This local fitness studio is creating a safe space where community and fitness can come together
Located on Ottawa Street in downtown Hamilton, the Move Room is a community-centered fitness studio offering everything from yoga and pilates classes to workshops and studio rentals. With the variety of classes and workshops, the studio strives to offer something for everyone.
Jo Gale, the studio owner, wanted to create a space for fitness instructors to lead the classes they want to offer. Gale strives to create an inclusive and safe space for everyone to get together and find connection through movement.
Gale grew up in Burlington and later moved to Toronto to pursue a career in art. She is a trained textile artist, but ended up working in retail. It was after leaving retails that Gale eventually began to teach yoga.
Her first yoga classes were held as outdoor pop-up sessions at Gage Park. During the pandemic, Gale rented her friend’s basement on Ottawa Street to hold classes for eight people. With her sessions quickly selling out, she began looking for studio spaces to rent out and two weeks later, she opened The Move Room.
Currently, she teaches five in-person classes and one virtual class a week while managing and meeting with people to facilitate potential renters of the studio space. For Gale, this is a good way to meet different parts of the community and create connections. After a long period of disconnection during the pandemic, this was a welcome change in the constantly growing Ottawa Street.
“We hope to bring all kinds of people into the space who maybe don't feel like they fit into traditional fitness spaces . . . [The Move Room is] about bringing people together and making people feel really comfortable in their bodies,” she stated.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Gale admitted it was difficult as people were not comfortable with going to in-person classes. But since last September, The Move Room has been gaining popularity and Gale trying new things to keep people coming. Gale is excited to see what the new year has in store.
The Move Room has also done many collaborative classes in the past with other community members. For instance, the studio has collaborated with Rachel Chegahno, an Indigenous owner of Good Stuff Pots, by selling her products at the studio. Gale enjoys working with people from every community to create a platform for Black, Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ folks by showcasing their classes and work in her studio.
Gale hopes clients leave The Move Room feeling connected to their teachers, others and comfortable coming into the studio.
“[S]eeing people feel comfortable coming in — or even better when those folks start to bring their friends or their family as well — that's like a really cool thing to see,” Gale stated.
In May, The Move Room has an upcoming Makers’ Market on Ottawa Street. The studio is worth checking out for fitness and community in a challenging workout sure to leave you feeling good about yourself and your body.
Gym culture often emphasizes weight loss as its ultimate goal, but with the revitalization of McMaster’s new gym, The Pulse, is body positivity possible?
Work out trends, diet fads and gym advertisements usually all portray the same message. The message being that fitness and health look a certain way. In many cases, the message is that one’s body needs to change.
To many people, public fitness areas reinforce this idea. Gyms can oftentimes become a place that causes people to compare themselves to others. Those who don’t fit society’s version of a healthy body may be left to feel uncomfortable in these situations.
McMaster’s new building of The Pulse, a gym on campus, has brought in a wide array of new students. The new gym offers new spaces, new workout classes, and new equipment.
Many students have been enjoying the newly improved gym, including 3rd year student Amanda Round. She uses The Pulse on a regular basis.
“The physical benefits go without saying, but I like going with friends, it really helps with my mental health,” said Round.
The physical benefits and the social benefits of a university gym can be great motivators to pursue fitness. But this can be overshadowed due to lack of body positivity amongst the fitness community, as well as uncomfortable feelings by students.
This problem can be identified by many gym goers, including 4th year Biochemistry Justin Alvarado. Justin is also a part of The Pulse’s staff, but he identifies that the marketing for gyms can be very non inclusive.
“As a whole, I don’t think the fitness industry is inclusive enough to all body sizes. While many gyms have improved the environment they create to become more inclusive, I believe more marketing is needed to cater to all body types and sizes,” said Alvarado.
“As a whole, I don’t think the fitness industry is inclusive enough to all body sizes. While many gyms have improved the environment they create to become more inclusive, I believe more marketing is needed to cater to all body types and sizes.”
Justin Alvarado, Pulse Staff
The idea that the gym is a place to move your body, and not just a place to lose weight or train to look a certain way may be more helpful in making the gym more inclusive. Though it seems that through time the fitness industry may be changing this idea.
“I have noticed a shift in fitness and gym media that doesn’t really touch upon body size and weight loss but instead highlights general benefits of the gym such as general physical and mental benefits as well as community,” said Alvarado.
With this in mind, it seems as though McMaster has also taken steps in the direction of working to make the gym more inclusive. There are now numerous workout classes, which may help students to become more comfortable in the gym and with working out.
