One of things that has been on my
to-do list with this blog (which I’m sure you can imagine is pretty long at
this point) is to write about gay and lesbian business owners in Detroit. In the
first piece I wrote for Model D back
in 2007 I talked about some of the gay-owned businesses in the city, and what
great ones they are. But where do we
stand four years later? Is there anyone
new? It turns out that yes, there are,
and I am going to start talking about them, beginning with Kimo Frederickson of True
Body Fitness.
I first met Kimo last year at Doggy
Style. As you may be aware, fitness is
not my
milieu, so when I found out he was a personal trainer I naturally tried
to get away as quickly as possible to spare myself any judgment. Well, several friends started working out at
TBF and it turns out it is like the least judgmental place ever. Which I guess I would have known if I’d
looked at
their website where it says in big letters “Fitness without the attitude”
but you know, gym websites are not high on my browsing list.
I probably never would have gotten to
know Kimo unless Liz Blondy (of
Canine To Five, Detroit’s best dog daycare,
boarding and grooming facility) hadn’t said to me, “Dude, you won Hatch Detroit
and are going to have your picture taken a million times next year. You will need to look good.” So I finally got my act together and met with
Kimo on a professional level.
Now this isn’t meant to be a SGD
fitness report, but it’s kind of hard to separate out my experience from
writing about True Body Fitness. So let
me just say it’s going fine, don't expect anything crazy and we will never speak about me working out again.
Kimo actually started True Body
Fitness in 2008 in a residential space in Howell. Can you imagine how bleak that was? (Nothing
personal, Kimo) So at the end of 2010 he
made the big leap and not only moved to Detroit, but rented a ground-floor studio
space in Corktown on Michigan Avenue, set it all up and started putting
together all the components of a full-fledged fitness studio.
The studio is awesome. I’d just assumed it was going to be some small-ish
crappy drywalled space but it’s all brick walls and mirrors and high ceilings
and lots of light. It’s in that
commercial strip on the north side of Michigan Avenue just before Trumbull, the
one with all the brick buildings and green awnings. Watch for it the next time you drive out of
downtown.
Kimo’s main thing is the one-on-one
fitness instruction, which I can attest really kicks your ass. He’s so nice about it though, not so much in
the way he’s a total prick making you finish a set that is really fucking hard
but in the way he makes you feel like you genuinely did a good job when you
finish. Personal training isn’t totally
cheap, though, and I get it isn’t for everyone.
What is cool about TBF is that there is an entire separate room where you can get your Zumba or yoga on.
I could give the whole spiel but you should take a look at the
class schedule here to see the offerings.
I asked Kimo why he opened up in
Detroit, and his answer wasn’t unexpected.
He wanted to feel connected to a diverse community and do his small part
to make Detroit a better place. He has
had a really great response, especially to the classes. One very nice idea he had is the “Fit to
Give” classes, where the proceeds from those particular classes each month benefit
a designated charity.
Overall, he told me it’s the people
that are the best thing about being open in Detroit, and how overall it’s been
great being a new-ish member of the community.
I know that’s a common refrain, but it does make me happy to hear that
people are coming to town, genuinely
working hard to build something and having a good experience.
I have to throw this in though: the
other day we were talking about
this whole “gentrification” discussion that’s
going on (which is not really about gentrification but that’s another blog
post) and he told me about an email he got when he opened. Some woman from Corktown wrote to let him
know that she and her friends viewed him as some kind of interloper from the
suburbs and she and her friends were carpooling to Dearborn for their yoga
class. Just to let him know. It turns out it’s some white chick originally
from northern Michigan somewhere. If
that doesn’t sum up how ridiculous that whole “outsiders moving in” bullshit is
getting, I don’t know what does.
Anyway, back to Kimo. I haven’t even talked about the gay aspect of
things, and I guess other than the fact that he has a lot of gay clients, there
really isn’t one. He’s just an out gay
man running his business in the city, and since he has a boyfriend he isn’t
even bitter about the gay social scene. Kind of refreshing!
I know some of you are making some
New Year’s resolutions to be more fit, so why don’t you check out some classes
at True Body Fitness and support a sister while you’re at it! Oh and check out
TBF on Facebook for lots of studio pics and more info!
[Oh, and Kimo wanted me to ask: TBF is looking for a gay-friendly bootcamp instructor, dance
instructor and maybe a trainer. If you
know anyone cool and city-loving, have them email Kimo here!]
