When Nathalie Huerta created the world's first Queer Gym in 2010,
she had no idea how much her small business would mean to the
LGBTQ+ community in the Bay Area.

As Huerta works through the issues of running a small business
in an area constantly becoming more expensive, the queer community benefits
from having a space to build relationships and focus on their well-being.

When she started presenting more androgynously, she said it got even weirder.
“There was just this point where I was like, I can't be the only fucking lesbian with this shit problem,” she said.

She began pursuing a master’s in business and in her second semester became self-employed, advertising to clients on sites like Craigslist. It soon became clear to her that she needed something to set her apart from other trainers.

“I was like, what makes me different?” she said — “I’m hella gay!”
Thus, Queer Gym was born.

At their highest point, the gym had about 230 members. Since rolling out the accountability coaching and changing the business model, the number has dropped staggeringly to just 80. These people pay a premium for services and are more committed to the program.

And it shows, the Queer Gym’s retention rate was at 97% as of November, a number expected of top elite gyms. Many gyms fall around a 60% retention rate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) releases aerobic and muscle strengthening guidelines each year; but research shows that most adults do not meet the requirements. Depending on their age, only about 20-25% of adults achieved the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of high-intensity aerobic exercise on two or more days a week in 2018.

Huerta says that most of her clients are people who are realizing that “adulting is a bitch.” Many of them were active throughout school and college, but as life got more complicated and they gained more responsibility, exercising faltered as a priority.

Each of Kelsch’s clients start with a nutrition consultation. Workout routines are then chosen based on their individual fitness goals. Everyone’s process is different, and Kelsch is there to make sure members feel supported enough to stay on track.

“She calls me on my nonsense, which is exactly what I need,” said member Shaleena Reyersbach. “My first meeting with KJ, she took the time to understand like, Who am I as a person? Like, when what motivates me? When do I get demotivated? What does that look like?”

Kelsch enjoys having a client base with diverse lifestyles — people with children, older people, partnered people. “I think that we do a really good job of making sure that everybody feels included regardless of where they're coming from or where they're starting.”

After joining the six-week challenge, he realized that working out in a queer-friendly group setting kept him motivated enough to exercise consistently.

Being around other people, he said, makes him want to do the best he can, and forming friendships around shared goals has been an important part of his fitness process.

“I've made friends out of this that we don't — it's not about drinking,” he said. “It's not about talking only about sex. It's literally about just being friends with each other.”

“In terms of being like queer and whatnot, it's really important to have access to spaces that are empowering from like a health, nutrition and wellness kind of space,” he said.

Community, he said, is how to fill the gap between temporary fitness accomplishments and the lasting results of long-term objectives.

“We're all hungry for this,” he said. “We want it and then you feed off of the community.”