Keri Ruffell
Keri Ruffell wants to improve the health of our community, stopping disease before it even starts. Since opening Tucson’s first 1-2-3 Fit gym in July, she’s already proving herself to be a new health leader and master entrepreneur. The fitness franchise recently secured a spot as an official wellness partner for the Northwest Hospital Oro Valley location’s employees and experienced record-breaking growth for the company in August.
Ruffell is the recipient of two master’s degrees and an ACE personal training certification, and she believes that prevention is key to creating longer, healthier, disease-free lives. For the sake of a healthy change, at the beginning of 2008, this wife and mother of two took a risk and left behind her corporate career as a management executive in the health care technology industry. She established 1-2-3 Fit in Tucson, determined and inspired to change people’s lives and health, starting in her own community.
For Ruffell, it was important to target a more mature generation. During her years in the health-care business, she discovered many diseased patients who could have lived long, fulfilling lives had they kept active. “I became very endeared to the challenges that these patients faced, living with chronic disease for the last 25 years of their lives,” she says.
Ruffell says that if patients suffering from debilitating diseases would remain active, they would be healthier and happier. Therefore, she is adamant about reaching baby boomers to prevent future disease in that generation.
Enter Ruffell’s health strategy: The studio-size 1-2-3 Fit gym reaches out to men and women ages 45 and older who want a personal approach to exercise. Although she targets middle-age Tucsonans, some clients bring their children and grandchildren into her studio seeking all-around fitness advice too. Ruffell continues to work with adults, but is interested about involving herself in children’s organizations to better the overall well-being of our community. In fact, she recently accepted a position on the Junior Achievement of Arizona Southern District Board of Directors, a nonprofit organization that teaches children real-world skills in business and economics.
Not only do the convenient, 30-minute workouts fit into a busy lifestyle, but clients are also offered personalized workouts, nutritional reviews and meal planning, blood pressure checks and body composition analysis from Ruffell and her staff.
“All the president’s challenges for activity in the world [aren’t] going to make a [difference] if we don’t have support systems in our own communities helping people one person at a time,” she says.
The addition of this fitness locale may be the beginning of a healthier, disease-free Tucson. Ruffell says she has always been the caregiver type as well as a business role model; and its clear that combined with her undeniable energy, she is inspiring the community, one situp at a time. “My motto is: Let’s try to be a little better tomorrow than we are today,” she says. We’d say Ruffell is off to a fantastic start.
