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The Perfect Sidekick is a queer woman’s dream gym

With an origin story straight out of a movie I present to you: The Perfect Sidekick-an Oakland gym organically grown from Natahalie Huerta, a lesbian trainer turned wing woman turned gym boss. With classes titled: Core Whore, Oakland Booty, Hard Core Homo, Tip Tops for Top Surgery (to name a few) and social events such as Pain and Champagne and Beers and Queers-it’s a gym that’s as social as it is fit. Oh, and did I mention they have a DJ and a disco ball?

While interviewing Nathalie, I was delighted to learn that building a community, gender awareness, and inclusion is just as important to her and TPS as is being healthy.

AfterEllen.com: Tell me about The Perfect Sidekick! Where did it start, where did the inspiration come from?

Natahalie Huerta: I never had a “plan” to start The Perfect Sidekick. It has all happened organically. Back in 2010, I was in grad school and was working a full time job from seven to seven, then going to class until 10pm. That sucked ass! I had taken a break from training and decided to go back to it, but didn’t want to work in big corporate gyms. I’d been an independent trainer here and there in the past, so decided to look into that. I posted an ad on craigslist in the “lessons” sections, but quickly realized that wasn’t going to cut it because there were hella trainers on there. I need to be different.

So then I was like, “Hmm, how am I different? I’m a lesbian-maybe that’s a thing!” I went to Google it and just got back a bunch of porn and Jillian Michaels. (This was before she was out). I thought I was on to something so I changed the title of my ad to LESBIAN PERSONAL TRAINER and moved that shit over to the women for women section because I KNOW every lesbian cruises those ads. I was fucking right! In the first week, I got my first five clients!

The clients just kept on coming and, within six months, I had rented a tiny place in Oakland, added group training and staff. By that point, we were pretty much a gym. I designed TPS from that point on based on my own experience as someone who has gone through a significant transformation (I lost 70 pounds), a personal trainer and a party lovin’ queer.

AE: My transformation put me in tune with making a gym welcoming by not body shaming, not showing a bunch of skinny bitches on our advertisements, getting rid of mirrors, knowing how to overcome the mind fucks and know the emotional journey that goes along with getting healthy.

NH: As a personal trainer, I knew how to make the gym efficient in giving results. And as a queer, I knew what my people liked and how to make them tick! With all of that, in the past five years, I’ve kept tweaking and evolving TPS into what it is today.

AE: Where did the name come from?

NH: I kept finding myself going out to bars and clubs with my clients. I’d help get them in shape, but in their head, they were still that out of shape lesbian who didn’t have the confidence to meet new people. I’ve always been a social butterfly so I never turned down a bar invite. I was going out as the wing-woman enough to make me Google “lesbian wing-woman” as a business concept. I wasn’t surprised to see that there were already wing-woman services for (straight) men, but none for lesbians. I decided to test it out and put an ad on Craiglist advertising myself as a lesbian wing-woman. Guess what? That worked too!

I’d meet chicks up in the Castro, tell them the do’s and don’ts and how it all worked and for $30 an hour + covers and drinks (if they offered), I’d be their wing-woman for the night. That shit worked! People were into it! Now I needed a name. What do you call a lesbian personal trainer/wing-woman?

I wasn’t having any luck with a name until I went to an entrepreneur met up. The icebreaker was saying your name and then describing your self in two words. Some dude described himself as the perfect sidekick and I was like, “Oh shit! That’s it!” I asked him if that was a thing, like the name of his business or something and he said no. I told him I as going to name my business that and BAM! That’s how I got the name. When I began to look further into it as a business concept the insurance liability for the wing woman part was crazy high so I dumped the wing-woman part of the concept, but kept the name and the training side.

The name at that time reflected me as the perfect sidekick because it was a one-woman show. That’s no longer the case. Now I have a team of badass personal trainers, but the concept of the perfect sidekick now reflects the company as a whole: If you want to be a happy, healthy homo, we’re your perfect sidekick!

AE: I read about how you brought up the fact that Mindbody only offered two genders in front of 3,000 people! That’s intense! Were you nervous? Did you feel an adrenaline rush of power?

NH: Honestly, I didn’t think anything was going to get done about my concern, but I was like, “Fuck it! I’m giving it a shot.” I didn’t get nervous until I saw that the CEO was down and open to make some changes. I later met the employee he was referring to and she told me the coolest part of it all: the back-story. The backstory is that three weeks prior to me making that request at the conference, she had emailed the CEO asking the company covering her gender reassignment surgery. The CEO wrote her back saying that he needed time to gather more information before making a final decision.

Then, there I go opening my big mouth at the conference. Well by me doing that, not only did Mindbody agree to add a third gender option (being released in May), but that’s what swung him over in favor to pay for her surgery! That’s where I felt like a boss and felt that I was really helping people.

