Andre Busby sweated in anticipation under the October sun as he worked out weekly with the District Running Collective, a black-led organization dedicated to community empowerment and exercise within the black DC community.
Being around people with similar backgrounds or interests has been a comfort zone for Busby, a personal trainer and lifelong fitness advocate.
“It makes me happy to have people who look like me because I don’t meet them at work. I try not to focus on color; a lot about the village for me,” he said.
By 2022, Black fitness professionals and personal trainers will make up 9.3 percent of the market while their white counterparts will make up 74.5 percent, according to DataUSA. In the past, fit and healthy people have been accused of lacking body diversity with brands like Adidas receiving backlash for their “fit body” campaigns.
In January, Lululemon founder and former CEO Chip Wilson said his clothing “doesn’t work for women’s bodies” and that he doesn’t want “other customers” to shop in his stores.
Gerard Burley, founder and owner of Sweat DC, an exclusive fitness studio, has experienced this type of thing. However, they approached it as an opportunity to create a new and unique space.
“I grew up a black, overweight boy from West Baltimore, so I know what it feels like to not be part of it,” he said. “I wanted to make Sweat a fun place where people would want to come, exercise together, and feel safe and welcome.”
His motivations go beyond inclusion. Burley, after suddenly losing his mother to a heart attack, used fitness that connected with the community as a means of survival for himself and those around him.
According to the CDC, black Americans have the highest rates of unemployment at 30 percent while white Americans have 23 percent.
Research from the National Institutes of Health shows that the lack of physical activity, among other social and cultural factors, has caused black people to be different from their white counterparts for health-related diseases such as heart disease and high blood pressure.
“There are a lot of exercise groups that are offered to people who don’t look like us. There is no diversity,” said Janiya Morgan, President of Howard’s Changing Health Attitudes and Actions to Recreate Girls (CHAARG).
Cultivating an integrated community of interdisciplinary sports is at the heart of Howard’s CHAARG theme. Morgan, a senior biology major with a chemistry and sociology double minor, leads the organization with the goal of creating a space and comfort for black women.
“At Howard CHAARG we sweat and struggle together. You may feel pressured to exercise but you won’t feel alone because you are with other CHAARG girls,” said Morgan.
Howard is one of only three HBCU CHAARG chapters out of 119 nationwide. Although there are fewer HBCUs represented in CHAARG, their black leadership among the heads has grown from two to 4.3 percent between 2023 and 2024.
Lauren Marshall, a health sciences major who serves as director of HUSA Campus Health, wants to establish a new standard that Howard students can rely on and expect to receive appropriate health information and resources.
“From Howard I didn’t know anything about medicine,” he said. “Learning more about resources after joining HUSA inspired me to help others in the same way and make my department as transparent and welcoming as possible.”
Edited by Camiryn Stepteau
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