Local Fitness Business Flexible to Clients' Needs

The path to achieving fitness and health can come in all shapes and sizes: an athlete looking to build his or her body appropriate to his or her sport; a patient recovering from a stroke, heart attack or other ailments; a child struggling with obesity; or an elderly person just wanting to increase or maintain mobility.

Recognizing this long list of differences, works every day to build specific fitness plans to help each client reach their goals.

"The (range) of people that we work with ... it's always a different workout," PES owner Rick Spenner said. "I'm focused — so a person knows its not only a special approach to (their fitness), but it's also specific."

Spenner is a kinesiotherapist, which allows him to use a specific type of analysis in developing programs. Kinesiotherapy is a type of training and rehabilitation that looks at "the body's mechanics to determine which areas are weak, compensating or are over powering," according to pamphlet information from PES.

The center has four staff members with fitness and nutrition backgrounds, including Spenner, Nancy Crook, Ann Frazier and Sam Carrol.

Mark Patton is a client at PES, and the customized workouts help Patton to rebuild physical functions that were lost after he suffered a stroke, such as improving his "range of motion, strength, endurance and the ability to move with less effort," Patton said in an e-mail.

"(Physical Enhancement Services) has customzied my workout and actually works with my other therapists, taking a leading role, directing the 'team'," he said. "In the beginning, Rick would stretch my legs to improve my range of motion (this was a slow uncomfortable process) once a week for six to eight months. Now my range of motion is on the 'normal' scale. My endurance continues to improve along with my over all strength and health."

Patton started working with Spenner through a program at the Feith Family , but the program's needs outgrew that space. PES opened its own facilities in Port Washington on June 1 last year. Spenner said they didn't lose a single client in the transition, and have been growing since — adding extra staff as well as extra services.

Clients visit the Port center for a variety of reasons, including personal training to weight loss help as well as testing for blood pressure levels, body composition and more. PES will also travel to client's homes for on-site exercise sessions if the client is unable to come to them. (Read more about PES services on its website.)

PES also offers drop-in classes, which have included , and Senior Yoga classes, for "people in the community that want some type of program to get them on track."

"The environment that we try to create is not very intimidating ... quiet," Spenner said. The space accommodates not more than six clients at a time, and that "quaintness" helps with social support between clients.

Having tried out-patient physical, occupational and speech therapy along with reflexology, acupunture and botox injections, Patton gives a good amount of credit to Spenner and PES for the improvements he's been able to accomplish.

"Rick is knowledgable about body mechanics and understood my goal to walk and resume my former lifestyle," Patton said. "He continues to work towards that goal and I continue to improve."