Gymnasium Annulment (Pt 2: Wake up and Smell the Bye Bye Bye)

Education and ChildhoodHealth and Humanity
Written By Kelly K

🤷‍♀️ ESTIMATED READING TIME: THIRTY MINUTES

Disclaimer:
Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!

  • I joined this gym for peace, routine, and positive vibes. Instead I got party anthems, inconsistent care, and a kid zone with zero growth and screen dependency. They’re now trying to charge me more than rent to quit. Bye bye bye.

    • Environment: Music blasting frat-era drinking songs. No soul. No healing.

    • Kids’ Center: Screens, rule-breaking, a kid crying to pee, and no one caring. And it’s a gym???

    • Group Classes: Fake hype, forgotten newbies, a hazing bell, and no form correction/protection. I injured myself!

    • Vibe check fail: Everything felt like “sign up” not “stick around.”

    • Music lyrics: Literally made me question entire decades of Western pop culture. (Lifehack: reggaeton if you don’t speak it 😎)

    • Online reviews? Confirmed it. I’m not alone.

    • Final straw: Trying to charge me $1,000+ to cancel after ignoring me and pushing bad vibes. No ma’am. I’m talking to my representatives. At the luncheon.

Topics: Conditioning, Environments, Music, Pop Music, Lyrics, Rule Breaking, Faking It, Newbies, Community, Insincerity, Inconsistency, Misleading, Hazing

I’m out just about as fast as I joined. I know I can get myself to work out daily, but I do not want to go into this building daily anymore. There are too many triggers that I don’t want to hear, be around, or encourage. It may sound dramatic, but, alright. I like to put my money where my mouth is - and my time! And my attention. 4 sho!!

Why Attend: As we know, my goal was to find peace, realignment, and stability at the gym. Even positive peer pressure!! hahaha. Unfortunately, I can not turn off these surroundings. For this blog, I’ll lean most into the environment I experienced in the group classes. Though, we can also check out what I’ve read from others online and why I don’t like their kids place. It’s just all a combo of “no thanks!” at this place. (And now they’re being difficult to let me quit!! Trying to charge me MORE THAN MY RENT to get out of this whole experienceeeeeee. They’re playing confusedddd - but, yeah. Geeze.)

Overall Event Review: Venue (1.5/5), Food (1/5), Speaker Content (2/5), Networking (4/5), Likeliness to Return (0.5/5)

Collage and Commentary (coming soon):

Notes from the Event:

  • VENTING:

    • They’re talking one way and doing another. Their mission statements are inconsistent with their practices. And they are not creating an environment of positive growth. They don’t even help with my form much either. It’s just not healthy for my time or presence to be there. But, I wish I could buy the place and rework so many things. Ever since I learned of Carl Ichan’s strategy of activist investing, I feel like I see opportunities everywhere. So many places I’d love to help and see them turn into amazing businesses for empowering communities, children, and families. Instead, it’s profit over people. That’s the problem.

  • Remembering College Pop Music

    • This place is RAGING with college drinking anthems. Now that I relisten, I’m like, “What the ___ were we listening to back then!?!” Take a million parts of this song below:

  • It’s just nonstop songs about this crazy behavior, regrets for drinking. Wake up and smell the pu___? Give me a break. It’s like, speaking this way is not going to get you any respect… and then you get these lyrics stuck in your head 😂. It’s like you’re pushing your limits at the gym and the bar. No thanks.

  • This is why I don’t listen to english speaking music almost at all anymore. It’s just too ridiculous. Even the “classics” you listen to the lyrics and you’re like, what the heck are we normalizing over here? No thank you. Handpans? Reggaeton? On repeat - now!!! hahaha. I know reggaeton is the same thing in their lyrics, but I don’t speak much spanish, so its a lifehack!

  • SIGN UP PROCESS

    • chasing you down.

      • I visited this place a few times before committing, but it was really aggressive.

    • reminded me of Istanbul

      • when all the tall men try to flirt with you to get you to look at their menus for hte restaurant, but its like hundreds. lol!!!

    • fake flirty

      • as a sales method? stinks!! i read online for men they just degrade them, that was the perspective.

    • fake friendship/commitment

      • Just the guy kept being like “see you then” but then he wasn’t there again till the day I quit.

  • INSTANT STONK VIBES:

    • I’m such a superfan of gamestop / bbbyq lately (literally wore my gamestop shorts here every single day) and that aesthetic fit right in!!

    • Straight neon green lights all over the place - felt very “moass fever dream”. The lighting was alright in that place, but still pretty bright. It made me wish they had sun roof windows! lol! Wouldn’t it be amazing to do those workouts in nature!?

