We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Abbey Griffith. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Abbey below.

Abbey, appreciate you joining us today. Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?

At Clarity Fitness, we believe that health is independent of weight. Our current climate is incredibly fat-phobic, and this has massively harmful impacts on a social justice, healthcare, housing, job opportunities, discrimination, mental health, and bullying. As an eating disorder informed fitness space, a strong ally of the body positive social justice work, Health at Every Size (HAES) informed fitness professionals, and many of us in our own recovery from eating disorders, the Clarity Fitness team is incredibly passionate about fighting for change in the fitness space.

There are tons of studies that show that the number on the scale, BMI, and clothing size is not the key metric when it comes to diagnosing or curing health issues, however it remains at the forefront of so many peoples’ minds due to the obsession we’ve placed on it as a society. At the risk of saying this imperfectly, it is baffling to me that discriminating people for race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion is so widely unaccepted (as it should be!), but discrimination against body shape and size is both praised and hugely prevalent in all aspects of society.

Abbey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Clarity Fitness is Georgia’s first weight inclusive fitness center. People lean into our message of positivity, empowerment, and appreciating their bodies for all they are and do for them. We offer virtual and in person Personal Training with certified and eating disorder informed personal trainers, inclusive and accessible Group Fitness Classes, and have a high-end and modern open gym space.

Since our approach so closely aligns to the values of recovery from disordered eating, eating disorders, and exercise addiction, we also work closely with the eating disorder recovery community. We are able to sign a release to work directly with therapists, dietitians, and healthcare providers to best support our ED clients.

I struggled with an eating disorder for a huge chunk of my life. Early in my recovery, I remember being told that I had to stop working out. Fitness was a huge outlet, social community, and endorphin boost for me. I loved it, but was unfortunately using it for all the wrong reasons (ex: weight loss, trying to “fix” my body, forcing physical changes over focusing on health, etc.). I became incredibly passionate about discovering a truly empowered relationship with exercise for myself, and along that journey started having some really amazing conversations with friends, family, and pioneers in the weight inclusive wellness space that had been doing this work long before I knew it existed. The more I learned, the more excited I got about my body, my relationship to movement, and my life, and the more I wanted to spread this message to the world.

Central to Clarity’s mission is developing a strong team of personal trainers who are committed to create a fitness community that promotes the joy of movement for every body. We are working together alongside incredible pioneers in this space to change the face of fitness for good.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Our best source of new clients comes from the relationships we’ve built with therapists in our community virtually and around the greater Atlanta area. At first we were spending a lot of time chasing after individuals instead of sitting down, thinking through who we were built to help the most, and figuring out which industry or profession would be an ongoing referral source for those people.

While lead generation can seem “slimey” and “sales-ey”, we work hard to remain centered around our mission of refocusing the fitness industry around what truly matters: joy, community, empowerment, and long term wellness for all bodies. We want to do the things our clients need, not sell the things we do. When we are connecting with and getting in front of the people who align with our vision, that synergy and connection happens naturally, and the clients are able to surpass their wildest goals of recovery.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

We opened January 6th, 2020. Less than 2 months later, we were shut down for COVID. While this can be seen as an “OMG” moment, I was grateful that this happened so early in our journey because we were so easily able to pivot. We had opened our brick and mortar fitness facility to provide group exercise, gym access, and in person personal training. We had plans to offer virtual services eventually, but quickly realized that the time to introduce virtual options was now.

We were and remain pleasantly surprised by virtual personal training, and are strongly considering revamping our virtual class offerings as well. The pivots we made as a business allowed for us to reach more clients, offer our services at more affordable rates, and showed that we can and will continue to serve our community to the best of our ability no matter what the world throws our and our clients’ way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.clarityfitness.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claritydecatur/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClarityDecatur/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clarity-fitness-decatur/about/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbRnk8t-aw6j07Yli5-H09w
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/clarity-fitness-decatur
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clarityfitness?_t=8WaLMHJBgS2&_r=1 Virtual Tour – scroll half-way down on this page: https://www.clarityfitness.com/clarity-fitness-studio

Image Credits
Djaren Photography, Aaron Schorch Photography courtesy of Cognitive Design, and Nick Burchell Photography