Connecting Fitness and Activism with Dean ‘the Trainer’ Steed
Fitness usually tops New Year's resolutions, and this year is no exception. Entering a gym for the first time can be completely intimidating, regardless of gender identity. However, gyms can exacerbate feelings of dysphoria or generally feel unsafe for gendernonconforming individuals.
Atlanta-based personal trainer, Dean Steed, believes fitness should be inclusive, accessible, and “soft.” Coming from a background in community organizing and activism, Steed understands how heavy life can be without the added pressure to look a certain way or dedicate your life to the gym.
In 2018, Steed was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called multiple sclerosis that affects the brain and spinal cord. He spent a lot of that year in the emergency room with chronic illness and pain. The experience, he says, made him more empathetic to what others are feeling.
“I'm about going soft, because life is very hard on us already, especially if you're disabled, especially if you have mental health issues, or if you're queer or trans or person of color,” Steed told Georgia Voice.
Before he joined the fitness industry, Steed worked as a community organizer and activist following the 2015 murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. His passion for community assistance led him to Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative, a Black trans and queer-led organization in metro-Atlanta, where he continues his work as the Director of Communications.
Steed said the work became exhausting by 2018, and he took a break to recover from the intense loss, grief, and pain he witnessed. During a brief period of unemployment, and
without insurance to cover gender-affirming care, Steed turned to strength training.
“I became very curious about bodybuilders and the way that bodybuilders use strength training to literally create the very aesthetic that they want for themselves. And I thought, ‘Hey, I could do this to,'” he said. “Through training, even learning more about foods, we could have a lot more control, as trans and non-binary people, [over] what our bodies look and feel like.”
Steed trained hundreds of people from different backgrounds, ages, genders, and abilities during his time as a head trainer at Planet Fitness in 2019. By the summer of 2020, Steed turned his focus to his personal training business, Fit Gang, where he offers his foundational strength training and boxing classes. Steed also customizes body masculinization and feminization workouts to be safe and gender-affirming.
“Maybe a trans-masculine person who comes in the gym is working out with a chest binder, and now their breathing is restricted. It's important to understand [safety] for trans people, but a lot of trainers don't,” he said. “You might be working with someone who's trans-femme who's tucking. That can be uncomfortable during her workout, but maybe she doesn't want to share that with a trainer who she just met that day.”
After finding a safe space to feel confident, the hardest part about improving one's fitness in the name of the new year is doing it and sticking to it. Burnout, chronic pain, and lack of time can disrupt even the best-laid plans, but Steed says we must go with the flow.
Community is essential to any movement, including fitness. Steed recommends an accountability partner to work out or meal prep with, and he says you should do what feels right for your body instead of following fitness trends that are popular on social media.
“Because of capitalism, we always feel driven to be productive, be active just to feel valuable and just feel enough. We're not really encouraged to slow down. We're not really encouraged to listen to our bodies,” he said. “Progress is not linear, and we have to move with the ebbs and flows of life.”
Steed hopes 2024 allows him to grow in his training and activism. Last year, Steed launched a GoFundMe to fund personalized strength training and self-defense for 10 trans and non-binary people of color. You can donate to “Help Trans People of Color Access Gender Euphoria” at gofundme. com. Learn more about Dean Steed at deanthetrainer.com or follow him on Instagram @deanthetrainer.