There is also an improved women’s only section, which can help female identifying students in feeling more comfortable using the gym. As gyms tend to be male dominated, these spaces can help these students in having a better attitude when attending the gym.
“I really like that they have a women’s section as well. I think that really helps get more women to the gym, especially those that don’t feel comfortable working out in a co-ed environment due to personal or cultural reasons,” said Round.
The Pulse has also dropped its old dress code. This can also be helpful in ideas of body positivity, as wearing what is most comfortable can help people in feeling confident in the gym.
“I think it's really important that people work out in what they’re comfortable with and what makes them feel empowered whether that's a sports bra or being covered head to toe,” said Round.
Overall, it seems as though McMaster has taken strides in making The Pulse inclusive of all students. Though in order to make change in raising ideas of positivity, it seems it is up to students and the fitness industry to shift the mindset that fitness is a one size fits all mold.
“All-in” lifestyles surrounding students and the fitness industry are a dangerous mix
C/O Fistum Admasu/Unsplash
By: Ardena Bašić, Contributor
Students often find themselves living a life on the extreme side of a continuum. Sacrifices made for good grades and academic success often involve trading sleep for coffee, physical activity for hours at a desk and interpersonal connections with endless citations.
It can be seemingly impossible to find balance with so many tasks, leaving little chance for a lifestyle of moderation. It is difficult to accept, but it often seems like a necessary sacrifice at this point in one’s life to foster further success down the road.
The fitness industry, on the other hand, perpetuates another extreme type of lifestyle that is the exact opposite of educational institutions.
Instead of readings and calculations, this industry can project that excessive exercise and strict, often dangerous, diets are the keys to flawless aesthetics and health.
Instead of readings and calculations, this industry can project that excessive exercise and strict, often dangerous, diets are the keys to flawless aesthetics and health.
SlimFast, for example, preaches meal replacements that are laden with sugar and sodium and can worsen one’s health in the long run. Moreover, many used to praise the show “The Biggest Loser” for transforming the lives of overweight individuals.
However, they did not realize that contestants completely destroyed their metabolisms through excessive movement and extremely low-calorie diets.
The media is actually leading us to pursue dangerously unsustainable and unhealthy lifestyles in pursuit of better health.
What we see on social media especially seems to portray the “perfect” body, constructed through rigorous workout routines and diligent dedication to certain lifestyle regimes. Although we are seeing an increasing number of honest influencers trying to make a “fit lifestyle” seem more accessible to the average person, many still associate being fit with having to give up any normalcy or moderation in their lifestyle.
It is difficult to believe the likes of Kayla Itsines, who preaches listening to your body alongside a moderation in both exercise and nutrition pursuits, when most bodybuilders do not disclose their regimens, making it seem like their constant posts of lifting heavy weights and limiting diets are the keys to a good physique.
As a result, it seems as if there is little room for other hobbies or priorities in one’s life if you are to meet the standards of fitness that society has created. What happens when these two extremes meet?
What happens when these two extremes meet?
If students, most of which are already making sacrifices in various areas of life for their education also feel the need to do so for their health and wellness, then they will inevitably perpetuate the consequences of these extreme lifestyles even more.
If a student now decides that they must maintain a 12.0 GPA, intensive extracurriculars and obtain the best physical physique and overall health possible, there is little room for leisure.
Interpersonal relationships are pushed to the side, motivation and enthusiasm for life become strained and physical and mental health suffer immensely.
Furthermore, consider what happens to students as they succumb to the traps of the fitness industry. Adopting the “no-pain-no-gain” mentality is a poor decision for anyone, as it can significantly increase the stress on one’s body and mind.
For students especially, many are already perpetually sleep-deprived and have full schedules; having to put copious amounts of effort into workout or diet routines would only add to the physiological and psychological stress.
Moreover, focusing on aesthetics rather than health, as the fitness industry attempts to make us do, can lead one to try products like detox teas, waist trainers and others.
These can harm one’s physical body and also cause significant guilt if one cannot attain the “goal body” they want. Add all these pursuits on top of a school or general workload and one experiences undue amounts of stress that can severely impact their mental health.
These can harm one’s physical body and also cause significant guilt if one cannot attain the “goal body” they want. Add all these pursuits on top of a school or general workload and one experiences undue amounts of stress that can severely impact their mental health.
Student-athletes especially must maintain excellent academic standards to play their sport at the collegiate level. There is insurmountable pressure to meet the standards of “perfection” for both educational and wellness lifestyles.
