Cindee Henderson stands in her gym on Nov. 24, 2012, in a small building next to her home in Hermiston.

HERMISTON — Higher Power Fitness in Hermiston is up and running right where the owner wants it — in a small building next to her home.

That’s where Cindee Henderson began her physical training business eight years ago. After some success, she opened other locations, which she has since closed. Henderson said she could not be happier to return to where she started.

“There seemed to be a market for larger group training, which I thought we could grow into,” Henderson said, explaining why she moved into a couple of different locations — first the Cornerstone Building in Hermiston for a couple of years and then the 2120 Building off of Highway 395 in Hermiston for another five years. She said she found it easier at the time to get insured in the building rather than in her home, but she has solved that problem, too.

While in 2120, she had seven staff trainers and offered fitness classes, but the business did not grow the way she wanted, she said.

“The large classes that we wanted to do just didn’t take off with our client base,” she said.

She said she mostly works with older women who don’t want to be in a large gym and prefer the “close camaraderie” encouraged by a smaller, less industrial space.

This suits Henderson just fine, because she also likes smaller settings and smaller groups more. In her current location, available by appointment only, she has one-on-one sessions and group workouts of up to six people.

“A lot of them have been with me for six or seven years, or I know them really well,” she said.

She described her classes as “functional fitness,” with unique routines based on the needs of her clients, her observation and their feedback. They use resistance bands, dumbbells, barbells and kettlebells.

Her gym in the 2120 Building closed in March 2020, just as the pandemic was starting, she said. Then she opened for a few weeks in June 2020 and a few weeks in July. When she was open, she said, she had people wear masks and “followed all the rules” to protect herself and her older clients. Meanwhile, trainers came and went, she said.

She said the closings and uncertainty gave her a chance to step back and ask if it was really what she wanted. At 65 years old, she decided she did not want to spend the time and effort it would take to build a large gym.

“This is it,” she said, motioning around toward her small location and its equipment. “My clients and I love it.”

In this setting, she said she has maintained her passion for fitness and for helping people. She called herself “a helper,” who once was an accountant and bookkeeper but then switched to fitness after having lost 100 pounds 15 years ago.

Saying she is not “the size-two trainer,” she called herself “real.”

“I’m not perfect, but I do my best to be healthy,” she said. “And I really believe in longevity and helping people do the things that they want to do for as long as they can do them.”

Her goal, she said, is to help people lose weight or achieve some other goal. In her, they have a trainer who will hold them accountable, provide community and guide them to where they want to be.

“I share my journey, I give them tips and often it works. People change their mindsets, and they achieve their goals,” she said.