Inclusive Teesside gym celebrates 1st anniversary offering a safe space

A gym in Teesside is celebrating its first anniversary which offers a safe space to LGBTQ+ people.

Moar Coaching in Middlesbrough say they are the first inclusive gym in the town.

Owner Shauna Moar said: "It's been a busy year. A lot of hard work but it's been absolutely amazing. Everything that we sort of set out to achieve, we've done and more. When I opened a year ago, I had four little mats and a barbell and a couple of weights, now we've got a fully functioning gym.

"A lot of feedback I was getting from people was sort of the negative of gyms that they went to, so that got me on to the path of what to do here differently from other places. One of the main things is we've made it inclusive for all walks of life.

"Everyone's welcome here and it's fully accessible for everyone. We've made it small group only so there's never any overcrowding, so that's the main focus.

"I'm LGBT myself, Me and my partner we run the gym here and we train here. A lot of my customers as well are LGBT and they've struggled to go to sort of mainstream, commercial gyms, especially if they're transgender. They struggle with the toilet and changing room situations, so one of the things we have here is genderless toilets and changing rooms."

Shauna's partner, Rachel, said: "Shauna's created a space where it doesn't matter who you are, what your abilities are, everybody can come and feel comfortable training and that makes it a really unique place to train."

Kacie is from Nunthorpe and she uses a prosthetic after her leg was amputated. She tells us why she uses the gym: "I walked into one of the bigger gyms and pretty much walked straight back out. I walked in and thought there was too many people, I didn't know what I was doing and people were going to be looking at me anyway whereas here it was just 'come in we'll show you what to do and help you out.'"

Kathy is from Maltby: and she said: "Gyms can stereotype but genuinely here, everyone is welcome. I'm welcome as a later in life mum and there are parents and grandparents. It doesn't matter whether you're gay or whether you come with top notch gear on or not."

Charlie, from Ingleby Barwick, said: "It's great. It's just nice to be around such a vast range of people and stuff, every walk of life and I think it's just opening and welcoming to everybody."

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