HOW WE TREAT EACH OTHER
Our member code of conduct. Conduct, communication, and conflict, for everyone in the building.
PURPOSE
The strength of a gym is defined by the environment created by the people who train there. Equipment doesn’t build culture. Programming doesn’t build culture. The people in the gym build it, every day, through how they treat each other and how they treat the work. This document is about that.
This is how we treat each other at Terminus. It is our code of conduct, and it sets the standards we hold for every member. It is not a list of complaints or a response to any one person. It is the baseline.
This covers conduct, communication, and conflict. For the rules of how to behave in the gym (arriving on time, sharing equipment, cleaning up), see Our Culture: The Rules . The two are companions.
The following applies to all members at Terminus.
COMMUNITY CONDUCT
The hardest thing about culture is that it doesn’t show up in any one moment. It shows up in the accumulation of small choices. Who you talk to in the parking lot. Whether you introduce yourself to the new person at the whiteboard. What you do when you hear something said about another member that you know isn’t fair. The gym is built by those choices, not by the obvious ones.
Assume good intent.
Every member walking into this gym is carrying something you cannot see. A bad night of sleep. A hard conversation at work. A parent who is sick. Three days into a breakup. When someone seems off, the first explanation your brain reaches for is usually not the right one. Stay curious before getting certain.
Welcome new members.
Everyone in this gym started in the same place. Take a moment to introduce yourself. Learn names. Ask questions. Strong communities grow through inclusion, not through clusters.
Stay curious about people who are different from you.
Different background. Different worldview. Different way of approaching the work. Difference is not disruption. Curiosity opens doors that judgment closes.
Gossip has no home here.
If you have a concern about a coach, the programming, the gym, or another member, bring it to Ben or Emily directly. Talking about it sideways with other members does not resolve it. It feeds it. The group text feels like a conversation. It is not. It is a closed loop where everyone already agrees, which means it cannot produce anything except more certainty in the wrong direction.
Say it to their face first.
Don’t say anything about somebody that they haven’t already heard from you. That goes for me and for every coach here, not just for members.
Go find out for yourself.
If somebody tells you something about another member, go talk to that member. Don’t pass it along, and don’t let somebody else decide what you think of a person.
What’s shared in the room stays in the room.
Members open up during training. Injuries. Family stress. Hard moments at work. That trust only exists because the information doesn’t travel. Personal details about other members are not for outside conversation, group texts, or social media.
Class Conduct and
Training Integrity
Coaching is a relationship. You bring the effort, the coach brings the art and science. It only works if both sides show up.
Pay attention during instruction.
When the coach is explaining the workout or correcting a movement, listen. Side conversations during instruction disrupt the class and signal disrespect for the coach and the members trying to learn.
Scale appropriately.
The stimulus is the goal, not the Rx. Your coach helps you choose the right expression of the workout for your current ability. Trust that process.
Honest reps. Honest scores.
Movement standards and scorekeeping reflect your effort, not your appearance. The goal is improvement, not optics. Nobody benefits from cut reps or inflated scores.
Coaching is the coach's job.
Encourage your fellow athletes. Cheer them through hard moments. But unless a member specifically asks for your input on their movement, leave the coaching to the coach.
Care for the space.
Return equipment after use. Wipe down what you sweat on. Put barbells away, plates back on the rack, gear where it belongs. The full set of facility rules lives in Our Culture: The Rules . Read it.
Respect for Coaches and Members
The Golden Rule only works if you decide up front that this is how you’re going to operate. You can’t reach for it mid-conflict. Treat your coach the way you’d want to be treated if you were running the class. Treat the member next to you the way you’d want to be treated on your worst day.
Coaches and staff are treated with professionalism.
They are responsible for safety, structure, and the experience of every member in the gym. Disagreements with coaching decisions are handled privately, after class, not in the middle of a workout.
Members are treated with kindness and patience.
Everyone in this gym is at a different point in their journey. The person next to you may be five years in or five days in. Either way, they deserve the same respect.
Respect athlete space.
Give people room when they are setting up for a lift, mid-lift, or recovering from one. Awareness prevents injuries.
Receive feedback with openness.
Coaching is care. When a coach corrects your movement, they are protecting you, not criticizing you. Take the cue. Try it. The faster you adjust, the faster you progress.
Working Through Conflict
Conflict is the misalignment of priorities. It is not that someone is bad or wrong. It is that two people are prioritizing different things, and that is something you can actually work with.
When concerns arise, here is the path:
Safety concerns.
Any immediate safety issue, bring it to a coach, to me, or to Emily immediately. Safety always comes first.
Member-to-coach issues.
Start with a direct conversation with the coach. Most issues resolve at this level. If the conversation does not resolve it, or if direct conversation feels unsafe or impossible for any reason, come to me or Emily.
Member-to-member issues.
Start with a direct conversation. Adults working through disagreement is the norm in this gym, not the exception. If the conversation does not resolve it, or if you do not feel safe having it, come to me or Emily.
All other concerns
(operational, cultural, anything else), come directly to me or Emily. Email, text, or in person. Whichever channel works for you.
Ask us, not each other.
When something changes, the schedule, a service we added or dropped, how a class runs, the person who can tell you why is me or Emily. Two members working it out between themselves have the same information you do, which is typically none. What comes out of that conversation isn’t an answer. It’s a theory. If you want to know why we did something, I’ll tell you. But only if you ask.
Staff are not responsible for handling complaints about operations, culture, or other staff.
Coaches are here to coach. When you put a coach in the middle of a conflict they cannot resolve, you make their job harder and slow down the resolution. Bring those concerns to me or Emily.
One thing to know before you talk to a coach:
nothing you raise with a coach about the gym stays between the two of you. If it’s about the coach’s own coaching, they’ll handle it with you, and I’ll hear about it afterward. If it’s about anything else, it comes straight to us with your name on it. That isn’t about getting anyone in trouble. It’s how things actually get fixed, and it’s how we make sure nothing gets lost or retold differently later. If you want it handled, bring it straight to us.
Avoidance is a choice with consequences.
The situations that erode community are almost never the result of an actual conflict. They are the result of a conversation that never happened. The story grows in silence. The distance solidifies. By the time anyone addresses it directly, the original issue is buried under months of accumulated narrative. The direct conversation is uncomfortable because you have to be prepared for what it might reveal. All of those outcomes are better than the alternative.
The strength of this community depends on every member who walks through the door. How you show up shapes the gym for everyone else. When we fall short of these standards, we have a conversation. That is almost always where it ends. When a pattern continues after that conversation, suspension or termination of membership are on the table. We do not take that lightly, and we do not do it often, but protecting this gym for everyone in it is part of the job.