“What type of pizza would you be?” isn’t the sort of question you’d expect to hear at the start of a workout. Then again, Tight Club is nothing like a typical gym.
A personal trainer with a perma-smile, Keighty Gallagher starts all of her group fitness classes with a check-in question to help everyone get to know each other. “Fitness is intimidating,” she says. "My goal is to create the least intimidating environment possible.”
The former track star began developing her not-so-typical personal training style back in 2011 when her Alibi Room coworkers asked her to help them get in shape. Using East Van parks, rooftops and alleyways as her outdoor playground, Keighty led the crew of non-athletes through dynamic workouts focused on fun. “My job was to change the way they felt about fitness,” she recalls. “It meant creating a new language around movements and inventing theme workouts like Zombie Apocalypse training.”
It wasn’t long before word spread about her signature sweat sessions. “We were one of the first groups to start posting pictures after workouts on social media, tagging people and creating public accountability,” Keighty says. As momentum grew, she decided it was time to find a home base, for both her and her growing fitness community. In 2013 she moved into a laneway house just off Keefer Street and transformed her two-car garage into a makeshift studio: The Coach House.