While some could argue that excellent time management skills can balance these two priorities, others see the stress that these athletes exhibit. Having to prioritize two major sectors of life means having to give up relationships, career advancement and other variables that contribute to our holistic view of life.
What is the takeaway from this? Firstly, students have to appreciate that they are in a season of their life where it is difficult to balance more than one paramount in their life.
While it can be a difficult pill to swallow, students need to take a more intensive approach towards their studies and other priorities, such as paying for their education, as opposed to falling into the many traps of the fitness industry.
Secondly, we need to beware of lifestyles where there is no possibility for moderation. It is the simple concept of an opportunity cost: in order to do more of something, we have to give something else up.
We should ensure that we scrutinize the value of what we are putting in and taking out of our life to ensure that we are contributing to a more positive lifestyle.
Overall, there can never be true, holistic happiness in any lifestyle of extremes, especially when they are compounded together. We need to appreciate that we have different focuses in varying areas of life as we move through its seasons.
McMaster's Department of Athletics and Recreation is making strides towards accessible programming
McMaster’s Department of Athletics and Recreation oversees gym memberships, personal training, intramurals, programming (such as first aid, backpacking and dance classes) and court and facility bookings. They even offer backpacking and canoe trips. Students may seek these services with the hope of continuing to play sports after high school, or with the goal of investing in their physical health for the first time.
Disabled students face obstacles in remaining physically active in university. They must verify that a facility is accessible; ideally, they would be able to use machines and be able to do so independently.
“Some of us may need to find out where the accessible entrance is in advance … Some of us are never able to access athletic facilities if there is no accessible or all-gender washrooms … Some people may need [instructions for gym equipment] explained verbally, in plain language, or in a different way, but there is not always staff around that can do this for us,” Calvin Prowse, a past Maccess executive explained.
“Some of us may need to find out where the accessible entrance is in advance … Some of us are never able to access athletic facilities if there is no accessible or all-gender washrooms … Some people may need [instructions for gym equipment] explained verbally, in plain language, or in a different way, but there is not always staff around that can do this for us,” Calvin Prowse, a past Maccess executive explained.
Wayne Terryberry, the outdoor recreation coordinator for McMaster Athletics and Recreation, said that his team aimed to make services as accessible as possible.
It may be difficult to understand how a building or a certain activity could be made more accessible without the lived experience of a disability. The athletics and recreation department has made positive strides in this regard, such as through the Alpine Tower.
“We chose to purchase [the Alpine Tower] 15 years ago or so. It was purchased primarily for the reason that it’s accessible,” Terryberry said. “We’ve provided accessible climbing with different equipment and mechanism such as ropes and harnesses, plus the [climbing wall] is [accessible] as well.”
In addition to the Alpine Tower, McMaster Athletics and Recreation also offers a Hippocampe all-terrain wheelchair for use on trails. This wheelchair allows users to independently navigate hiking trails off campus. In addition, the department is in the process of creating a wheelchair-accessible trail in McMaster Forest, located in Dundas Valley. The trail will be approximately 750 metres long and will be located around the front of the forest.
If anyone is interested in getting involved with outdoor recreation, but is hesitant about whether they have the ability to do a certain activity, Terryberry would be able to help. Activities such as accessible canoeing have been done before, and Terryberry claims that there are discussions being held on buying more adaptable equipment for outdoor recreation.
In terms of indoor recreation, the Special Needs Assistance Program provides a one-on-one opportunity for individuals to work with a trained volunteer to help accommodate their needs. Debbie Marinoff Shupe, the manager of recreation services, emphasized the value of such programs for members with both physical and mental disabilities.
In terms of indoor recreation, the Special Needs Assistance Program provides a one-on-one opportunity for individuals to work with a trained volunteer to help accommodate their needs. Debbie Marinoff Shupe, the manager of recreation services, emphasized the value of such programs for members with both physical and mental disabilities.
“So it could be somebody who feels really anxious in the facility due to a mental health issue and we would connect them to a volunteer,” Shupe explains. “Could be somebody with hearing or seeing disabilities, and we’ll connect [them] to a volunteer so that they can participate in activities in the Pulse.”
If working out in the Pulse isn’t your cup of tea, there are also intramural teams. Intramural programs are adaptable; in the past, ice hockey was adapted to a combination of ice hockey and sled hockey to accommodate the use of a sled. There are also wheelchair basketball and wheelchair European handball tournaments in the fall semester, and parasport as well as unified basketball tournaments in the winter semester.
