Today we’d like to introduce you to Maritza Camacho

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

My experience with training began 23 years ago when my cousin and I decided to join a gym to get Prom Ready! Lol… I quickly realized that I loved how the personal trainers looked.. strong and confident. I decided I wanted to become one but held back because I felt as if I didn’t “look” like them.
Fast forward, and my daughter later, I still always wondered what it would have been to be a personal trainer. When my daughter was 8, something ran across my mind… if I wanted my daughter to be fearless when chasing her dreams, what kind of example was I giving her for not pursuing mine because of how I thought I looked? I decided I had to go for it! I resigned from my position as a retail sales manager and transitioned to a commercial gym as a personal trainer.
Making minimum wage, I did question my choice plenty of times but kept moving forward. Soon after, Covid happened. I thought for sure I had made the worst decision ever and was borderline ready to go back to my previous career.. until one of my clients reached out. She reached out worried she would regain the weight she had lost and asked me to please find a way to continue training.
I didn’t know how I could, but I felt I owed my clients a solution. My daughter started Zoom school and inspired me to attempt to offer Zoom HIIT classes. I used GroupMe to add as many friends and clients as possible and promoted these HIIT classes 5 times a week…. Thankfully it worked!! Friends, family and clients joined and we discovered that detergent bottles were the BEST kettlebell replacements lol!!
When we were allowed to reopen post Covid, my boyfriend offered to setup his garage as a gym to offer personal training sessions to my clients. Uplifting vGym was born. Never did I imagine that I would be there for a year and a half!! I knew I had to do better for my clients and began looking for a commercial space. Thankfully we found one!! My boyfriend had found the perfect home for us in the Six Corner/Portage Park neighborhood. I was nervous yet excited. Bigger commitment and responsibility, but I knew that I had a purpose and wanted to continue to work with people on getting stronger and feeling healthier! We are now about to celebrate our 2nd year anniversary at 4906 W Irving Park Rd and I cannot express how grateful, proud and happy I am.
Although I train all genders, I have a significantly amount of women come through our gym sharing ALL kinds of journeys and goals. It feels so rewarding to know that they all build confidence and knowledge working with heavier weights. But the biggest reward is when my clients go from “I don’t think I can lift that” to “We can add a little more..” followed by a smile!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Being a small business owner has definitely NOT been a smooth road. The biggest struggle is not getting tired of trying. Motivation is like a flame.. sometimes it will be strong and others it will simmer down to almost completely gone.. but dedication must always be present and one must learn to push through even when motivation is flatlining.
I have been blessed with having amazing clients that believe in what I do and my coaching and training abilities. However, being a small business owner also means you are most likely self-employed. One of my clients made me realize that. He said, “if your business cannot make money without you being present you are self employed, not strictly a business owner.” As a startup business you must work ALL hours and unfortunately, sometimes you lose a work-life balance.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?

What I would love people to know about Uplifting vGym is that we specialize in identifying your specific fitness level, meaning what are your current strengths and areas of opportunity. Asses your body movement patterns and use all of that information to create a program that will get us closer to your goals, while trying to maintain us as pain free as possibly. Everyone has strengths, we like to encourage those strengths while working on other details that will help us in the long run. We are also known for having a powerlifting hybrid program. What I mean by this is, typically powerlifting programming may require 1.5-2 hours a training 3-4 times a week if not 5. I completely understand that not all people have that amount of time to dedicate to training. We have been able to allow people to still follow a powerlifting hybrid program that allows them to train for an hour, 1-3 days a week and still feel accomplished and ready to compete! Another thing that sets us apart, is that we pay close attention to our clients’ bodies. Our goal is get our clients closer to their fitness goals but, as pain free as possible and increase longevity. We educate our team to the benefits of physical therapy and we host events to promote guest speakers that will educate us on different resources/treatments to assist in recovery and or pain management. I am extremely proud of all, but I am also extremely proud in being a gym that has had an increasingly amount of women participating in competitive powerlifting. I feel that us, women have been hit hard by the fitness industry. We have been told to do so many things and AVOID so many others. We have been pushed to only cardio, then to only 5lb dbs by instilling fear or getting “manly.” We have been pushed to restricting calories and skinny feeling so good.. I myself went through all the phases. At Uplifting vGym, we work with ALL people and we don’t push one single agenda. It’s a safe place where we most definitely work HARD to achieve our fitness goals, but never by promoting a one approach solution to all. We provide a true safe place to train.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?

A have come a long way and most definitely have had some great people help me and/or influence me. First and foremost my boyfriend, Diego Suarez. He has always believed in me and has helped in every way possible. He helped find our “home “ (as I reference our gym) both by offering his garage and later finding the commercial space. In addition, him and his uncle were responsible for managing the construction of the gym to ensure we had everything in top shape for our clients. I will be forever thankful. As far as clients, I have more than just one client that deserves credit. I tell them all, if it weren’t for them, Uplifting vGym wouldn’t have a purpose. I value each and every single of my clients. If they show up, I show up. Lastly, my mother and daughter. My daughter has inspired me in such a unique way. She inspires me to do better so that she can have an example of fighting for your dream and never giving up regardless of what people’s opinions may be. As far as my mother, I mentioned earlier being a business owner we sometimes lose the work life balance fight. She has been a tremendous support in helping me manage my daughter’s school activities and last minute target runs for school things lol. I wouldn’t have been able to be where I am at, without her support as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.welcometouplifting.com
• Instagram: Uplifting_vgym
• Facebook: Uplifting vgym