some deduct the $45-an-hour training sessions as a medical expense. The medical world, however, is beginning to wise up.
"It's very beneficial for patients to exercise to help their flexibility, and prevent spasms," said Minerva Outlew, the nurse coordinator at the UCSF Multiple Sclerosis Center, which operates an accessible-fitness center.
"I think doctors are starting to realize it because they're starting to refer patients to us," says Mr. O'Lone. "They started doing this recently, only because clients go back to their doctors, and doctors are amazed at the results."
The gym outgrew its location in August 2004, and expanded 40 percent to a 2,150-square-foot space down the street. Their clients train two or three times a week and commute from as far north as San Carlos, as far south as Pebble Beach. The couple has a part-time staff of two: Angelo Cortopassi, diagnosed with MS in 1978, is the bookkeeper and Lou Ciabottini manages marketing and has been networking with non-profits to help limited-income clients.
After Ms. Vladislavich completes her hour-long workout, she and Mr. O'Lone sit together while waiting for her ride, the paratransit service Outreach. She joined in 2002. As she talks, Mr. O'Lone piggybacks her sentences with regular, friendly interruptions, like an older brother fine-tuning his sister's story.
"We have a close relationship with each other," she says. "We know..."
"It's like family," he adds. "Yeah, like we can come here and vent," she continues. "Sometimes at home, everybody is tired of the complaining. But you come here, and we all have our different circumstances..."
"We all listen to each other, give back to each other."
She remembers thle Iirst time she chest-pulled 25 pounds on the Equalizer machine. "1 told him we had to do it again." Her eyes dart in his direction. "Didn't I?"
"Uh-huh" he grins.
"I told him to do it again, because I couldn't believe I could do it."
Later, he asks her to dance. She tightens her brows, confused. You know how we like to dance, he teases, then laces his fingers through hers and their interlocked hands sway from side to side. Her torso leans into the rhythm, and she is dancing.
KACI ELDER is a freelance writer based in Santa Cruz.
After you visited local gyms to inspect their accessibility, did that encourage you to open a gym yourself?
Pau1 O'Lone:"There was space between the equipment and the bathrooms were ADA compliant, but as far as their equipment, they had none. Then I realized, there's a need here. If I fill this need, I know people will come. They say that if you build it, they will come. (After we opened the gym) I kept waiting for them to come. They came very slowly, but they did come, and when they did, some of them had no money."'
According to the UCSF Multiple Sclerosis Center, roughly 1.5 percent of Northern Californians have MS. Considering the number of people with MS and other medical conditions, why aren't more trainers and entrepreneurs opening accessible gyms?
Judy Luu O'Lone: "It's a special population. There are a lot of trainers out there, and many will work with the disabled population, but most don't continue their education to learn how to work with a special population. Most trainers know how to tone up, lose weight and build muscle and learning to work with people with different limitations can be challenging at times. I think that's partly why no one has come up with the idea."
A few years ago, you were confined to a wheelchair and were blind, but today you have your vision, mobility and can squat 300 pounds. You inspire your clients. Who inspires you?
Paul O'Lone: "When (my son) Tyler first began to walk, his core muscles were not developed, yet. He looked like a person with MS. Before he could walk, he would kneel on his knees, so I have my clients do some of their exercises on their knees.
"Tyler comes to the gym sometimes, and always wants to help. He inspires me because he is only four, but sometimes it seems as if he understands my MS."