      • I shoudl start - post moass hahaha.

    • And moassy galore!! there were little figurines at the front desk of a little ‘teddy holding’ and ‘roaring kitty’ (not named keith - lol)

    • The weekly trivia question was about apes!! lol. Asking about who’d win in a fight - Harambe or 100 men? Something like that.

      • AA/AMC donated a lot of money to Harambe early on - back in 2021 or whatever. I feel like we should have kept that going. One-time donations sorta stress me out in theory. are people that financially literate or do they use it all and then over buy and then go “oh crap” you know?? IDK. I’m not a financial analyist!

      • Also, Harambe’s death was for real such a sad situation (right!?) that didn’t feel like the most necessary outcome?!! Isn’t that even the point of it all, not to celebrate it or keep mentioning it? Idk. Just so weird about our world. I feel like that’s a universally sad moment, right? Why joke about it :(

      • The votes from members were like 50/50 from what I saw.

  • KIDS CENTER

    • This was the first place I visited and instantly I was disappointed to see there was a TV. Why? Cause it’s like pausing time and kids don’t get any more tired. The yjust sit there. Frozen almost. THE OPPOSITE OF HTE POINT OF A GYM!!!! Its a waste of time.

    • There are so many weird shows on tv, too, these days disguised as harmless. But its just a waste of time, intentionally overstimulating, and teaching NO HELPFUL lessons or values. What happened to schoolhouse rock!?!??!!? FOR REAL. I’m so annoyed with tv and youtube, its why we don’t watch it. And I don’t want to start here.

    • This place was not very organized. It wasn’t too bad, but I saw that one kids was hovering aroudn the tv, another was glued to the ipad, and then the other was eating food, even though food isn’t supposed to be allowed she said.

    • Fine to break rules?

      • usually we don’t watch tv, but… but this kid hasn’t been here in a while? That is what she said.

      • usually no food but… i forgot her excuse for that.

      • this kid is crying and needs to pee by the bathroom and closet area - just like so close to being able to use it, but then she’s like; NO! we have to wait till his mom comes back even though she’s not answering her phone… :( dude this was upsetting to me. Why do you let a kid just cry and cry when all they need to do is use the bathroom—— but you break the rules for the other kids? But the kid didn’t speak english and she didnt speak spanish, so i helped translate the tiny bit i knew. BAĂąO! Hello!! and duh!! Its a primal need. So weird. And the mom wasn’t answering the phone.

    • Their setup wasn’t even allowing kids to get any exercise and their decorations were so lame and boring too. Just liek classic ikeaaa animals or wahtever frames and then a cozy corner or whatever. No chararcter or life. I feel like they don’t even let the kids work out. Just zone out, and then parents are worn out and kids weren’t given true attention.

    • I see this cause I used to work in a kids gym, I used to work at daycares, kindergartens, all sorts of age groups. I used to manage a lot of things. We had amazing classes, dancing breaks, lots of fun!!! It was high quality (though different locations varied when I did that job, of course.)

    • So i look at these settings and I see where gaps are there, where opportunites are missing. Quit using these basic decorations, no way to have activity? THIS IS A GYM!!! WWHHY NOT POSTERS OF WORKOUTS? YOGA. I dont’ get it. Why not yoga videos? (though so many online are CREEPY for real.)

    • IDK. Just doesn’t make sense and I don’t think kids should waste their time here, but also - compared to what we’ve got in the usa, and jsut ‘these days’ its the norm. You know? I’m just ready to raise the standards for how we provide a great environment and education for kids!!!!!! Enough already of this fake attempts that don’t even line up with your goals (of being a gym) when you look at it with any sort of critical thinking. Seriously. eyeroll. (plus, i’m extra annoyed with them since they’re legit trying to charge me over 1k!!! Almost double!!!)

  • ENVIRONMENT

    • people fake working out: so many ladies in there pretending to work out but just gossiped instead, talked about the pain in their bodies, sat around, and then cleaned up and said goodbye. wtf?

    • so much of your personal info handed over: they want your weight, etc… even they want you to downlaod an app!! but i didnt. i’m over apps. sorry.

    • group challenges that had no sign ups. like every group class had 50% newbies… and 8 people there. You know? No one stays. The vibes are to “sign up” not “stay”.

    • Confusing acronyms + entire situations. Everything has 100 letters and you don’t know what it is talking about and they all talk like you should but then it’s too embarassing to ask a question. Idk. Sometimes its fun to be a newbie and learn eventually, but also its liek about fitness and your body and you should know what you’re getting yourself into. Like cardio or strength or what?

