Women only · Merced, CA · Since 2019

You don't have to get in shape before you get in shape.

A private gym in Merced for women 30 and up. Six women max on the floor, every one on the same session scaled to her own body, with a coach who has hands on all six. More than a hundred Merced women already train here.

Book your free consultation See how it works

Free consultation and body scan.

Who we built this for

You've either never trained a day in your life, or you've done cardio for ten years and wondered why nothing changed.

Both walk through our door every week. Neither knew what a hip hinge was. One had a membership she felt guilty about; the other had never had one at all.

They wanted the same thing — to feel confident in a body they'd stopped paying attention to, and to be taught by someone standing next to them instead of guessing off YouTube.

If that's you, you're not behind. You're exactly who this was built for.

Women strength training together in a semi-private session at Merced Elite Gym, a women's-only private studio in Merced, California, with a coach supervising the floor — A morning session on the floor. One coach, everyone on her own work.

When you join

Your first two sessions are private. Nobody else in the room.

Most studios take your money and put you on the floor the same week. We don't. Before you train alongside anyone, you get two one-on-one sessions — because a workout can't be scaled to your body until somebody has measured it.

Session 01

We find out how you move

Movement screen — squat, hinge, push, pull, carry
Range of motion, left side and right side
Injury history, and what still hurts
Your goal, in your words, with a real timeline

Session 02

We set your numbers

Working loads set for each core movement
Substitutions logged for anything your body won't do yet
Rep ranges, tempo and how fast we add weight
Your file goes to every coach on the floor

A coach demonstrating a dumbbell hinge alongside a client during a one-on-one evaluation at Merced Elite Gym — **We show you, then we watch you**Every movement gets taught before it gets loaded.

A woman in her fifties training on the leg press with her coach beside her at Merced Elite Gym in Merced, CA — **Scaled to your body, not the average one**Loads and ranges set from what your evaluation showed.

Then You walk into your first group session and the coach already knows your loads, your limits, and what you're working toward. You are never the new person figuring it out alone.

What semi-private actually means

One session. Six prescriptions.

The session is the same for everyone — that's deliberate. A shared structure is what lets a coach keep hands on six women at once. What changes is the prescription. Here's one lift, six ways.

Tuesday · Lower body · The hinge

Rebuilding post-surgerySupported hip hinge to a box, bodyweight, higher reps, full coach contact

First monthKettlebell deadlift from a raised block — pattern first, load second

BuildingRomanian deadlift, moderate load, controlled tempo, coach cueing bracing

Strong and progressingTrap bar deadlift, working weight, adding load on a set schedule

Back issue on fileLogged substitution — hinge replaced with a loaded carry and glute bridge

Pregnant or postpartumModified range, breathing and pelvic floor work — written by a certified pre/post-natal coach

Four women pressing dumbbells overhead at different weights during a semi-private strength session at Merced Elite Gym — **Same movement. Different dumbbells.**Four women on the same lift, four different loads.

Six women, one lift, six different loads and ranges — and a coach with hands on every one of them. That's the difference between this and a class of thirty.

A personal trainer kneeling to correct a client's stretch position during a women's semi-private strength session at Merced Elite Gym in Merced, CA — Hands on, every session. Nobody gets left to figure it out.

Sound familiar?

You're not lazy. You've just never had a plan or anyone watching.

You've paid for a gym membership for months and used it a handful of times.
You walk in, do three machines you're not sure about, and leave wondering if that did anything.
You'd rather skip it than fumble with a barbell while a guy waits behind you for the rack.
Your back, knees, or hips complain about things that never used to hurt.

Let's be honest with each other

We're not right for everybody. Here's how to tell.

We keep the floor small on purpose, which means we can only take so many women. We'd rather tell you now than take your money and watch it not work.

✓This is for you if

You can commit to two sessions a week. Consistency is the mechanism — one a week won't change anything and we won't pretend otherwise.
You want to get strong, not just sweaty. We lift here.
You're working around something real — postpartum, perimenopause, an old injury — and want a coach who accounts for it.
You'd rather someone notice you skipped Thursday than slip through unnoticed.

