Christian influencers mocked for opening men-only gyms to ‘stop infidelity’
Some Christian influencers have launched a men-only gym (Getty Images, stock)
Several male Christian fitness influencers have been mocked online for opening new men-only gyms to help with infidelity.
News of one of the gyms, one of which has opened in Oklahoma, circulated online after plans for it were shared in a Baptist News Global opinion piece published on 22 July.
“The Christian manosphere believes men need to be in top physical and spiritual shape. So one way they’re proposing to accomplish that is through ‘lust-free’ gyms,” the article reads.
Jeff Hambrecht, the founder of Proverbs 27:17 Fitness in Oklahoma City, said: “In a nutshell, one of the number one places that affairs and infidelity occur, cheating, is the gym. Byproduct is someone who had an affair in my previous marriage. Doesn’t work out well for you fellas.”
The gym’s name refers to the bible verse that reads: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
Proverbs 27:17 Fitness’ website states that the gym is “for men tired of lukewarm faith, […] men who know they were made for more, […] and men ready to train hard, pray harder, and walk boldly”.
The website also shares that “there was a season of [Hambrecht’s] life marked by homelessness, addiction and spiritual emptiness”. In another video, he shares that he “had a pornography addiction for almost 20 years”.
A second men-only Christian gym, Youth Group for Men and Remnant Men, is set to open in Denver later this year. Its founder, Mitch Parsons, had a similar experience to Hambrecht.
“I quit four gyms before I built one,” he says on the gym’s website. “I realised the problem wasn’t the gym. It was that no one had built what I actually needed, or what I wanted.”
He goes on to describe the gym as “a place where a man can train his body without having nakedness shoved in his face”, and “a place where he doesn’t have to decide between honouring the Lord, honouring his wife, and guarding his eyes and submitting to cultural norms”.
However, the Baptist News article points out flaws in Parsons’ vision. “It’s notable he doesn’t mention honouring the women at the gym,” author Rick Pidcock writes. “In his mindset, God and his wife deserve to be honoured. But women working the kettlebells don’t seem to cross his mind as worthy of honour.”
Pidcock continues: “Despite how often Parsons mentions having nakedness shoved in his face at the gyms in Denver, it’s unclear what he means by that. Gym policies across Denver require their members to wear shirts at all times. And Denver public indecency laws prohibit exposing one’s genitals in public.”
The article gained traction on X, with many users mocking the concept in the replies.
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