The tractor tires stacked near the entrance to the big workout floor at the Farmgirlfit fitness center east of downtown Spokane are one of the first indicators that this isn't your typical gym. Also noticeable right away is the absence of the myriad cardio and cable machines so common at more conventional fitness centers.

The differences, though, run a lot deeper than that, asserts manager, head trainer, and part-owner Jenni Niemann. She says Farmgirlfit specializes in providing personalized training in a group setting that's aimed at helping women of all fitness levels improve general strength and mobility, rather than emphasizing building up targeted muscle groups or achieving particular weight or body mass index goals.

"We base most of our improvements off of performance rather than stressing the traditional inches and pounds," although the end result obviously is to also see improvements in those areas as well, Niemann says.

"Women can be strong and capable and fit enough to do any task without being extreme" in their workout regimen, she says.

Farmgirlfit occupies a 4,000-square-foot leased space at 128 S. Sherman and just celebrated its two-year anniversary. It offers full-body, less-than-an-hour workouts seven or more times per day, six days a week, using veteran trainers to lead the classes.

Most of the time, "You're in and out within 45 minutes or so," Niemann says.

Specifically designed levels of workout, matched to each person's physical capabilities, enable members of varying ages and fitness levels to work out side by side without feeling out of place, Niemann says.

"We have athletes, we have grandmothers, and everything in between," she says, adding, "That's what we really pride ourselves in. We thought long and hard about our programming" to make it attractive to women regardless of their fitness level.

As for equipment, the gym has a couple of rowing machines, but the devices it uses for exercising consist mostly of pull-up bars, rings, battle ropes, kettle bells, barbells and weights, and boxes for jumping.

"Essentially we're using our body weight and some outside resistance," Niemann says.

Farmgirlfit has six part-time employees, counting Niemann and five trainers. She declines to divulge the gym's revenues, but says it's profitable. It currently has around 210 members, which still leaves plenty of room for growth, she says.

Farmgirlfit offers two-day, three-day, and unlimited memberships, ranging in price from $79 to $139 per month. Choosing the right membership option depends on a member's personal fitness goals and what they hope to gain from their training, Niemann says. Two days a week is a good introduction to Farmgirlfit's style of training, after which members typically jump to three-day or unlimited memberships, Niemann says.

Farmgirlfit offers classes at 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., noon, 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, Niemann says. Additionally, it offers a 5:30 a.m. regular class and 9:30 a.m. yoga class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she says. It also has classes at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays, and a mandatory 8 a.m. "foundations" class by appointment on Saturdays for new members.

Members who don't have an unlimited membership usually choose either an a.m. or p.m. schedule, with the noon class open to either group, Niemann says.

Though members vary quite a bit in age, the average is probably about 36, and the youngest currently is a 14-year-old girl who comes with her mother, Niemann says.

Classes begin with a 10-minute warm-up period, and members then follow the trainer's lead through a set of exercises. The exercises that members perform change almost every day, and Farmgirlfit posts the workout for the next day in a members-only area of a blog it maintains, Niemann says.

Social interaction is part of the goal at Farmgirlfit, and the gym periodically organizes group activities for its members outside its facility, "mostly geared around fun sort of workout things," she says.

In conjunction with its anniversary in October, it also stages a Pennies for Pull-Ups charitable fundraising activity, in which each participating member will strives to do 500 pull-ups over the course of the month, she says.

Farmgirlfit was founded by Niemann, and her husband, Mark, and fellow Gonzaga University alums Patrick and Jaunessa Walsh, and Ryan Leong.

Niemann says she and her husband began dating while at Gonzaga, as did Jaunessa and Patrick, and the two couples and Leong became acquainted during that time.

She says she grew up in the small farm town of Adrian, Ore., where "you're doing whatever there is to do, which includes sports," and that led to a strong personal interest in fitness. She earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science from Gonzaga, but says, "I didn't really know where exactly that degree was going to lead me."

She spent time working as a Realtor, bartender, nanny, and retail sales manager, but says, "I kept coming back to wanting to be involved in the fitness industry."

She stumbled onto the globally popular CrossFit fitness program that focuses on functional movements and is known for its high-intensity workouts, and adds that's "where a light bulb went on" convincing her that it was time to start up a fitness facility here. Farmgirlfit isn't affiliated with the CrossFit program, but both Niemann and Jaunessa Walsh are CrossFit-certified.

Niemann says the Farmgirlfit theme and program evolved out of a desire to expand the appeal of metabolic training to more women in Spokane by offering something somewhat similar to CrossFit, but that's structured specifically for women.

"We're pretty happy with what we've created and our business model and what it represents," Niemann says.

Co-owner Ryan Leong is a commercial developer with SRM Development LLC, and "is the one who makes all of the gears turn" on the financial management side of the business, she says. Meanwhile her husband, Mark, and Jaunessa's husband, Patrick, both are patent attorneys with Sadler, Breen, Morasch & Colby PS, of Spokane, who have handled matters in that legal area for Farmgirlfit and also help promote it through social media, she says.

Farmgirlfit's owners are interested in growing the brand through the opening of more gyms, possibly as a franchiser, but aren't in a hurry to do so, Niemann says.

They want to base those decisions partly on the makeup of the neighborhoods where the gyms might be located and the caliber and energy of the people who would be involved in representing the brand, she says. "We don't want to model it like a typical franchise where the numbers say you should open here, so you open here."