AE: I read that you have gender neutral showers and restrooms. That’s awesome! Have you had any backlash or confusion stemming from that?

NH: Nope. Not at all. Everyone is cool with it. I think in general folks are tired of all the locker room bullshit that no one wants to be the creator of locker room bullshit around here. Plus, there’s built in privacy if you really want it. You can just close the door. Easy peazy!

AE: Have you received any hate about the club/ discrimination? How did you handle that?

NH: The things I hear the most from straight people is them asking if they can come to, to which we say, yup! We’re hetero-friendly. In the beginning I would get request for classes only for femmes, or only for studs or only for gay dudes etc., but I was always against that. We already subdivide ourselves enough as it is. I don’t support that. Plus, if we keep ourselves in a bubble, how are we ever going to get to know and understand one another? That piece can only come through exposure.

It’s really cool to see two people that you know would have never spoken to each other at a bar or at a party becoming bffs or even seeing a lesbian and a gay guy kicking together outside of the gym. I remember one gay guy saying to me that the most surprising thing about the gym to him was how cool lesbians are. He said he’d been missing out on lesbians for years!! And as far as hate crimes or homophobic emails etc., nope, not at all!

AE: I grew up in Texas and wish I had a gym like this to go to! It sounds amazing. It took me a while to feel normal in my own skin after I came out and I feel that if I had a place like this-a queer space outside of a bar-it would have made it a whole lot easier. Do you have any members that have found a “safe place” within your gym? Like that’s a place outside of work and family that they can let their hair down and be themselves?

NH: Totally! The fact that we are a gay gym is cool and its what brings people in, but the fact that we are a tight ass community is really what keeps people here. Some of these members are literally my longest relationships. [laughs] We don’t just accepted you for who you, but we celebrate the fuck out of it! Here’s a sample of someone who just moved here and found a home within TPS.

Fun fact: our social events were getting so busy (and people were requesting more), that we promoted one of our members, Shannon, to the CEO (Community Events Organizer) position. I liked the name of her title because it speaks to the relationship the gym has with its’ members. It may be my business, but it truly is their gym. They run shit around here.

AE: Tell me about the building process of the gym? How did it feel seeing the gym coming together and the first time you opened the doors for business?

NH: We’ve moved three times since we’ve been open. Our first place was actually an office space. It was tiny, like 500 square feet. I took out all the office furniture that was in there and substituted it for dumbbells and called that shit a gym! About a year later, we moved next door, another office space, but this one was about 750 sq. ft. A year later we outgrew again and moved into a 2,000 square foot live/work loft. That was really our big move. We built the place from the ground up over a weekend. I got the keys on Friday morning and by Monday morning we were open for business. Staff, members, a few hard working guys I picked up from Home Depot and I busted our asses over the 36 hours and made it happen.

AE: Is there glitter everywhere? (JK JK-okay, not kidding.)

NH: Only on special occasions, but we do have a disco ball in here. In fact, it was a gift from one of our members. She said, “We can’t be a gay gym until we have a disco ball!”

AE: Tell me more about this “Pain & Champagne” class. How did this come about and how has the turn out been?

NH: I wanted to host a free open house kind of thing to draw in new members. When I first did it, it was just me outside with a boom box and called it something like “free boot camp.” No one came. Who the hell wants to come and get their ass kicked? Even if its free and with lesbians!

So I went back to the drawing board and came up with Pain & Champagne. I was looking for something catchy that rhymed with lesbian-champagne came to mind. Then, I needed something that kinda rhymed with that, and came up with “pain.” SO in my head, I was like, “Oh, pain and champagne and lesbians! This was one of the very first Pain & Champagnes.

It’s evolved into this nowadays. We have about 30-40 people show up every Pain & Champagne.

AE: Newbie hangout?! Is this a dream?!

NH: Dreams come true, right? Even though we limit our memberships to 150 and we have a tight ass community-there are still folks who don’t cross paths that often. Plus, there are always new faces coming in. The newbie mixer is a great way for everyone to mingle, network and mack.

AE: Do you see a lot of couples/ new relationships stemming at this gym? I work part time at the 24hr Fitness in WeHo and some times I feel like I’m on a match making show.

NH: I can think of three long term relationships that stemmed from here. There’s been lots of casual dating, but here is something that totally surprised me (because you know the power of pussy). I know of people who didn’t pursue a relationship because they didn’t want to mess up their gym experience! WTF?! I would have NEVER expected that people would choose TPS over a new boo! Now that’s some crazy shit.

Fun fact: I also know of members who gave their roommate a map with a radius around TPS and told them they can only look for a new place to live within that radius! LOL Mind blown. I mean, it’s one thing to have members say they love your gym and to kick ass all over yelp, but its a totally different thing to have people choose TPS over new boos etc…

AE: What other events do you plan on having?

