--- title: Pot Friendly Gym to Open in San Francisco description: Cannabis lovers in San Francisco who are also serious about getting in shape are about to get a new haven for pot-enhanced exercise canonical: https://time.com/4349628/marijuana-pot-gym-california/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-26T18:44:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:18:22.999Z og:title: This Gym Wants You to Get High While You Work Out og:description: Tokers can rip before getting ripped og:url: https://time.com/4349628/marijuana-pot-gym-california/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c8aa4239fc22e97/698895300b72e374ca6e994a/420-games-weed-gym.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Marijuana Games og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Gym Wants You to Get High While You Work Out twitter:description: Tokers can rip before getting ripped twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c8aa4239fc22e97/698895300b72e374ca6e994a/420-games-weed-gym.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Gym Wants You to Get High While You Work Out > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=02b7820d-c297-486e-acf5-4e98000d4d1c&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: This Gym Wants You to Get High While You Work Out [Watch (HLS stream): This Gym Wants You to Get High While You Work Out](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YOEFOLbJ.m3u8) (0:46)  _Published 2016-05-26_  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks May 26, 2016 6:44 PM UTC  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks May 26, 2016 6:44 PM UTC Cannabis lovers in San Francisco who are also serious about getting and staying in shape are about to get a new haven for pot-enhanced exercise—Power Plant Fitness, [a marijuana-friendly gym](http://www.techinsider.io/power-plant-fitness-marijuana-gym-2016-5?utm%5Fsource=fark&utm%5Fmedium=website&utm%5Fcontent=link) [currently](https://420games.org/the-nfl-frowns-on-marijuana-while-ricky-williams-and-jim-mcalpine-announce-first-ever-cannabis-gym/) in the works. The gym, where people will be able to vape cannabis or consume edibles—and eventually smoke on an outdoor balcony, if they so choose—is being launched by co-founders Ricky Williams, a former football player with the NFL, and Jim McAlpine, founder of 420 Games, which organizes athletic events for marijuana enthusiasts. The facility is slated to open in the fall. “It won’t be a place to get high and just screw around,” McAlpine said in a blog [post](https://420games.org/the-nfl-frowns-on-marijuana-while-ricky-williams-and-jim-mcalpine-announce-first-ever-cannabis-gym/) on the 420 Games website. “We are focused on the athletic side, not the cannabis side.” The gym is not just a new business venture—it’s part of an effort to push back against stigmatization of pot smokers. Williams’ football career was seriously hindered by suspensions after testing positive for marijuana. “I was a really good football player,” Williams said, “really good person, my teammates loved me, my coaches loved me, but my career and life were ruined because of a drug test.” In an email to [_Tech Insider_](http://time.com/4349162/donald-trump-bernie-sanders-debate/), McAlpine said the gym will give people an initial “cannabis performance assessment” to discern how marijuana affects their workout regime and how best to consume it. “We will be helping our members figure out how is best for them to ingest their cannabis,” he said. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4349628/marijuana-pot-gym-california/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4349628/marijuana-pot-gym-california/"},"headline":"This Gym Wants You to Get High While You Work Out","datePublished":"2016-05-26T18:44:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-06T09:18:22.999Z","description":"Tokers can rip before getting ripped","url":"https://time.com/4349628/marijuana-pot-gym-california/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Marijuana","Pot","Sports topic","Exercise","San Francisco","Bizarre","Weed","health","cannabis","gym","athletics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c8aa4239fc22e97/698895300b72e374ca6e994a/420-games-weed-gym.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c8aa4239fc22e97/698895300b72e374ca6e994a/420-games-weed-gym.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Marijuana Games","caption":"Runners take off in a 4.2-mile run, part of the 420 Games, an effort to stop the stigmatization of cannabis use through athletic events, at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Aug. 15, 2015.","creditText":"Olga Rodriguez—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4349628/marijuana-pot-gym-california/","name":"This Gym Wants You to Get High While You Work Out"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Gym Wants You to Get High While You Work Out","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/YOEFOLbJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-05-26T20:01:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YOEFOLbJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4349628/marijuana-pot-gym-california/","duration":"PT46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4349628/marijuana-pot-gym-california/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```