This Gym Wants You to Get High While You Work Out

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 currently 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 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, 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.