The Secret Room in the Back of This Gym Is All About Being Swole and Soft at the Same Time

At Jocelyn Cruz’s personal training gym, Strength Academy, in Los Angeles, you’ll find barbells, dumbbells, squat racks, and a whole lot of crocheted animals.

Actually, the crocheted animals mostly hang out in their own “secret room” in the back, as comedian and Strength Academy client Kate Micucci put it in her now viral Instagram reel about the gym. The room is Cruz’s personal studio, Crochet Arts, where she crochets and displays the scores of handmade, cutely dressed critters she makes.

“We used to have a massage therapist back there, but he went mobile,” Cruz says. “So I said, ‘Well, I could put my pieces in here.’”

Cruz has been a personal trainer for the last 10 years, but only introduced Crochet Arts into her business space in the last couple of months. She learned to crochet from her aunt when she was a kid, but picked it back up again in recent years.

Using the room as a crochet studio came out of necessity, because Cruz simply didn’t have a place for all her creations. She can churn them out fast and doesn’t sell them. It’s just something she does for herself—which is a surprising side of Cruz to her clients

“I am the tough love type of trainer, so they just really don't expect the softer side of me,” Cruz says.

But Cruz thinks that softness and toughness are two sides of the same coin.

“[They both] require discipline,” Cruz says. “I think the two actually go hand in hand. Both the strength [part] as well as the artistic part help reduce stress. They boost your mood, reduce anxiety. Both enhance your focus and both actually promote relaxation—one after and one during.”

Cruz is right: Hobbies have mental health benefits, and exercising is well known for its stress-reducing properties. Exercise and any physical repetitive motion like crocheting (and even taking a shower) also causes your brain to decrease activity in the prefrontal cortex1, which is the part of the brain associated with judgment, critical thinking, and decision making. That can lead to a sense of well-being and even creativity—hence, shower thoughts.

“Both the strength [part] as well as the artistic part help reduce stress. They boost your mood, reduce anxiety. Both enhance your focus and both actually promote relaxation—one after and one during.” —Jocelyn Cruz, owner of Strength Academy

While initially surprising, the crochet studio has piqued her clients’ interest—and the internet’s. Micucci’s video has over four million views, generating tons of love in the comments with some people asking why every gym doesn’t come with a hidden craft room.

“I've had people who have asked, ‘Hey, can I just come in and crochet afterward?’” Cruz says. “We haven't really set that up yet, but we want to. I've just had people who were like, ‘Can I just see the room?’ And that just changes their whole attitude.”

Clients have also asked if Cruz would offer lessons, which she's attempting to get up and running. And while turning a hobby into a side hustle can be tricky, Cruz is excited to bring the one-two punch of strength training followed by a crochet cooldown to her community.

“I didn't know people really needed it,” Cruz says. “Sometimes the physical and mental go hand in hand.”

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