Inclusive Los Angeles gym offers families a place to belong

Inside UFit: The gym designed for people of all abilities

A business owner turned a simple idea into a powerful community in Van Nuys.

LOS ANGELES - In a plain looking gym in Van Nuys, something larger than exercise is taking shape.

UFit trains children and adults with neurodegenerative and physical disabilities. Families say it also gives them something harder to find – safety and acceptance, and a place where no one needs to explain their child before they walk in the door.

The center now operates in Van Nuys, Santa Clarita and Sunland, with 20 coaches serving more than 250 participants. Its founder, Dveen Agazaryan, says UFit began about five years ago with a simple idea. Build a space where "everyone is welcome" and where people can feel "part of a big family."

That idea grew from a far smaller beginning.

Agazaryan says he started in high school, going house to house and working with special needs families in their living rooms. He first took it on as a résumé builder while applying to college. Then life nudged him elsewhere. He did not get into his dream schools. He did something more surprising instead. He kept going.

"I wouldn’t change this for the world," Agazaryan says. "It brings such joy to my heart. It brings so much joy to my family. It is a lot of work but it’s really worth it."

For parents like Mari, the changes show up slowly at first. Then all at once.

She says her son David enjoys boxing and yoga now. But getting him through the front door took weeks.

"It took about three weeks for him to actually step inside the gym and give this place a shot," Mari says. "And we’ve been coming ever since then."

She says when he first arrived, he did not want to talk to anyone. Now, she says, he often approaches other children who are struggling, gives them a hug and helps include them.

"So the roles reversed," Mari says.

That may be the quiet power of a place like this. Progress does not always arrive with fanfare. Sometimes it looks like a greeting. Sometimes it looks like a child walking through a door.

Mari says the gym feels different from the outside world families often navigate.

"When you’re here, you’re just in a safe environment," she says. "You’re not judged, you are not excluded. Nobody needs an explanation of what’s happening. You are just understood, and you’re in a place where you belong."

Twelve-year-old Miko puts it more simply. He says he loves to work out because it gives him energy, helps him feel healthy and happy, and lets him stretch "without anxiety." His favorite exercises include box jumps, weightlifting and squats.

Behind those moments stand coaches like Abel Monroy, who has worked there for three years and sees more than 20 children a week. He says the job asks for patience, openness and humility.

"You gotta come here with a big mindset," Monroy says. "Just enjoy whatever’s gonna come through that door because you never know what’s gonna happen."

His goal, he says, is simple.

"My purpose here is just to make sure a kid walks out of here with a smile on their face. That’s it."

UFit works with regional centers, which can cover costs for qualifying families. For those outside that system, sessions cost $60 each.

In April, during Autism Awareness Month, that practical detail matters. But the deeper story lives in what families say they find inside: not just movement, but recognition. Not just fitness, but fellowship. In a city full of places to pass through, UFIT has become a place where people feel seen.