Cindi Nikituk (Farrell’s)

Cindi Nikituk owns three Farrell’s gyms across the Twin Cities, including locations in Blaine, Andover, and Shoreview.

Originally from North Dakota, Cindi’s upbringing was chaotic.

Her address changed more frequently than the numbers flying around the New York Stock Exchange.   

“We moved, a lot,” says Cindi.

“Like, 30 times.”

Not once did her family enlist the help of Chris Hanson and Great Home Movers, but the constant uncertainty surrounding her mailing address taught her something more important:

Resilience.

Upon entering eighth grade, Cindi settled down in Buffalo, Minnesota, where she stayed throughout the remainder of high school.

Later on, Cindi became a nurse.

“I was a nursing assistant working in a care facility in Buffalo. Then I became an LPN, then a 2-year RN [registered nurse], then a 4-year RN,” she says.

“Then I opened a gym,” she adds with a laugh.

Since buying into the Farrell’s franchise, save for her first year, Cindi has been the top franchisee for the nationwide entity.

Today, the vascular nature of the muscles in her arms elicit praise from passerby, but there was a time when Cindi wasn’t comfortable in a fitness setting.  

“When I went into fitness, I was very, very nervous,” she admits.

In a male-dominated landscape such as fitness, that thrives off biohacking, slugging protein shakes, and literally and figuratively flexing ad nauseam, it’s easy to see how a kindhearted individual like Cindi might feel uncomfortable.  

“I didn’t know what it would be like to be a woman in the industry, and if people would listen to what I had to say when it came to building muscles,” she reveals, and it’s funny because as she says this, a group walks by and compliments her exquisitely toned arms.  

I should rewind a little bit, lest the readers think I’m praising this article’s subject too much.

I’m sitting down with Cindi on a wired aluminum bench after our weekly meeting at Forum, during which she proudly flexed for all in attendance to see, a move that drew raucous applause from the other 100 or so business owners who appreciated her overt display.  

So when I acknowledge Cindi’s musculature, it’s only because she has publicly given me ample opportunity to do so.  

“Women actually are interested in fitness,” Cindi then tells me, getting us back on track because I was just mentioning how testosterone usually dominates the gym.

And we’re not talking about the Instagram models who patronize gyms in order to film content and attract the male gaze.

Instead, we’re talking about everyday women who don’t live on or for the internet.

“Those women, they are looking for other women in the industry,” Cindi assures me, going on to mention how a significant percentage of her clientele are indeed women, but also how so many of the people (male and female) who walk into Farrell’s are, at best, novice athletes.

“Our main client has no experience [with fitness],” she says.

“I actually don’t attract as many fitness people who already have a routine.”

That’s because the main objective at Farrell’s isn’t to sculpt accountants and electricians into the second coming of Leonidas (see Gerard Butler in 300 for the reference).

“My goal is to create fitness people out of non-fitness people,” Cindi proclaims.

In that sense, those who don’t work out, that’s who Cindi wants to help. 

“I am able to do that because my program is very beginner friendly,” she notes.

Again, it doesn’t matter if you are a divorce lawyer looking to lose a few pounds so that you don’t end up becoming your own client, or a retiree who is sick of acquiring tennis elbow every time you pick up a racquet.

Cindi wants to get you in her gym, and become part of her welcoming and nurturing community.

“What initially attracted me to Farrell’s was we would take those people who were never picked in gym class, the people who are scared of the gym environment because they are not buff, and we take them, and we embrace them,” she explains.

“When that happens, something changes inside of them. Something in their soul changes because they now feel that much better about themselves. They feel connected and part of something.”

Naturally, I wonder if it is the bodily revolution or the interactive community that has allowed Cindi to retain clients and make her the preeminent franchisee for Farrell’s.

By now, everyone knows that when January rolls around, gym owners line their pockets by selling memberships to temporarily motivated people who consciously or unconsciously have little to zero interest in actually subscribing to a fitness plan.

That’s not me denigrating gym owners.

We all have to make money, but unlike the corporate fitness centers that salivate every year the calendar flips over, Cindi isn’t waiting to capitalize on the insecurities of the sedentary and immobile bipedal.

“You can literally work out anywhere. You could start doing push-ups on the ground right now,” Cindi tells me, motioning toward the floor, a surface I would never put my hands on unless a bully shoved me to the ground.

“But what drives people to do something consistently is feeling comfortable where they’re at.”

This perhaps explains why people don’t visit the gym in January and February, even after they have made a financial commitment, because the environment doesn’t cultivate the development of good habits.

“There is something special about working really hard, struggling, and having someone say good job,” Cindi emphasizes, and as soon as she does, another Forum member compliments her bulging biceps on the way out the door.

“There is also an addiction element to it. I participate in all the classes I teach, but without community, I could do that same workout, and it wouldn’t be the same thing.”

Come to think of it, when I used to go to the gym, it was just me lifting weights or going for a run on the treadmill, the only company afforded to me being headphones or the blathering talking heads on the TVs neatly positioned throughout the facility.

Had I immersed myself in more group classes, maybe I would still pay a monthly fee for access to an indoor workout facility.

“All of our calendars are busy, but what I want to know is, where are you on the calendar?” Cindi asks, challenging those on the edge of adopting fitness as part of their lifestyle to take action.

“When are you going to take care of you? Your health, mental, physical, emotional, it’s crucial.”

Adds Cindi:

“If you don’t have that [your health], you don’t have anything.”

Of note:

It costs $600 for a 10-week session at Farrell’s.

“With that, you get your workouts. You test in and we get your stats. You get coaching and body scans, plus nutrition, planning, and all of that stuff,” Cindi says.

“Sometimes that’s too aggressive for people though,” she adds, so there is an alternative.

For $169 per month, you can instead go to as many classes at Farrell’s as you want.

“It doesn’t include the nutrition component. but what it does is it allows you to come in and start,” Cindi says.

Moving forward, Cindi’s long-term goal is to get half the population involved in fitness, whether that is ultimately at Farrell’s or not.

“What’s nice about large group is that I can service a lot of people,” she says.

“I really believe in human contact, looking people in the eye and having those conversations. There is a need for that, especially as technology continues to evolve.” QS

**

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