A men-only gym in Oklahoma City is drawing national attention, and its founder says the story behind it is as personal as it gets.
Jeff Hambrecht and his Proverbs 27:17 gym, which he first opened in November 2025, are gaining renewed attention this week after he was interviewed by the New York Post about the fitness center and ministry for men looking to workout without “distractions.”
“If you’re an alcoholic, you’re probably not going to bars. If you’re a drug addict trying to get sober, you’re probably not hanging around other drug addicts,” he told the Post. “For men battling sexual addiction, we’re removing them from a similar situation.”
In an Instagram video shared in April, Hambrecht, who is a corporate health and wellness director and a self-described recovering sex addict, explained why exactly his fitness center is only for men.
“In a nutshell, one of the number one places affairs and infidelity occur—cheating, is the gym. Byproduct of someone who had an affair in my previous marriage. Doesn't work out well for you, fellas. Don't do it,” Hambrecht said in the clip.
Hambrecht mentioned he felt God “called” him to be leader and open the gym where there are “no temptations of women walking around.”
“If you want to be a God-following man, if you're a husband, [or] you want to be a husband, come to a spot that's going to put you in the best shape, not just physically cuz it'll do that, too—but spiritually as well,” he continued, noting his center offers strength conditioning classes and Bible studies “every single week.”
Despite the faith-forward framing, Hambrecht told the Post that the gym's doors are open to men of all creeds and sexual orientations.
"God doesn't discriminate and neither do we," he told the newspaper.
In a separate interview with Fox News Digital, Hambrecht admitted that the goal is for the members of his gym to eventually reintegrate into co-ed spaces.
"We're taking away the temptation of, hey, you're coming to a gym, whether you're single or married, and you're going to focus on what needs to be focused on,” he said. “And then, yeah, obviously you're going to go out in the world and there's going to be females. That's part of the deal. But the goal is you start re-looking at relationships and women and females and life in general from more of a biblical sense.”
Hambrecht also told the Post he has plans for an all-female gym that follows a similar blueprint.
“It’s the same blueprint with some different principles, but that’s not something I’ll teach because women need to pour into other women,” he said.
