Where training meets therapy

Silviu Gansca, left, and Eric Smoot Hemphill own and operate Redefined Fitness in Wilmette. Both are fellows of Applied Functional Science from the Gray Institute for Functional Transformation. | Provided photo

When personal trainers Eric Smoot Hemphill and Silviu Gansca met several years ago, they hit it off immediately.

So much so, that the two decided to start their own business.

That was 15 years ago. Today, Redefined Fitness is everything they believe personal training should be: a combination of personalized workouts intended for clients to meet their goals, plus physical therapy, which they say is vital in health and safety.

“People tell us their goals,” said Hemphill, who has been a trainer since 1996 and who has a degree in exercise science from Perdue University. “They want to lose weight, have better abs, better biceps. We listen and we give them what they want, but we also give them what they need, a thorough assessment of their body.”

He says it’s important to really get to know the client in regards to what limitations, joint issues, injuries and other physical issues the client might have.

“Silviu and I were trained for years by top physical therapists to learn how to assess our clients. We now have so much insight on how the body works, and therefore can give our clients the best possible workouts to help their issues, while keeping things safe.”

Merisa Monaheim, of Northfield, has been a client for five years. She had tennis elbow and her daughter recommended she try Redefined Fitness.

“I did a few workouts here, combined with physical therapy and felt relief in my elbow that I hadn’t felt in two years,” she said. “It was amazing. I went from healing my elbow to full workouts, and since then I’ve lost 30 pounds.”

The 5,500-square -foot facility, located off Green Bay Road, has three separate workout rooms and offers private and semi-private training sessions. Included in the workouts are cardio conditioning, weight training, boxing, yoga and Pilates.

“In all the years I’ve been coming here, I’ve never had the same workout twice so I never get tired of it,” said Penny Greenspahn, of Winnetka, who has been a client for 12 years.

Hemphill said clients always get a new experience because the trainers are trying to shock the body.

“That’s how you make a difference in how you look and feel,” said Hemphill, who, like Gansca, is a Fellow of Applied Functional Science from the Gray Institute for Functional Transformation.

Redefined Fitness employs 10 additional trainers, a massage therapist and physical therapist Rich Colosi, PT, DPT, who provides ongoing training and education to the trainers.

“I blend the worlds of orthopedic sports medicine and fitness,” said Colosi, who has been working in the field for nine years. “I believe in the philosophy of the gym. This place is a hybrid of physical therapy and personal training, and that helps clients meet their functional goals safely.”

Hemphill says he and Gansca decided on the name, Redefined Fitness because of their goal to integrate physical therapy and fitness.

“We wanted to marry the two. We wanted to redefine fitness. It’s that simple.”

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