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There’s a gym in Oklahoma City where women aren’t allowed. It’s not some bureaucratic oversight or a zoning dispute. It’s because the men inside are trying to get right with God, and apparently that’s harder to do when women are simply existing around them
Jeff Hambrecht opened Proverbs 27:17 Fitness—named for the Bible verse “as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”—as a men-only, faith-based gym for Christian men who want to build muscle and character without the distractions of a co-ed environment. Hambrecht, a self-described recovering sex addict who cheated on his ex-wife with a woman he met at a gym, told the New York Post he believes the gym is “one of the number one places affairs and infidelity occur.” His solution was to build one without women in it.
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The internet, of course, had its opinions. “Well, it seems the Baptists have this whole ‘lust at the gym’ thing sorted. Make it a men’s-only environment,” one person wrote on Bluesky. “‘Well done, there!’ replied gay men of America.” On Threads, at least one woman was enthusiastic: “Men going to men’s only gyms is my favorite thing that’s happened in 2026.” Others were less charitable—one commenter summarized the entire concept as “incels finally getting safe spaces, too.”
Hambrecht pushes back on that characterization, insisting lust is “just a fraction” of what Proverbs 27:17 actually does. His clientele skews heavily toward men in recovery, and his pitch is less about avoiding women and closer to the logic of addiction treatment: you don’t bring a newly sober alcoholic to a bar. A second men-only Christian gym, Remnant Gym, is set to open in Denver under founder Mitch Parsons, who says he quit four gyms before deciding to build his own—a place where he could train without, in his words, having “nakedness shoved in his face.”
The critique that’s landed hardest online isn’t about religion or even the men’s-only policy itself. It’s about the comparison. Women-only gyms exist because 70% of women have experienced harassment at co-ed facilities—staring, unwanted contact, nonconsensual photos. The spaces exist to get away from men behaving badly. Men-only gyms, at least as explained by Hambrecht and Parsons, exist because some men can’t manage their own behavior around women. As one commenter on Bored Panda put it: “Women-only gyms exist because of men who can’t control their male gaze. Men-only gyms exist for the same reason.” Touché.
Kim Abt, owner of PWRGRLS, a women-only gym in Sherman Oaks, told Fox News she actually thinks it’s “fair” for men to want their own space. Hambrecht, though, says he welcomes men of all sexual orientations and plans to open a women’s gym next. “God doesn’t discriminate,” he told the Post, “and neither do we.” Hambrecht says he wants his members to eventually return to co-ed gyms, seeing women as fellow humans and not objects. The bar, as they say, is on the floor—but at least someone’s trying to raise it.
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