A pay-what-you-can gym in Braddock helps build muscles, community

A pay-what-you-can gym in Braddock helps build muscles, community

90.5 WESA |
By
Rachel McDevitt
Published July 9, 2026 at 5:32 AM EDT

People’s Strength Collective in Braddock doesn’t look like a typical gym

Sure, it has barbells, kettlebells, and squat racks. The floor is padded. But it also has a large banner of fictional supervillain Skeletor with the slogan “Live, Laugh, Lift.” It’s owner Elizabeth Sohne’s favorite

 ”[It] had lived in my Etsy shopping cart for seven years before I opened my own gym, and as soon as I signed my lease at Community Forge, I hit the checkout button,” Sohne said. “That’s all I need to start on my own. Just me and Skeletor and some barbells.”

Also not typical: PSC’s fee structure. It’s donation-based. People can pay per class, or not at all. They can sign up for a monthly membership if they want to support the gym, but it doesn’t unlock any additional perks

Sohne said people face many barriers to health and wellness and cost is a big one. She doesn’t want that to be a factor at the collective

Because, more important than opening her own gym, Sohne wanted to give back to her community

Though she has been a strength trainer since 2014, her real push to get her own space came a decade later, on Nov. 5, 2024. Election night

She was watching the returns with a group of friends

“It was a bunch of women, queer people, non-binary and trans people, and everyone just absolutely had the rug pulled out from under them,” Sohne said of Donald Trump’s election to a second term in the White House

Sohne said strength training can be important for people who feel like they’re in survival mode

“This gives you, one: a safe way to be in your body, and two: it gives you a way to feel strong and [have] a sense of agency,” Sohne said

She started hosting donation-based classes with just a few clients in a borrowed space. She crowdfunded her way to a studio in Wilkinsburg’s Community Forge and quickly outgrew it, leading her to Braddock Avenue

Only about one-quarter of Americans have a gym membership, according to the trade group Health and Fitness Association. Studies show financial restrictions are often cited as hurdles to joining a gym or fitness class, especially by people with lower incomes. Some surveys have also found people are intimidated by the gym environment or unfamiliar equipment

Sohne’s approach breaks down those barriers

Allison Brown of Swissvale said the pay-what-you-can style made her first class more approachable. She liked it so much, she signed up for a membership

“I feel relaxed. I’m moving my body. I feel really good after class,” Brown said. “And, as a woman, dumbbell workouts are very intimidating, and I’ve never actually done it before this.”

Sohne keeps the weight lifting classes small, no more than 12 people at a time. It makes the classes feel personal and students said they feel engaged

It’s a huge difference from a membership at a big box gym, said couple Jonathan Zora and Heather Neylon of Penn Hills

“ There are so many machines to choose from, and you don’t know what they’re supposed to feel like, and you don’t know what weight you should be lifting,” Zora said

“You’re kind of forced into doing … solo activities that you’re familiar with,” Neylon said. “And then after a while, it gets kind of boring, and there’s not really an appeal to go.”

Sohne said other gyms where she worked in the past often had posters advertising careers in the armed services, as well as weight loss programs and supplements. She said she wanted her space to reflect her values. Colorful banners read “feminism” and “smashing the patriarchy is my cardio.”

She wears her values on her sleeve — literally. Her left arm sports a large tattoo of the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Neylon found the signs — and the absence of “macho bro culture” — encouraging

“These are people that I’m not going to butt heads with and perhaps even make strong connections with or find out other things in the community that are fun and building community,” Neylon said

The atmosphere is what led Rachel Butler of Greenfield to sign up one year ago. She was a few weeks out from defending a dissertation and feeling stressed when a friend suggested PSC

Rachel McDevitt
/
90.5 WESA

 ”I was like, ‘This sounds like everything that I needed that was really holding me back from, you know, spending more time working on me,’” Butler said

Butler found not just a way to blow off steam, but a new circle of support at the collective. Her first class was in the previous space, a three-story walk-up. At the bottom of the stairs, she met a 70-year-old woman named Beth on her way to the same class, who offered cheerful encouragement

“She’s like, ‘If I can do it, you can do it!’ Butler said. “It just felt like instant community the second I got up there.”