ABOUT STUDIO GAY

Hard workouts, cute crowds. 
Space to celebrate yourself and your body. 

Queer coded language and gay slang. You will work your bussies, girls & shake your tatas, boys. You will be asked, at least three times a week starting January, if you’re going to Whole next year. You will be motivated and encouraged using gay cultural references. You will be among yourselves. You will channel queer joy and queer rage – together, alone, together alone.

Trans and bi joy. Studio Gay is inclusive; allies are welcome. But love for trans and gender-nonforming folks is at the core. So is space and care for our struggles. Founder and Head Coach Nici is transmasc and bi and brings their lived experience to all facets of Studio Gay.  
A Head Coach who lives an out ’n proud, Berlin club-kid life. Does that mean Studio Gay is only for ravers? Hell no, babes. It means you get a coach who lives and understands marginal lifestyles and subcultures. It means you’ll be met with empathy, grace and really good tunes. It means you’ll get training plans suited and adaptable to your life – not rigid plans that expect you to fit into cookie-cutter molds and adhere to normative schedules. Whether you lead a highly routinized or highly spontaneous life, whether you’re a struggling artist or a corporate gay, Studio Gay wants to help you build sustainable routines. That means routines that fit to your (constantly evolving) life, needs and goals. You are always encouraged to ask for adjustments and adaptations if something isn’t working for you.

Studio Gay is not going to define gay for you. Studio Gay is for anyone who’s feelin’ the vibes. If you use certain words to describe your gender and sexuality, Studio Gay will use those words. If you don’t give a f*ck about your gender and sexuality, Studio Gay don’t give one either. 

Studio Gay is affirming and inclusive. It invites people to move together regardless of gender or sexuality, while also creating spaces for those who prefer to train with their tribe. In concrete terms, that means: all training groups are queer, but some are mixed, and some are TIN*-only. Buyer’s choice. 

Studio Gay is for newbies who’ve never worked out as much as for gym rats who want something new. Studio Gay is for shameless queers who like to have fun, friendly gays who like a little mess or shy guys who need an extra push. Studio Gay is for all genders, no boundaries. It’s for those who know they’d like to be among their own. And for those who are already moving but haven’t yet had that aha moment – “oh wow, this is so much better if I do it with the queers!” It’s for those who maybe haven’t even realized how much they’re putting their guard up at the gym, but sense that it might be really cool to work out among their tribe. 

And yes, Studio Gay is also for the straights – sometimes. Personal (1:1) training is for anyone. Groups is for anyone that identifies with the label queer, gay, dyke, trans or bi.  

Personal training is always tailored completely and wholly to the individual. Training groups, on the other hand, are co-created by the people in them. Studio Gay sets the tone and tries to match people who complement each other. Sometimes the groups are organized around coaching styles (e.g. Soft versus Hard); sometimes they’re organized around tribes. The vibes are different, and the following examples are not exhaustive. Studio Gay sets a tone, but the group vibes emerges from the people who make the group. Here are some of the training groups, programs and plans on offer: 

Party Gays

A generic gay training program that provides you with a 5 day/week workout plan? Ain’t nobody got that time. If you’re a professional gay in Berlin, you’ve got capacity to hit the gym – what? Probably max 2 days/week. You’re probably consuming a lotta joy on the weekends, going 48 (er, 72) hours without sleep. Then there’s recovery, your complicated supplement regimen, your dating life. Oh, right – and your $$$ flow, aka job.You need a fitness program that fits your lifestyle – and a coach that gets your lifestyle. 

Shy Guys + Neurodivergent Crowd

Studio Gay is neurodivergent friendly! It’s also beginner-friendly. Super shy about your body? Navigating a transition? Sensitive to sound? Intimidated by the gym? You’ve come to the right place. Coach Nici has a ton of experience working with folks with ADHD and autism. They’ve also had periods of their life where getting to the gym felt so impossibly hard that they just stayed home. This group is for anyone who needs a little extra gentleness, a little extra patience, a little extra care. 

Tboys, Tgirls, Bi Babes, Dykes 

If you work hard and sweat hard, it’s considered masc; if you move slow and are graceful, it’s considered femme. Studio Gay celebrates the binaries and also rejects the binaries. (Yes, it’s possible. We’re queer, we make up the rules.) Studio Gay can be masc, it can be femme, and it can also be super vers. Let’s say you’re transmasc and want to build muscle, but feel ashamed because you don’t want to reproduce clichés. Studio Gay says: don’t be so hard on yourself! If that’s what you want, it’s OK. Or let’s say you’re femme and and want to bulk up, but worry it will make you too masc. Studio Gay says: let’s take it one step at a time, and reassess along the way. 
Coach Nici has gone through various physical and gender transitions themselves and bring that lived experience to everything they do. Their definition of “gender affirmation” is expansive, and they love working with each client individually to figure out what it means to them. As a coach, Nici is never going to assume what their clients want. Instead, they work with clients individually to explore the question together – then come up with a plan to execute and get it done. The core principle is to encourage clients to own their desires, goals and dreams. F*ck boxes, f*ck labels. It’s OK to pursue a change in your body without feeling bad about it. Along the way, you might find even more love for your body as-is.