    • NO HAIRDRYERS!? Who doesn’t have hairdryers at a gym with showers? Am I just spoiled?? You can attach them to the wall, i mean geeze!!

    • professional athletes

      • I feel sorry for them. They workout at this award winning gym but the music is just encouraging party lifestyles and materialism.

      • You know so many go broke or bankrupt or just have major issues after their contracts end and THIS ENVIRONMENT ISNT HELPING!? Its liek tehy can’t escape this music and lifetyle, lol. I’m like - bro!! I’ve been out of that life for a decade. Yuck.

        • I just can’t fake it. I dont like that music anymore!!!!! hahah. I’m HSPPPP!!!! Hyper sensitive personality.

      • Let’s focus on healing and solving, not pissing competitions.

  • GROUP CLASSES

    • lost newbies: just so many new people didn’t even know how to do some of hte workouts and felt forgotten.

    • pride in hazing: they laugh and make you ring this bell every time it’s your first class, but then they don’t listen when you say it’s already your 2nd or 3rd class. and the guy who won the last months’ compeition for “most healthy” was joking that it is hazing. Cockily. It’s like, eew. Why are you enjoying degrading people, people!?

    • degrading music: yeah - just all the music was either rap, country, or this mix. And the country was depressing about drinking. And then the mix is so weird cause it feels liek tehy’re just trying to pastel theory music by blending all genres together.

    • conditioning in unhealthy ways: and these lyrics just embrace a lifestyle with no meaning. My point is to go to the gym and get stronger, happier, healthier. This is not it. This is not for me. I realized there are so many better ways to spend an hour a day and I have it in me.

  • Online Reviews:

    • All over the internet the reviews mirrored what I saw.

    • They clearly don’t care about those reviews, or else they’d change stratgies. Must be working for them well enough this far, but idk how long it can last. Times are changing and people are sick of being treated like this. hahah. I’m a professional woman now, okay? Let me work out in dignity!

  • InSPIRATION:

    • I did get inspired during this time to go wild on my merch and order some Kelly Tutors workout shoes, shorts, and shirts. Cause I was legit ready to commit for a long time. But, the lines were crossed!! Those green lines hahah.

    • It’s okay thought. It was a huge realization and not a vacation. NOT worth the money, let’s be honest. But. That’s life. Can we put another song in here? Sure!!

  • That's life (that's life)
    That's what all the people say
    You're riding high in April, shot down in May
    But I know I'm gonna change that tune
    When I'm back on top, back on top in June

    I said that's life (that's life)
    And as funny as it may seem
    Some people get their kicks
    Stomping on a dream
    But I don't let it, let it get me down
    'Cause this fine old world, it keeps spinnin' around

    I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet
    A pawn and a king
    I've been up and down and over and out
    And I know one thing
    Each time I find myself
    Flat on my face
    I pick myself up and get
    Back in the race

    That's life (that's life)
    I tell you, I can't deny it
    I thought of quitting, baby
    But my heart just ain't gonna buy it
    And if I didn't think it was worth one single try
    I'd jump right on a big bird and then I'd fly

    I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet
    A pawn and a king
    I've been up and down and over and out
    And I know one thing
    Each time I find myself layin'
    Flat on my face
    I just pick myself up and get
    Back in the race

    That's life (that's life)
    That's life and I can't deny it
    Many times I thought of cutting out, but my heart won't buy it
    But if there's nothing shaking, come this here July
    I'm gonna roll myself up
    In a big ball and die

    My, my

    *FOR THE RECORD, NOT TRUE!! I AM PATIENT :). July can come and go, and August, September, October, November, December, 2026, 2027, beyond!! I’m ready for it all. Ready to help and make great things come true 100%. :)

Overall Event Review:

Venue (1.5/5), I mean, it was very clean! And spacious. And you know, not THAT bad if you can numb your senses a bit and ignore the music.

Food (1/5), Like I said last blog, all they have is water with a weird taste that brags about how many bottles it has saved.

Speaker Content (2/5), The coaches I liked! Mostly, though one seemed too annoyed to be there, so annoyed when people were late, but she woudn’t help me with my form.

Networking (4/5), I met four nice people I may have stayed friends with, but no worries!!

Likeliness to Return (0.5/5), Not unless I activist invest it. Like Carl Icahn hahahhaa. :)

Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.

Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊

Kelly K
Previous

Kids Immersive Education Fundraiser Lunch and Learn
Next

Celebrating Mothers and Painting Event Prep