Dumbells and kettlebells. Sweat and signs. Chaos and accomplishment. This is the scene at Hamden\u2019s Tuff Girl Fitness gym, and inspiration bleeds from Christa Doran, the gym owner and fitness trainer who had to learn her own lessons in the worst way imaginable.<\/p>\n
The gym Doran built with her inspiration and commitment forged into a community. But in 2018, a personal tragedy rocked Doran to the point she would need that community to survive.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The rise of Tuff Girl Fitness<\/strong><\/p>\n Doran, a 39-year-old wife and mother, founded Tuff Girl in 2011, just after the birth of her second child.<\/p>\n Originally from West Springfield, Massachusetts, Doran has been in the fitness field for a long time. She went to school for occupational therapy with the mindset that the two were similar.<\/p>\n \u201cBut (OT) didn\u2019t fill me up in the same way fitness did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Though she earned her Master\u2019s of Science in OT, she found satisfaction running classes at the gym during her graduate years.<\/p>\n \u201cI just felt super lit up in that space,\u201d Doran said. \u201cMy true love is fitness. It has been since I was a little girl, but growing up you don\u2019t say that you want to be an aerobics instructor.\u201d<\/p>\n When she realized where her true passion lay, she began pursuing that path even when her professional life was momentarily put on hold.<\/p>\n After marrying her husband Mike Doran and giving birth to their first of three daughters, Livia, she left her job in OT to become a stay-at-home mom. It was not long before she missed working.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to work when I had kids because I wanted to focus on my children, but I couldn\u2019t help but feel like something was calling my name,\u201d Doran said.<\/p>\n Three months after Livia was born, she decided to try something different. Being new to Hamden at the time, she didn\u2019t have friends in the area.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted a community and a connection with women,\u201d Doran said.<\/p>\n She started running group classes for women at East Rock Park in New Haven. She bought simple equipment and led group workouts. Women were even free to bring their babies.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it\u2019d be a great way for me to meet people while also providing this service and building them up in a way that I didn\u2019t see happening in gyms,\u201d Doran said. \u201cIt was clearly filling a need that these women wanted. I wasn\u2019t recreating the wheel, I was just delivering exercise in a way they had never seen before, which was from a place of positivity, support, love and empowerment.\u201d<\/p>\n Through word of mouth, the unofficial business of Tuff Girl grew over the next 18 months.<\/p>\n With the help of her business-savvy husband, Doran set to work on this new goal. Mike, who has experience in business as well as a degree in exercise science, helped her to find a physical space, get the lease, licensing and registration.<\/p>\n When Doran, who had been pregnant during the whole process, was ready to have her second child, Mike decided to leave his job in surgical sales to join the Tuff Girl team full time.<\/p>\n Together, they have been growing the business since 2011. Doran has hired and trained a number of coaches and Mike now leads co-ed barbell classes and programming.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout the gym, strength is our foundation,\u201d Mike said. \u201cIt\u2019s about finding the joy that comes with being strong, living life to the fullest and using strength as a way to do things that are important to you whether it\u2019s playing with your children, or lifting a weight you never thought you could.\u201d<\/p>\n A gym becomes a community: \u2018People really support one another here\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n It was this atmosphere of never-ending support and empowerment that drew in coaches like 26-year-old Hillary Maxson. Having started as a Tuff Girl intern three years ago, Maxson is now a full-time coach.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel so grateful for finding her and this place,\u201d Maxson said. \u201cChrista\u2019s taught me that I don\u2019t have to become somebody I\u2019m not, that I can just fully be my own authentic self and not mold myself into what people think a typical fitness coach and trainer should be.\u201d<\/p>\n Maxson is just one of the hundreds of lives Doran has changed through her hard work and dedication.<\/p>\n Barbara Esposito of Hamden is a Tuff Girl member who has been going to the gym four to five days a week for the past nine years. As someone who has trained with Doran since 2010, a year before the gym\u2019s opening — Esposito has come to know her on a more personal level.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>