Steel Fitness

I want to start with saying how appreciative we are for all of the support we have received over the last few weeks. Without this support we wouldn’t have the ability to go forward and continue fighting to bring our vision to life and help our community expand.

However, we don’t expand by spreading hate. Some of the comments we’ve seen are extremely ugly. This is not how we want to fight. This was never intended to be a smear campaign. We don’t operate like that and ask that the rest of you don’t operate like that either.

Our issues have always been with the process; not the other bidders. To move forward, we need to change how this process worked and not spread hate.

Let’s keep it clean and respectful.

Thank you.

Kalen chose to speak at the Hibbing City Council meeting this week about the bidding process and decisions made pertaining to the Hibbing Electronics building. While all of the concerns with this process weren’t addressed, the main concerns were brought up.

There was more discussion later in the meeting starting at the 46 minute mark.

Hibbing City Council 06-03-2026 Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Our first ever Murph was a success!

A giant thank you to the participants and those who came to cheer everyone on. There were 12 participants and all of them finished strong. Because of you we will be donating $550 to local veterans through the Veterans Service Office - If you stop into the gym Wednesday 5/27 remind Kalen to call 😂....

Here are pictures from the event. If you need a code to download any photos please use 8678.

📷: Niki Steel Photography

The Murph Photo collection by Niki Steel Photography

Hibbing Residents…..This is long. Please bear with me. I promise it’s worth the knowledge.

In the fall of 2025, we contacted the Mayor to introduce ourselves and invite him to come tour our new business, Steel Fitness. During the visit we shared our vision of expansion and our goals for Hibbing. We were told of a building that would soon come up for bid and were even given a tour of this building. This would be the old Hibbing Electronics building.

The bid for proposal from the city came out in early December. Working with the Northland Small Business Development Center, we worked on this proposal for months.

Interviews for this property bid were conducted May 12, 2026. There were only 3 applicants. Ours. Another reputable business in town. And I’m sure you can all guess the 3rd one.

Our vision for the front building was shared in the proposal with the request to purchase the back building at a later date. From proposal submission to date of interview, our plans changed a bit. We wanted both buildings now and were willing to negotiate price.

The main building was set to be our main fitness facility with an additional classroom, steam rooms and three indoor pickleball courts that could be used year round at any time of day. We even had the support of partnership with the local Pickleball Club.

Building two was to become a field house. The plan was for there to be an indoor track and three full sized courts that could be utilized for volleyball to basketball and anything in between. Court time is already difficult to obtain and kids are needing to have practices later in the evening. This could have helped resolve that. More tournaments could have been brought to town without adding to the schools already struggling budget. More hotel rooms could have been booked. More customers to local restaurants. Food trucks could have added another location to park. There would be a large increase in traffic in that industrial park that would support other businesses.

Today we received the call from the HEDA Director that we did not get the building. I’m sure you can all guess who did get the building.

After phone calls with the Mayor and council members it was made very clear the city was concerned with the bottom dollar they would get instead of the best long term value for the city residents and local businesses. One of the comments made was that it was easier to take a check, collect property taxes and be done with it.

It was also stated to us that negotiations are not allowed with RFP’s although when stated in my interview we were willing to negotiate the HEDA Director simply said “ok”, not that it wasn’t allowed AND the city issued RFP clearly states in section 6, last bullet, “Notification of Request to Negotiate: week of March 9, 2026”. Please see the link below.

We are Hibbing natives. We want to invest in our city and see it grow. We lost out on a building/business opportunity to provide healthy recreation to our community. The entire community lost out on something that would benefit all for years to come. This right here is exactly why our city isn’t growing, and why our community continues to lose hope.

The city has not officially signed anything at this point. This is not an entirely closed matter but it’s out of our hands. Now may be the best time to call or email the Mayor and council members to give your feedback on what you want to see happen from those we voted into office.

www.hibbingmn.gov

The Murph is just days away! If you are wanting to participate and haven’t signed up yet, please call or stop by the gym ASAP to get your name on the list!

Water and light snacks will be provided. Event starts at 8:00 am.

See you Monday!

PILATES and/or BARRE

We’re looking at adding another class opportunity! But first, I need some input from all of you.

Is there a preference between Barre or Pilates?

And what time of day? We were thinking noonish or early afternoon.

Introducing: 🇺🇸 The Murph 🇺🇸

The Murph is a CrossFit challenge created to honor Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy who lost his life in Afghanistan in 2005.

Originally named “Body Armor” by Murphy, The Murph has become a Memorial Day tradition across the US.

The challenge consists of running 1 mile, completing 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and finishing strong with another mile run.

Up for the challenge? Contact us to register!

**Must be 18+ to participate**

The best place to get our class schedule and get signed up for a class is by downloading the Steel Fitness app (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/steel-fitness/id6751952135)

Download it and check all we have to offer! Classes are free to all paying members and only $10 for non-members

Steel Fitness App - App Store