✕This is not for you if

You're shopping for the cheapest gym in Merced. We're not it. There are $10 memberships in this town and they're a better deal if access is all you want.
You want to be left alone with headphones in. Our coaches will interrupt you — that's what you're paying for.
You want to show up once a week and expect your body to change.
You aren't willing to look at what you're eating. Training without nutrition gets you about a third of the result.

What it costs

We'll give you a real number in the first ten minutes.

We don't publish a rate card, and here's the honest reason: the right plan for a 52-year-old rebuilding after a knee replacement is not the plan for a 34-year-old who wants to deadlift her bodyweight, and a number on a webpage can't tell those two apart. What we will tell you is where we sit.

A big-box gym membershipAccess only

Group classes (15–30 people)One workout for everyone

Merced EliteCoaching · 3–4× a week · Recovery included

Private hourly trainerOne-on-one, per hour

We're the third line on that list, on purpose. Per session you pay a fraction of what one-on-one costs by the hour, and you get something no membership gives you at any price — a coach who knows your name and your numbers.

Most members train three to four times a week, and semi-private isn't capped on most memberships. A 2026 infrared sauna and red light therapy are on site and included. You'll get your exact figure, in writing, at your free consultation.

No sign-up fee at the consultation. No pressure to answer that day.

Most women don't come here to lose twenty pounds. They come here to stop second-guessing every outfit before they walk out the door.

What we hear at almost every consultation

In their words

Merced women who were exactly where you are.

On Google

What Merced women say when we're not in the room.

4.9
Rated on Google

★★★★★
Merced Elite Gym helped me find a community that I felt included and supported in… At a commercial gym I'd feel lost, but Merced Elite has that special guidance and connection that other gyms can't provide.

E

Evelin Reyes

Google review

★★★★★
The quality of the coaching is truly exceptional — knowledgeable, attentive, and genuinely invested in each member's progress… It's incredible to see how everyone rallies around the success of each woman who walks through those doors.

G

Gina Leonardo

Member since September 2025

★★★★★
The trainers welcome you from the moment you walk in the door. Workouts are tough… Thank you, Merced Elite, for helping me gain confidence and get healthier!

D

Dana Acosta

Google review

★★★★★
I love that is a semi private gym small groups because it encourages me to push myself… I love having a personalized meal prep to help me achieve my goal and weekly check up that is something you don't get anywhere else.

R

Rosie Bernardino

Local Guide · Google review

★★★★★
My schedule is all over the place with my job and 3 small children, but I can always find a time that works, which has made staying consistent so much easier.

J

Jacqueline Esquivel

Google review

★★★★★
They really have helped me to correct my form when weight lifting… I recommend this place to anyone looking for a change, especially if you feel lost at a traditional gym.

M

Mey Saephanh

Google review

★★★★★
Before joining, I struggled with having the discipline to stick to workouts on my own. Now, I look forward to working out and I'm seeing serious results, both on and off the scale.

L

Lauren Hogan

Five months a member

★★★★★
If you are not a “gym rat” but want to succeed at feeling good about yourself, then surround yourself with this amazing place.

K

Karen Petersen

Google review

Read all reviews on Google →

Start to finish

Four steps. Only one of them costs anything.

Free consultation and body scan

We talk through what you want, what hurts, and what you've tried. The body scan is yours to keep, and it's optional if you'd rather skip it.

You get the plan and the price

What training here would look like, and exactly what it costs. If it doesn't fit, you shake our hand and leave. That's genuinely fine.

Two private one-on-one sessions

Just you and a coach. This is where your loads, ranges and substitutions get set — before you're on the floor with anyone.

Semi-private, scaled to you

You join the floor with your numbers already in the coach's hands. Six women max, your prescription, moved forward as you get stronger.

Who's on the floor

The women coaching you.

Every coach on this floor is a woman, and every one of them is NASM certified. Two are certified specialists in pre- and post-natal training and one is certified in mobility and stretching — a range you won't find at a gym counter in Merced. Whether you're pregnant, four months postpartum, ten years past it, or working around a hip that stopped cooperating, somebody here has actually been trained for it.

