New Geneva fitness studio is ‘owned by women, for women’

There are times when it is beneficial to have a mixed martial artist kick your butt.

Women in the Schaumburg area have realized this for years, since retired 10-year professional MMA fighter Marciea Allen and partner Brittany Welk-Allen opened LadyStrong Fitness in Schaumburg in 2016.

A strength-training facility catering to women, the couple is opening a second location of their workout gym this summer at 1575 S. Randall Road in Geneva. Membership presales began June 9 in advance of a soft opening July 24-26 and an Aug. 22 grand opening.

“It’s owned by two women, for women,” said Allen, a Freeport native and former No. 1-ranked bantamweight known in the octagon as “Black Widow” before retiring in 2018.

“We are the byproduct of the product,” she said. “We practice what we preach. I’m a middle-aged woman and the demographic that we serve are middle-aged women.”

Calling herself LadyStrong’s “chief visionary officer” — “I hate CEO, I’m the CVO,” she said — Allen met Chief Operating Officer Brittany Welk in South Dakota, where they each owned workout facilities. Welk did not compete in mixed martial arts.

“We sold our gyms and moved here,” said Welk-Allen, to Cortland, near DeKalb.

LadyStrong is for women who want to reduce body fat, increase strength and redefine their figure. More than 225 members have joined the studio in Schaumburg, Allen said.

In small, one-hour classes of up to six people or larger ones of up to 22, certified trainers lead clients through functional strength exercises using kettlebells, dumbbells, axle bars, suspension trainers and medicine balls or “slam” balls.

“Females tend to do group fitness more than men do, that’s just the way it is,” Welk-Allen said. “We wanted to create a safe space for women, especially for those who are new to fitness, who haven’t been to the gym for awhile, who don’t want to be stared at, that sort of thing.”

A Geneva membership includes use of a recovery room that offers two cold-plunge tanks and an infrared sauna for enhanced recovery and other health benefits. Welk-Allen said prospective clients should call (331) 466-1699 for an appointment.

“We’re not just a gym,” said Welk-Allen, who emphasized the importance of strength training for women as they age. “We consider ourselves a transformation program, because we support our members through nutrition support, through workouts, and through accountability coaching from our team.”

The oldest of three children raised by a single mother, Allen still participates in fitness competitions despite ending her mixed martial arts career at 36.

She said LadyStrong has worked with pregnant women, cancer survivors, women in their 70s. She said some who come in for consultations feel “vulnerable” about their fitness and starting a program.

“A lot of the things they suffer through, we’ve been through personally,” Allen said. “A lot of it is physical, a lot of it is mental, and empowerment is what we stand for. It’s one of the things that we pride ourselves on. It’s all about like-minded women. We have the same goals, but it’s different journeys along the way.

“It’s not about their physicality, but it’s more to do with supporting each other.”