Let's triple down on strength 💪

I'm sharing a plan to upgrade all three of our studio's rooms to be "strength rooms," because our members almost always prefer our current Strength Room. The change would effectively triple our capacity for workouts!

Every room's equipment would include: dumbbells with bench, cable machine, bike, and another cardio option. Each room would have its own specialties, too.

This aligns with a mission statement that I'm testing for Out Fitness: to unlock the inner strength of our queer community. And it will set us up for a great fifth year (!), which begins this October. When I set Year 4 goals last October, they were more time and space and more of a collective. My hope is that three strength-focused rooms will give you more time and space for your workouts.

But this can't happen without the help of our collective!

How you can help

Membership is always the best way to keep our studio going strong. Thank you to all our current members.
Help me with an equipment moving day on Saturday, August 8. We will be transporting a new Smith/cable machine (see below) as well as rearranging some equipment in the studio, and I will provide a U-Haul truck and tools. Please email me or text me at 216-250-2098 if you might be able to assist!
Save the date for a "Get Involved" open house on Sept. 5 to learn about other roles for Out Fitness.
Donate if you'd like, and I'll use the funds for our room upgrades. Thank you.

The blueprint

Below is my tentative plan for upgrading our three rooms, including new names to differentiate them. How well would these rooms serve you? Feedback is very welcome, so please email me.

Márquez Room

Named for our building owners who incubated our studio

dumbbells set and bench
Inspire FTX cable machine
spin bike
rowing machine

Lewis Room

Named for our longest-tenured member

adjustable dumbbell pair and bench
Inspire FTX cable machine
Peloton spin bike (new as of May)
elliptical
leg press machine

Forbes Room

Named for my family that's provided steadfast support

adjustable dumbbell pair and bench
RitFit Smith/cable machine (coming soon)
spin bike
ski rowing machine

The new RitFit machine, which is a combination Smith machine and cable crossover with plates, is an incredible donation from our member Ara! Transporting and reassembling this machine will be our main task on the Aug. 8 moving day.

Behind the plan

I've been thinking lots about how Out Fitness should make best use of its space. Looking at our workout numbers, I see that members are choosing access to strength training equipment for about 83% of all appointments.

During the last six months, whenever members booked a single room, they were 2.3x more likely to choose the Strength Room over the others. And since most appointments are for a single room, making our equipment more similar across the rooms should balance out the use of all rooms.

With this "triple down" plan, if you're planning strength-focused workouts, you will see more time and space available. If you're planning cardio-focused workouts, it's still likely that one or more rooms can serve your needs.

Reserving all three rooms at once, for maximum privacy, will remain an option!

Booking online has gotten better, also. In case you missed it, I upgraded our website with a new waitlists feature and easy-to-change memberships.

Classes, which require more empty space, will be phased out; we had only three attendees for classes in the last 12 months. Personal training, however, continues to be available from community members Sophia and Kyle, and the upgraded rooms will improve their ability to book sessions.

If there are other factors that I'm not considering in this planning, let me know. Thanks for your engagement and support!