Head Trainer

Sophia

NASM · Pre/Post-Natal Specialist · CPR

Three years on this floor and she runs the training team. Sophia holds a pre- and post-natal specialty certification, which makes her the coach members go to when they're pregnant, newly postpartum, or trying to work out what their body can handle again.

Trainer

Tialli

NASM · Pre/Post-Natal Specialist

A mother of two who is also certified in pre- and post-natal training, so she has both the credential and the lived version of it. Members know her for how thorough she is — she'd rather spend an extra two minutes fixing your setup than let you do ten more reps of something wrong.

Trainer

Alexis

NASM Certified · 3+ years on this floor

Alexis is the reason nobody here slips through unnoticed. She knows every member's name, what they're working on, and when they haven't been in — and she'll say something about it. If you've spent years being anonymous at a gym, she is the antidote to that.

Head Trainer

Angela

NASM · Mobility & Stretching · CPR

Angela knows every corner of this place — the programming, the equipment, the members, the schedule. Her mobility and stretching certification is the reason warm-ups here aren't an afterthought, which matters a great deal if you're coming back from an injury or your hips have stopped doing what they used to.

The owner

Andrew Navarro

ISSA · NASM · Kinesiology & Nutrition

Andrew opened Merced Elite in 2019 after watching too many women pay for gym memberships they were too uncomfortable to use. He built a room with no walk-ins, no crowd, no one waiting behind you for the rack, and an all-female coaching staff — because that turned out to be the thing standing between a lot of Merced women and getting strong.

Who you'll hear from first

Cruzelly

Scheduling · Member communication

When you send the form, text the studio, or message us on Instagram, Cruzelly is the one who answers. She books your consultation, tells you where to park, and answers the question you'd rather not ask out loud. She's rarely on the training floor and she's the reason nothing here falls through the cracks.

Before you get here

So nothing about walking in is a surprise.

The most common reason a woman cancels her first visit isn't nerves about the workout. It's not knowing where to park. So here it is — this is the building, that's the door.

The exterior of Merced Elite Gym at 659 in Merced, California, with women walking in through the front entrance at sunrise — Park in front. The door under the sign is the only one you need.

Before you book

The questions women actually ask us.

I'm really out of shape. Am I going to be the worst one there?

No — and that's structural, not just a nice thing to say. Everyone is on her own prescription, so there's no shared pace to fall behind. The woman next to you might be in week 40 or week 1, and you'd have no way of knowing.

I've never touched a barbell. Do I need to learn first?

Learning it correctly the first time is the entire point of having a coach. Most women start with bodyweight and dumbbells anyway — nobody is putting a barbell on your back on day one.

Are men ever on the training floor?

No. Every coach is a woman, every member is a woman, and the floor is women only. No walk-in traffic, no day passes — the only people in the room are the women training and the coach running it.

What does "semi-private" actually mean here?

A maximum of six women on the floor in a session, each following her own written program, with a coach moving between all six. It is not a group class — there's no shared workout, no counting reps together, no one at the front with a microphone.

Do I have to sign a long contract?

We go over terms face to face at your consultation — the right commitment for someone training twice a week isn't the same as for someone training five times. You'll see it all in writing, and nobody will ask you to decide that day.

How much is it?

You'll get your exact number at your free consultation, before you're asked to make any decision. We land between a big-box membership and hourly private training. If budget is the deciding factor, tell us at the session and we'll tell you honestly whether we're a fit.

I work early / I have kids. Can I even make the schedule?

Eight sessions a day, Monday to Friday. Mornings at 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 and 9:00. Evenings at 4:30, 5:30 and 6:30. Each runs 55–60 minutes — train before the house wakes up, or after you've picked up the kids.

What should I bring to the free consultation?

Shoes you can move in and a water bottle. That's it. You don't need to get in shape before you come get in shape.

What else is in the building besides the training floor?

A 2026 infrared sauna and red light therapy, both on site and both used by members after sessions. We'll show you how they work and how access fits your membership when you come in.

Start here

Book your free consultation.

A conversation and a body scan. We talk through what you want, where you're starting, and what's gotten in the way before. You leave knowing exactly what training here would look like and what it would cost — whether or not you join.

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Pick any open time that works. You'll get a confirmation text right away — or call us on (209) 427-1532 if you'd rather talk first.