A Wisconsin gym is under fire after promoting an “I Can’t Breathe” workout.
In Wauwatosa, the Anytime Fitness recently offered a 35-minute drill of row exercises and burpees that was supposed to honor the memory of George Floyd, a Black man who died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The “I Can’t Breathe” routine was inscribed on a dry-erase board and featured the image of a kneeling man and the words “And don’t you dare lay down” at the bottom.
The image quickly went viral on social media.
Some locals felt the “I Can’t Breathe” set was in bad taste considering the brutal way Floyd died, despite the fact it’s common for CrossFit to create workouts to honor those who died.
Among those in agreement were the corporate executives at Anytime Fitness, which has more than 4,000 franchised locations in 50 countries.
The execs quickly apologized for the workout and promised to bolster training efforts to prevent similar gaffes.
Co-owner of the Anytime Fitness in Wauwatosa, Jen Dunnington, said the workout was meant as a sincere tribute by a trainer.
The workout was meant to be “so hard that we felt what he felt.”
But the backlash seems to point that community members felt otherwise.