Of course, disabilities are not limited to physical ones. Mental disabilities are often overlooked when it comes to making athletics accessible, but Terryberry and Shupe assure that there are many programs for those with mental illnesses.
The Nature at McMaster program provides opportunities to go out on a walk, hike, or practice mindfulness — McMaster Athletics and Recreation worked very closely with Student Accessibility Services to help provide this program. The program hopes to encourage going out in nature to help promote good mental health. More information can be found on their website.
Shupe also acknowledged that a lot of the David Braley Athletic Centre is currently inaccessible and that they have plans to improve that in the near future. With the expansion of DBAC, the department hopes to purchase more equipment specific for wheelchair users and to remove other structural issues with the building.
“If you want to get to the second floor of the Pulse right now if you’re using a wheelchair, you’d have to leave the Pulse, take the elevator that’s on the other side and go up and then [back into the Pulse]. So you can get to it but it’s not very easy,” Shupe said. “[In the renovation] the actual elevator and bathrooms would be in the Pulse you wouldn’t have to actually leave the Pulse.”
Signage is also something they’re working on. New signage packages were created for the expansion of DBAC and for the Student Activity Building to improve accessibility for those who need braille to read.
Anybody interested in offering feedback for any programs or starting an accessible program through the athletics and recreation department can contact Shupe at marinof@mcmaster.ca.
“We’re always open to new ideas for sure,” Shupe said. “If folks have any kind of sport interest in terms of making it more accessible or accommodating, it’s me that you contact and then depending on what the program is, we will work with the individual forwards.”
Anyone interested in checking out any athletics and recreation programs or activities or learning more about accessibility in the department can check out the app McMaster Recreation. Getting involved in athletics may seem like an impossible feat when you’re disabled, but there are a lot of opportunities to get active.
By: Donna Nadeem
After completing her bachelor’s degree in McMaster University’s psychology, neuroscience and behavior program in 2014, Amina Khan founded Amanah Fitness, a culturally-sensitive online female fitness community. In just three years, it has grown to become one of the largest global Muslim fitness education programs, helping over 50,000 women across the globe.
Amanah Fitness’ online workouts feature diverse female fitness instructors and are performed with no equipment so that individuals of all fitness levels can access them. For instance, Khan’s 30 day online fitness bootcamp, which is offered at $129 for lifetime access, gives users 22 unique equipment-free workouts and personal coaching from Khan.
“As an alumna of McMaster University, I am honoured to be using my degree to promote social change on a global scale. Our goal is to use the psychology of motivation to help women of all cultural backgrounds feel their best through healthy active lifestyles,” said Khan.
During her second year at McMaster, Khan hit her heaviest weight and felt that something had to change.
“At the peak of my frustration, I decided to try losing weight one last time. This time, through fitness. After years of failed dieting attempts and feeling intimidated at the gym, I found a small ladies-only gym,” said Khan.
With the support of inspiring female fitness instructors who helped her discover a love of exercise, she was able to lose 60 pounds. With a newfound passion for health and fitness, Khan sought to share her journey to inspire other women.
To meet the growing demand for our culturally-sensitive health and fitness classes, education and workshops, she founded Amanah Fitness.
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Khan started by teaching fitness classes for female students in the David Braley Athletic Centre with the McMaster Muslim Students Association and continued to expand her fitness classes to other community centres and mosques, with a focus on cultural and religious barriers to fitness.
Her goal was to provide a space for women from diverse backgrounds to learn about their health. By popular demand, she also created an online workout bootcamp program that is now used by Muslim women across the globe.
As a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf, Khan had always struggled to find a fitness community.
“As someone who struggled with weight loss before becoming a fitness instructor, I know first-hand that Muslim women and women from diverse cultural backgrounds can feel neglected by the mainstream fitness industry,” she said. “When I was struggling with my weight, I never saw anyone in the fitness industry who looked or dressed like me. As an overweight Muslim woman wearing a headscarf, I felt excluded from the fitness industry.”
According to Khan, another challenge Muslim women face is maintaining health and fitness while fasting during Ramadan.
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Amanah Fitness believed a collaborative approach needed to be taken. In particular, Khan worked with dieticians, doctors and medical professionals in Canada to launch a comprehensive online resource called Ramadan Reset.
to provide research-based resources for fasting nutrition and fitness.
Ramadan Reset has become a globally recognized resource to help Muslim individuals live a healthy active lifestyle while fasting.
Last August, Khan was named Fitness Professional of the Year at the World Fitness Expo, making her the first Muslim woman to be awarded the title.
In the future, Khan aspires to continue to expand Amanah Fitness’ audience internationally and release a second online workout program.
