Fitness enthusiast Sam George once felt shut out of gym culture – now the Walthamstow space he built for people who feel the same has been shortlisted for the National Fitness Awards
For much of his childhood, gym founder Sam George wanted nothing to do with gyms. Bullied at school and dreading PE lessons, he grew up believing gyms were places for other people and not him.
That began to change in 2010. Instead of signing up to a gym, Sam started training alone in his back garden with a homemade medicine ball and a sandbag.
Over time, he lost more than seven stone. What started as a quiet attempt to reclaim his health became the foundation of a new career. He trained as a personal trainer and, in 2019, was named PT of the Year.
But the feeling of being an outsider never left him. It became the question that shaped everything that followed: what would a gym look like if it was designed for people who had never felt comfortable in one?
In 2022, Sam opened Misfit Gym on an industrial estate in Walthamstow. The name was deliberate. Misfit was built for people who had spent years thinking gyms weren’t meant for them.
“I opened Misfit as the gym I wish had existed for me,” he says.
Three years on, that idea has grown into a community. Misfit offers group personal training alongside specialist coaching in women’s health, pregnancy, postnatal recovery and menopause.
Its coaches are trauma‑informed and have worked with The Movement Charity, reflecting Sam’s belief that getting fit “shouldn’t require conforming to a particular type of person or gym culture”.
People don’t necessarily find it because they’re looking for a gym; they find it because someone they trust already trains there. That word‑of‑mouth approach has turned a small industrial unit into something that feels less like a traditional gym and more like a “supportive network”, he says.
And Misfit’s community extends beyond its members. The gym has donated its space for private exercise and yoga sessions for women supported by Solace Women’s Aid, and each Christmas it contributes to Waltham Forest Secret Santa, which collects presents for survivors of domestic abuse and their children.
It has raised £3,500 for ELOP, East London’s LGBT+ charity, including by completing 24 workouts in 24 hours, and has supported Waltham Forest Pride, Trans Pride Walthamstow and Walthamstow Women’s FC.
That ethos has now attracted national attention. Misfit has been shortlisted for Regional Gym of the Year (South) in the National Fitness Awards 2026 – often described as the Oscars of the UK fitness industry.
For Sam, the nomination belongs to the people who train there. “Almost everyone who trains here came because someone they know told them about us, and they’re the reason we’re a finalist.”
You can find Misfit Gym at Unit 14, Ravenswood Industrial Estate, E17 9HQ – or visit: beamisfit.com
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