Fightgirl Fitness, located at 5626 N. Blackstone Ave., gives members a safe place to exercise and improve physical and mental wellbeing without the fear or judgment. Photo contributed

When someone says “hit the gym,” their first visualizations are likely of burly muscled football players, wrestlers and bodybuilders toning their bodies to resemble Herculean athletes that could lift a car without breaking a sweat.

Thoughts of community outreach programs — paired with mental and emotional support for a subset of the public often historically marginalized in the exercise community — are not as likely to immediately rise to the top.

But for Fightgirl Fitness, located at 5626 N. Blackstone in Fresno, that’s exactly what they’re striving for.

Fightgirl Fitness opened its doors in 2016, focused on giving women an outlet where they can work out without the pressures of judgment.

“This is a no-judgment zone,” said owner Paula Sandlin, who took ownership of the business in 2020.

Fightgirl Fitness gives women a place where they can exercise while “not worrying about eyes on them,” explains Sandlin.

Born in Selma, Sandlin and her family moved to Atascadero during her teenage years. Following high school, she moved across the country to Florida, where she bounced from jobs as a nanny to owning salons, before moving back to Fresno to assist in her family business.

Through the moving, and bouncing from job to job, Sandlin still searched for meaning. “I didn’t feel completed, so I started exercising,” she said. “I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and fat, so I started working out.”

Eventually, she was working out for two hours daily. That was when friends recommended she become a personal trainer. Following certification, Sandlin jumped right into the professional fitness world.

“I worked at Planet Fitness for three months, answered an ad here [Fightgirl Fitness], walked in and said, ‘I have to work here. I have to,’” she said.

Over the course of several years, Sandlin worked her way up from trainer, to manager and eventually, took ownership of the business in 2020.

Initially, Sandlin said “no” to owning a fitness center, in particular, during the pandemic. “Everyone kept telling me, ‘You have to do this! You can do this!’ so I did it,” she explained.

During the first months of ownership, things were very slow going. “It was hard to do anything,” she said, touching on the difficulty of opening bank accounts, getting business licenses and other paperwork that was delayed in part due to the pandemic. “It took a long time, and just setting up the business stuff was a struggle.”

“Everyone might have gained weight during COVID; I got the fittest I’ve ever been in my life,” she said about the first few months as owner.

The members who remained with the gym were still anxious to exercise. As the only trainer throughout the beginning phases of the pandemic, Sandlin recorded 30-minute Zoom classes for members, sometimes as many as eight classes per day.

“It was exhausting. It was the first time I ever worked out and talked,” she said. “Most of the time I demo, then I instruct. I was only working out with three-pound weights and I was exhausted.”

Eventually, when restrictions on gyms and fitness centers were lifted, Fightgirl reopened in-person.

“When we opened up, we opened with only six people per class to stay distant,” she said.

Since that time, the gym has seen its numbers grow from 35 at the start of the pandemic to nearly 170.

“It is a comfortable place for women. You need a supportive group,” Sandlin said about the increase in numbers. “This is a place that they [members] can come in, tears in their eyes, hit a bag — all they’re going to get is a hug.”

Fightgirl Fitness is also active in the community, with members participating in the 2022 Police Unity Tour, as well as their own group, the Fightgirl Pal Program.

Led by member and Fresno Police Officer Lindsay Dozier, Fightgirl’s Pal Program focuses on building strength in youth, not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally as well. The program focuses on punching bag technique, conditioning training and a special 15 minutes that specifically focuses on the girl’s mental wellbeing in a range of topics, from school as well as their social lives.

“It’s a membership program based with the officers as trainers,” Sandlin said. “It’s so these girls have someone else to talk to; some else to look up to and have a good positive relationship with law enforcement.”

The program serves early teens from 6th grade to 9th grade, with mentor opportunities afterward. “We have girls who are sticking with the program and we have an advanced mentorship; they get to go to the new class and mentor the new girls coming in,” Sandlin said.

While the Blackstone location is the only place that Fightgirl Fitness occupies, Sandlin is open to the opportunity to grow the business, but very wary of expanding with the pandemic still looming.

“I would love a second location or a larger location; it just depends on what happens, especially right now,” she said.