When Lauren Boyd and her family moved away from Birmingham, Alabama, in July 2020, she thought she was leaving her dream of starting a gym behind.
The fitness trainer had left investors’ offers on the table by following God’s call for her husband, Jay, to take a job at Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries in Greenwood, South Carolina, which helps kids from troubled homes find healing and hope through providing housing, food, clothing and care. It’s a ministry of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
In the middle of the pandemic, there were no fitness training positions open in their new small town. After brainstorming with Danny Nicholson, president of Connie Maxwell, they combined his 10-year vision of holistic healing for the children’s home with Lauren’s passion for fitness and wellness. Together, they created a safe place where youth, houseparents and staff could come together for group workouts.
In a small space at the Greenwood campus’s activity center, MaxFit was born. Using only dumbbells and other limited equipment, the groups participated in circuit-style workouts led by Lauren, who has certifications in personal training and nutrition.
Because of the growing number of middle and high school students and adults at the gym, Lauren quickly realized they needed more room. With the help of multiple grants and volunteers, the gym underwent renovations and expanded with new state-of-the-art equipment.
Now, Lauren offers 15 high-intensity interval training sessions each week. Dozens of students and staff members participate in the classes. The initiative complements Connie Maxwell’s Decade of Dreams, a 10-year strategic plan to bring more holistic healing to kids who have experienced trauma.
More than a gym
While research is limited, there is evidence that suggests exercise can bring positive outcomes to children and youth who have experienced a traumatic homelife. The ministry believes physical activity, healthy eating habits and consistent sleeping patterns are an often overlooked and undervalued part of the healing process.
“Most of the kids we serve are coming from backgrounds of abuse or neglect or (are) just in a transitional season where the family needs help,” said Jay Boyd, Lauren’s husband and senior vice president for ministry strategy and engagement at Connie Maxwell.
“A lot of the kids have been placed [at Connie Maxwell] by aunts, uncles, grandparents who are no longer able to serve children,” Lauren added. “Some of them came through our crisis care program that goes through [the Department of Social Services] and then came on campus because of familial situations that were not safe or beneficial to them.”
Path to healing
Due to trauma, the kids have many emotions for their young ages, and this often includes anger.
“I think exercise starts a path down healing that can touch all aspects of your body,” said Lauren, who is a former Division I athlete and teacher.
When a student has a hard day, she lets them use slam balls, punching bags or battle ropes to safely work through their emotions in an acceptable environment.
“They choose their weight; they get to choose the amount of reps they do; they get to choose if they are going to finish the exercise or if they’re going to stop,” Lauren explained. She sees this as a way “to give a child that opportunity to feel in control of their body and feel in control of their mind.”
That’s a completely new feeling for many trauma survivors and is also helpful for those who have experienced secondhand trauma, like houseparents. Consequently, there’s been a mind shift among those at the gym.
At the end of a workout, Lauren has watched many of the youth realize, “Hey, I can do this. I can finish something difficult. I can push through something that’s hard.”
“I think it allows them to see themselves bigger and stronger not just physically but mentally,” Lauren said. “I think it allows them to take that (confidence) outside of the gym walls and dream about what they can do for the future.”
But youth aren’t the only ones receiving benefits from MaxFit. Over the past year, some adults have improved their health conditions, such as lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. Many have also lost weight, and a few have lost more than 30 pounds.
“Caregivers — they’re great at caring for others, but by nature they typically care for themselves last,” Jay said. He said MaxFit is a way to “try to break down all those barriers and all the friction that keeps people [from the gym like] time and money and give them a safe space.”
‘We finish together’
Uniquely, Connie Maxwell encourages its employees to join students and houseparents by taking an hour of their paid workday to attend a workout class at MaxFit.
Jay said he doesn’t know any other organization that is essentially paying its employees to work out for five hours each week.
“It’s not cheap to do what we’re doing, but we count it as worth it,” he said. Each day, his wife actively sees a community being built through the workout classes.
“For students to see staff that they don’t normally see — like that aren’t necessarily houseparents — come and work out with them, I think it makes them more real to them. It builds a lot of bridges,” Lauren said. “Our quote is, ‘Every day, we start together; we finish together.’”
During the “finisher” or final workout activity, those at the gym break into teams for some solid competition, often including intervals on a rowing machine or push sleds. Cheers will erupt from students, faculty and parents, bringing enthusiasm and encouragement to their lives.
“Looking around and seeing staff from every branch and students from different backgrounds all come together and experience this is awesome,” she said. “[Their bond] happened organically. It wasn’t me. I just happen to be lucky enough to be the vessel God used to bring this together.”
‘Just the beginning’
Even in the hustle of a workout, there are moments in the gym when Lauren stops teaching to reflect on what God has done. For her, it’s been much more rewarding than starting a standard gym.
“I’m in awe of what has transpired over the last year because we just had a vision,” she said. “[MaxFit has] blown that vision away of what it could be. And I know it’s just the beginning.”