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Students returning to campus this fall should be delighted to hear of the refreshing renovations done inside the Pulse Fitness Centre earlier this month.
The campus fitness centre has a history of switching between many locations, before settling in David Braley Athletic Center for the past decade. To commemorate the 10-year anniversary in its new home, the Pulse has gone through a significant remodelling of the interior, with the purpose of replacing older equipment and optimizing the floor layout.
While many students were enjoying the quieter summer days, the Pulse was hectic with major changes and renovations.
“We closed for one whole week and it was in part to replace all of our strength equipment, ” explained Laura Rietmuller, Fitness Coordinator at the Pulse. Based on what was built into the original plans when the Pulse first opened in September 2006, the equipment underwent a major replenishment.
This is easily apparent for anyone entering the renovated facility, with new McMaster-branded dumbbells, more squat racks, punching bags, Battleropes and much more.
Debbie Marinoff Shupe, Manager of Recreation Services, emphasizes this milestone. “We have updated cardio equipment in the past and other things we needed, but nothing this major since we have opened. It is the largest renovation since its opening.”
The layout of the Pulse has also undergone a noticeable reorganization.
“We have thinned out some of the equipment so there’s more space for people to use, and for more functional training. Based on where the current fitness industry is going, we wish to promote the use of your body weight, and the use of small items and accessories rather than the use of large machines which isolate particular muscle groups,” noted Rietmuller.
The rationale for this is based on emulating everyday activities.
“It is a healthier approach to activity as opposed to getting on a machine and isolating everything. We want to show that there are a lot of fun things to do at the Pulse, rather than just getting on ‘torture’ machines,” said Marioff Shupe jokingly.
And while these upgrades to the Pulse seem great for now, there are promises of an expansion at a much greater scale for the upcoming future. Plans to expand have been largely discussed in recent years, considering that the Pulse’s capacity, initially designed for 14,000, has risen to service more than 25,000 people.
“There certainly has been some work done with an architect, and the master plan is scheduled to be released within the next couple of weeks. We have been working alongside the MSU and SRA in planning what a referendum would look like,” noted Marinoff Shupe.
Although final details are unclear, it is safe to say that students can expect a bigger and better Pulse.
“We would look to doubling in size based on preliminary drawings,” said Rietmuller.
Dina Fanara
Assistant News Editor
Chair dancing is just for strippers?
Not anymore. Recently, much hype has been placed around dance lessons for women using props, such as poles, chairs or scarves.
Women are reclaiming these styles of dance, which have been most commonly seen only in gentleman’s clubs.
These days, women in university spend so much time on their studies in an attempt to become educated and powerful members of the white collar workforce that we often forget that we are also sexual creatures.
Women’s sexuality often gets shoved to the side behind their professional careers.
Chair dancing lessons give women a chance to reclaim their sexuality and own it in a safe space.
These classes are about much more than just learning some new moves to impress your partner.
They are meant to encourage the participants to explore their bodies through sensual movements that may seem inappropriate in other settings.
Students of these classes are taught how to dance sensually around the chair, using it as a balancing tool, and to sometimes even “pretend it’s your partner,” as the instructor of the special two-day Valentine’s Day chair dancing classes at McMaster last month said.
The most emphasis is placed on feeling comfortable in your own skin, and being able to put yourself out there and dance like nobody’s watching in a room where all of the other women are doing the same.
Students who participated in this class were also encouraged to bring a scarf to use as a prop, and were taught how to hold it and move it around to make the routine look even better.
While this style of dance is about empowerment, it is also an excellent workout.
I was shocked the day after I took my first class how sore my legs, butt and even my abs were from of the movements, which take careful balance from these areas.
Just like any other style of dance where you are asked to learn and repeat a set routine, these classes are tiring, but in the best way.
I left the classes always feeling like I had gotten a great cardio workout, and was always slightly exhausted in the end.
Though these classes aren’t on the Pulse’s regular rotation for fitness classes, it is possible to find them elsewhere off campus.
Chair or pole dancing classes aren’t offered by all fitness centres, but are more common in dance studios and fitness centres that cater specifically to women, though those may get a little expensive, as any off-campus dance class.
I would highly recommend this class to women of all body types as a way to boost your self-confidence.
Though some of the moves may seem silly or awkward at first, once you look around the room and see everyone else attempting to do the same thing, you will feel the need to go for it. Don’t be afraid to try your hardest, even if you don’t think you look sexy doing it.
The effort put in is what makes the routines look incredible.
