Grace Bex never expected to open a gym in Fayetteville. She was happy training clients in her garage gym and hosting ladies’ lift nights at Rogue Ranger Fitness.
But as her clientele grew, Bex saw that Fayetteville’s 49 gyms and fitness centers weren’t meeting women’s needs.
“I realized that there was such a gap in the fitness industry around here,” she said. “Women wanted to feel safe and heard and seen and empowered together.”
This realization turned into Gracefully Fit, the city’s first women-only boutique gym opening on April 18. Located at 234 Westwood Shopping Center, Gracefully Fit is a private, members-only and by-appointment gym. The gym offers small group personal training, Zumba and other dance and ballet fitness classes, yoga and lifting.
Post-workout recovery services are available in the gym’s Revive Lounge. The lounge features a cold plunge tub, an infrared sauna and Normatec leg, hip and upper body compression therapy.
Gracefully Fit also partnered with Imagination Station Kidcare, a drop-in hourly daycare center immediately next door. Imagination Station Kidcare offers discounted daycare, including meals depending on the package, to gym members. Bex said members aren’t limited to using the daycare during gym hours, though there is a four-hour limit per day.
“If mom wants to go have a date night, or she wants to go do some self-care or go grocery shopping by herself, those hours can be used for that too,” Bex said. “Fill your cup in a way that suits you, whatever your life need is.”
Gym members will also be added to a private Facebook group to connect and form groups based on interests outside the gym, like running and restaurants.
Put together, Bex hopes Gracefully Fit can be a place where women of all ages and walks of life form lasting connections.
“We’re not just a gym,” Bex said. “We want this to be a community. We want you to find your tribe.”
While the gym is membership-based, non-members can still register for drop-in classes and events like ladies’ lift nights. However, members get first dibs and discounted event prices.
Building a gym in 41 days
Bex began looking for Gracefully Fit’s location in November 2024. She toured several places without enough parking spots. Others had safety issues.
The backside of Westwood Shopping Center proved perfect. It has plentiful parking and 24-hour security. The only difficulty was getting the space.
While Bex has been a personal trainer for eight years and is certified through the American College of Sports Medicine, she doesn’t have a business degree. She’s built her personal training business by herself through trial and error.
“I had to prove myself to a shopping center that’s been here for over 50 years,” Bex said.
And she did; Bex signed her lease for 234 Westwood Shopping Center in February, 151 days after she set about opening the women-only gym.
“As a woman of faith, Mark 1:15 is ‘The time has come,’ and I thought it was very significant that I would get access on that day,” Bex said.
With just 41 days before Gracefully Fit’s opening day, Bex’s village rallied to set up the gym. Her father, husband and clients helped paint and installed equipment and furniture. As Bex posted updates on the gym’s social media accounts, more women reached out to volunteer their time.
Out of everything in the 83-person capacity gym, Bex only hired a single commercial contractor to install an electrical outlet.
“This space truly was built by community, whether it be family or friends or just the general public,” Bex said.
God’s way of helping her help others
Bex started her fitness and personal training journey after her first child. At just 21 years old, Bex was navigating motherhood and postpartum depression. Fitness became her outlet, and she quickly found herself guiding other military spouses at Fort Campbell as they went through their own postpartum and weight-loss journeys.
Fitness also became a financial lifeline for Bex’s family. At the time, her husband was an E-4 soldier making less than $2,500 a month and Bex was on WIC, a federal food benefits program for low-income women and infants. Bex got her personal trainer certification to help support her growing family.
“I started my business on my laptop on my couch with my newborn at my feet. I did that out of pure necessity,” Bex said. “We needed the extra income, and I saw not only the need of women but of our family.”
Bex continued to build her personal training business after moving to Germany through a military permanent change of station (PCS). Bex still trained mostly military spouses, first in her 110-square-foot garage around a space heater and then in a 10,000-square-foot gym.
Bex credits the military-spouse community for making her business what it is today. Many of those she trained at Fort Campbell and in Germany still use her services remotely. Military spouses at Fort Bragg continually repost her content to and recommend her in the comments of local Facebook community groups.
Part of what Bex said draws women to her is the health issues unique to women she’s been through and still manages. Bex has had surgeries to treat her endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal syndrome affecting the ovaries, before getting a hysterectomy. She’s had preclampsia three times, a deadly pregnancy complication if left untreated, and has undergone medicated, unmedicated and C-section births.
She also manages depression, recovery from an eating disorder and POTS, a blood-flow syndrome that often causes people to get dizzy and fatigued.
“Through all of those experiences, I felt that it was God’s way of allowing me to speak into women’s lives in a way that a lot of other trainers couldn’t,” Bex said.
She described her training style as “black and white with no sugar coating.” Bex doesn’t upsell, and she believes her style leads to client loyalty as women are tired of being sold the latest fad diet or workout routine.
“I don’t sell them rainbows and butterflies,” Bex said. “I’m going to tell them the truth when they ask. I’m going to give them the realistic outlook on their fitness journey from the start.”
Bex’s honesty translates to Gracefully Fit’s pricing. The prices of membership tiers are on the gym’s website, so people can determine whether Gracefully Fit is an option without needing a tour. Memberships range from $89 for four classes per month to $189 per month for unlimited classes and other perks.
“As a military spouse, I recognize budgets. I don’t want to waste those women’s time and have them come in here and get super excited and get their hopes up, and then have to go home and try to sit down with her husband and figure out their budget to make it work,” Bex said. “I wanted to be transparent about all of our pricing, because I know what it’s like to not be able to afford things. I would get my hopes up and then try to penny crunch. I don’t want to ever put anybody in that position.”
Gracefully Fit classes are also available through MindBody, an app that gives users credits to access fitness classes at different gyms without paying for several gym memberships.
Those interested in learning more about Gracefully Fit can visit the gym’s website or in person during staffed hours, Monday through Friday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Gracefully Fit offers 10% off its membership to teachers, military and first responders. An application is required to join.
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville.