STRONG Studio

With persistence, passion and decades of commitment, Lori founded STRONG Studio.

Always athletic, Lori grew up in Chicago and spent hours playing softball in the parking lot across the street with the neighborhood kids, and alley basketball with her older brothers and their friends. She stayed active through elementary school playing team sports such as basketball, softball and cheerleading. In her freshman year in high school, she made the varsity dance team and became co-captain of the squad in her sophomore year. 

At the age of 19, Lori sought her first personal training certification from the American Council on Exercise (ACE). She knew that she not only wanted to learn more about fitness and wellness, but wanted more knowledge about these subjects. She studied Physical Education and Health at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree. Throughout her college years, she held a variety of jobs in the fitness field at commercial, community and corporate fitness centers. She also acquired numerous health and fitness certifications such as Lifeguard, Water Safety, International Sports Conditioning Association kickboxing (ISCA), Emergency Medical Technician Basic (EMT-B), Pilates with Resist-a-Ball, Spinning, American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and Vitality performance and Reconditioning (ViPR).

One of her most memorable jobs was working for Chicago Bears former trainer Fred Caito. Go Bears!

After graduation, Lori was offered her first salaried job at the Wellness Center at Motorola in Arlington Heights, IL This was one of Lori’s favorite jobs to this day. She taught the exercise classes for employees, helped run the fitness center, held informational workshops, and rallied groups for corporate outings, 5k races and more. 

While working at Motorola, Lori had a second job with World Instructor Training Schools (W.I.T.S.) and taught a personal training certification course at Chicago area community colleges. This is where Lori first heard about Slow Movement training from one of her students who asked if she knew about this method of training. Not having heard it despite all her years in the fitness industry, she was more than intrigued and went to fitness studio in a North Shore Chicago suburb specializing in Slow Movement training. The owner of the studio put her on the MedX leg press machine, and after recovering from getting nearly exhausted from how exhilarating it was, she instantly fell in love with the technique.

From there she learned everything she could about Slow Movement exercise back to the early pioneers Arthur Jones and Ken Hutchins. She learned the protocol, trained in the Slow Movement studios and was certified by Slow Movement master Tim Ryan. Since then, she has focused her training abiding by the Slow Movement philosophy, and her aspiration to open her own Slow Movement studio was fulfilled. 

Some of her notable personal fitness accomplishments have included participating in the Chicago Marathon (goal was no walking, and she finished in 4:45), Chicago Half Marathon, three different Triathlons and qualifying for the Olympic-distance race at the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships after finishing in the top 10 percent in her age group at the Iron Girl; and of course running many of 10k and 5ks.