Get a spot during your lift.  We're a community

My name is Donna Cowan and Universal Fitness isn't just my business- it's my heart, my home, and my family. In 2014, my husband, Steve, and I started this gym with nothing but a dream and a whole lot of determination. We wanted to create a place where people felt welcome, supported, and strong- not just physically but in life. No matter what challenge came our way we kept going because this gym and the people in it meant everything to us. Then life threw me a challenge I never saw coming. In 2016, Steve suffered a terrible knee injury which put him in a wheel chair for 8 months. I found myself running the gym while taking care of him at the same time. Three years later, in 2019, our world fell apart when he was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer. Two weeks later he was gone.

In a blink of an eye, I lost my best friend, my partner, and the person who built this dream with me. I won't lie, there were days when I didn't think I could keep going. The grief was overwhelming and suddenly I was running the gym alone, trying to be strong for my 4 daughters and the community we had built. But that's the thing about community- when you feel like you can't stand on your own, they lift you up. My gym family rallied around me and I knew I had to keep Universal Fitness for everyone who believed in what we had built. Since then, I've worked harder than ever to make the gym more than just a place to workout. Thanks to Darrell Wood, he has built a youth kickboxing program through Universal Kickboxing to help struggling kids find strength and discipline. We've made sure every member who walks through our doors feels like they belong. Even when bigger corporate gyms moved in nearby, we stood our ground. We may not be the biggest gym, but we are the one that cares the most!!