LAUREL — Exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health, and in Laurel, two men in their early twenties are changing lives in their hometown, one training session at a time.
They’re the proud new owners of SmoothGainz, the newest gym in Laurel, and it’s their love for helping others that sets them apart from other fitness facilities.
23-year-old Colt Spencer and 22-year-old Camden Hill met at basketball camp when they were in middle school.
“I’d drain some threes in his face. He’d swat the hell out of me a couple of times going into the paint,” said Spencer on Wednesday.
A decade later, the two Laurel natives’ passions have changed from playing basketball to lifting weights, a hobby that has changed their lives for the better.
“I used the gym as kind of a coping mechanism, it was kind of a way to get all the aggression out, and it also helped my health and improved the way I looked,” Hill said.
Now, the two are not only great friends, but business partners, all starting when Spencer visited home from college a couple of summers ago.
“I was like, dude, what if we helped people? Look at like how far we’ve come ourselves, what if we did this for other people,” said Spencer.
They got their certifications and started SmoothGainz on Spencer’s credit card, opening their business online in January 2021.
“Before, we were doing our online training just through Google Talks and it wasn’t the best. I mean it worked, we got people results,” Spencer said.
But they’ve come far from when they first started their business. They're now offering online training through their very own app and helping folks across the country.
They also now have the ability to train others in person. They recently crushed their goal of opening their very own gym in Laurel, something they thought would take years. It only took them 10 months.
“Opening a gym was more just to help people. I received a ton of help from going to the gym, I don’t know where I’d be without the weight training. I want to give that opportunity to other people,” said Hill.
And their gym is a safe space; no contracts, no additional fees, just gains.
“We want to create a welcoming place here; we want everyone to feel like their welcome to come in here and get a lift in. And get help if they need it,” Spencer said.
You can find more information about SmoothGainz on their Facebook page.
