Larkin grad Zwingelberg takes a leap of faith

Jodi Zwingelberg faced the dilemma many people in their early 20s are facing today. She was graduating from college. The job market stinks. So what to do?

Well Zwingelberg, a former standout multisport athlete at Larkin High School who played college soccer on scholarship at Miami of Ohio, decided to take a leap of faith and open her own business.

And what better business to get into than one she knows well — personal training.

“All throughout high school all I'd heard from my coaches was about speed and agility, doing strength and conditioning on your own,” Zwingelberg says. “But there was no female out there that knew what was needed to become a female college athlete. All of the training was geared toward football.”

With that thought in mind, this past September Zwingelberg opened Performance Fit Personal Training, which is currently located in the basement of an office building on 3rd Street in St. Charles, where Jodi's dad, Toby, works for Edward Jones Co.

“I'm trying to cater strictly to high school and college female athletes,” said Jodi Zwingelberg, who in May will become the bride of former Larkin standout Steve Rucks, now an auditor at a firm in Chicago.

There are personal trainers all over the place. There are fitness facilities everywhere. So what can Zwingelberg offer the female athlete that those trainers and facilities can't?

“I've played Division I and I know that's required,” she said. “I understand the female body. Guys can pump it up, pump it up, pump it up. With girls it doesn't work that way. You have to have the agility and then counteract that with speed and know and understand the difference.”

Zwingelberg, whose degree is in kinisieology and health, and who holds certification as a personal trainer from the National Academy of Sports Medicine, specifies her training in three parts — elite athlete training, weight loss, and body toning. She stresses that her program's are built to meet the client's individual goals and that they are flexible and designed to accommodate team and group training.

This was also not the path she expected to take when he left Elgin for her four years in Oxford, Ohio. Her original plan was to get into pharmaceutical and medical supply sales. But being a college athlete at a high level for four years made her change her mind about a career path.

“The last two years of college I figured it out,” Zwingelberg said, “because I was getting ready for normalcy and this was all I knew and enjoyed doing. Senior year, I started talking to my dad about having my own studio and being a personal trainer and now it's become a reality.”

The summer was spent going door-to-door, to churches, anywhere she could basically, with fliers and information. The studio in St. Charles had to be renovated and furnished, and three weeks ago an open house was held. She also hired a marketing company to help her get the word out and, of course, launched a website at www.performancefit.net.

“The thing is marketing and being patient,” Zwingelberg said of her current business mentality. “I just have to be patient and realize I'm not going to have 50 people walk in in the morning. The hardest part is staying even keel but my dad tells me I'm doing fine. I just have to stay focused.”

Zwingelberg, who just turned 23, has lofty goals for the business. She realizes her main expertise is in the sport she became an All-MAC player in, soccer.

“Eventually I'd love for it to be big and sport specific,” she said. “My expertise is in soccer, but I'd love to have trainers that would meet the needs of every client.”

Zwingelberg, who lives in far west St. Charles, doesn't publish rates, per se, because she believes in making the program she sets up for a client work both physically and financially. And, she's looking to do small groups of athletes so the rate structure can be even more creative. For that reason she offers a free 15-minute consultation with perspective clients.

“We talk about their goals and needs and how much time they have to put into it,” she said.

The banner on Zwingelberg's website says “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.”

You could easily calls those the words Jodi Zwingelberg is living by.