NH: We recently incorporated a new event called Joints and Jocks. As of last year, we U-hauled it with a Dr. Angel and now have an in-house Sports Chiropractor. He’s the “joint” and I’m the “jock” and together we host a workshop on various topics that intertwine Chiropractic and Fitness. Angel actually started as a member here at TPS. We fell in love with one another’s vibe and he just happened to be a gay chiro who was looking for an office and I just happened to have the loft upstairs available in my queer gym.

It was pretty synergistic and it’s been a win for everyone involved: TPS members now have another LGBT health practitioner they can trust and his patients have a safe gym they can do their physical therapy work with. Joints and Jocks is another one of our official TPS events, but like I mentioned, we love to kick it so there’s always a shit ton of social events going on each week. Check them out.

AE: What’s beers and queers? Do you have meet and greets at bars?

NH: Queer Beers is pretty much a Queer night event at every Wednesdays at Portal, a local beer garden. It’s exactly what its’ name says, Queers and beers! They have a dope ass patio over looking Lake Merritt and we just sip on our brewskies while keepin’ an eye out for hot bezzies! You know Queers love a good party, so we head out to Queer Beers once a month as a group of 25+. Another monthly favorite is Mango and Ships in the Night.

AE: What’s your personal favorite class offered? Why?

NH: Honestly, I love all of them because I get to train in all of them, and that’s my real love. I FUCKING LOVE TRAINING! I love helping people uncover their fitness swag. People’s spirit is really what undergoes the biggest transformation when someone starts getting in shape. It changes their attitude, they’re more confident, they’re empowered and it’s my pleasure to help folks own their bad ass-ery!

AE: Do you have a wall of fame or most improved (weight lost/ muscle gained?)

NH: Funny you ask. Today we are actually initiating something like this: Our “Homos that Hundo” wall. Every member that completes 100 workouts at TPS get’s to sign our wall. We go this route instead of weight lost, muscle gained etc because people have different goals. I figured the focus is on showing up. If you show up, you accomplish shit!

AE: Who comes up with the class design and name?

NH: I do. Every aspect of the classes is carefully thought about. In terms of the class size, I wanted a size that felt intimate enough to be a group date, big enough to be a party. I think its BS that a trainer can run an effective class when there are 20-50 people in there. Yeah fucking right!

The beginning of each class starts with an introduction where each members states their name, gender pronoun and answer an icebreaker question. We added the gender pronoun question after I realized it’s importance in our community.

At one point I noticed a lot of trans people where joining, but quitting soon after. After asking for some feedback, the answer was clear: we were misgendering them left and right. So now by adding the preferred gender pronoun, we don’t run into that problem. This also stirs up conversation among our members and thus, they gain an understanding and appreciation about it. Acknowledging people’s preferred gender pronoun has totally become our thing.

In terms of the variation of workouts offered, the trainers have a flexible template they must follow. This allows them to showcase their own style, but within a cohesive structure.

The class names? Well, most of them came from shenanigans during classes. Like for example in our So Knotty class-a foam rolling class that can hurt like hell if your muscles are tight-you hear a bunch of groaning and moaning and things being said like, “Oh shit! Right there”, “that hurts so good” and “go harder.” Naughty = KNOT-ty, get it? I mean it sounds more appealing that “deep stretching class.” Boooring! That was the other thing, I didn’t want to name my classes some corny ass, over used name like “butts and guts.” Been there, done that. The other class names-well, honestly they came from me bullshitting with friends over a joint. #ikeepsitreal

AE: Have you partnered with any local business to sale any supplements or juices?

NH: Our current sale of supplements right now is going through our Sports Chiro. As a doctor, he has access to premium supplements only sold to doctors. So he has the GOOD trusted shit! And we are in the works of partnering up with Oakland Juice and Company. My buddy Kandice, the owner and my neighbor at my first/second locations, and I are collaborating. I’m juiced (see what I did there?) about it because not only does she offer cold press juice, but she also just got a liquor license and is (I believe) the only juice bar that also sells COCKTAILS made with cold press juice. That’s perfect for TPS given that we love to intertwine health and shenanigans!

AE: Plans on expanding? Or adding more locations?

NH: This may change as nothing in the entrepreneurial world is set in stone, but right now this is what I’m thinking: I want to open three private locations and then franchise nationwide. You know how many queer personal trainers there are out there?! A shit ton and I’m sure franchising wouldn’t be a problem. Every mentor I’ve spoken to agrees. Since I know my end goal is to franchise, I’m keeping that in mind as I’m building. We have a very detailed operations manual that we use more than we use toilet paper each day! I know the end goal so I’m acting appropriately from the get.

As of right it is looking like the end of 2015 or the start 0f 2016 [four our Long Beach location]. With so much drama in the LBC, its time for a gym that’s LGBT! Ahh shit, I’m a rapper, watch out Snoop!

Find The Perfect Sidekick on Twitter (@perfectsidekick), Instagram (@perfectsidekick) and Facebook.

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