Fitness influencer’s gym ‘Privilege’ exposed: ‘Just trying to stretch his legs’

A British strength trainer has faced criticism online after filming herself working out at a popular Bali gym, complaining that the men around her were “deliberately” ignoring her.

Danica Kennedy, 37, a British fitness and breathwork coach based at Congo Digital Nomads, shared a clip on TikTok doing the unusual movement exercise.

In the clip, she’s deep-cut, balancing on her tiptoes — a move she calls “opening her toes.”

She captioned the footage: “POV: You’re just trying to open your legs but Jim’s brother is confused.”

Kennedy also added onscreen text that read “disturbed” and “side-eye,” referring to the three men working in the background who give her a brief look before returning to their routine.

But she seems to take issue with the fact that they don’t pay much attention to her.

‘so funny’

Rather than thinking the men were simply focusing on their training, Kennedy explained in comments that he believed the lack of attention was a deliberate act that made him feel uncomfortable.

When a commenter pointed out that no one was looking at her, she replied: “That’s my thing. I try so hard not to look. I can feel uncomfortable”.

She later added, “Get me out of the Congo, men are so wicked”.

eat video

The clip quickly went viral for the wrong reasons, attracting the attention of Joe Sowell, an American content creator known for criticizing “toxic” gym culture.

Sowell called the clip “absolutely ridiculous.”

“He seems upset because he thinks what he’s doing is so impressive that everyone in the gym should see it, to the point where he claims they’re trying so hard not to,” he said.

The man in the background is talking

One man in the background of the clip was Australian calisthenics coach Matt Butterworth.

Speaking to news.com.au, he said he was surprised to find himself at the center of the controversy because he was simply “minding his own business”.

“My immediate reaction was that I just thought I was in the background of a video. Someone sent me this like, ‘Oh, it’s you.’ I thought, ‘Oh, good,'” he said.

“And then I looked at the title, and I was like, ‘Wait, he’s calling me here.’ It was really strange. I thought maybe he was just confused, so I commented on the video and said, ‘It was me, definitely not one sided, I was just in my head. Welcome to training.”

But Mrs Butterworth hit back, claiming he was deliberately making her uncomfortable by not looking at her.

“You obviously go out of your way to not look my way. We women choose everything,” Kennedy replied. Kennedy replied.

“I’m sorry, but there’s a bit too much right and wrong here,” Butterworth replied.

‘poisonous’

Mr Butterworth explained that he was at the gym between work calls and was “completely in his own world” and did not try to disturb her.

He criticized the “fake” nature of social media content for creating fake conflicts for ideas.

“I think the biggest issue at the moment is that people will just post stuff online, knowing clearly that’s not the case, but they’ll just create a scenario for it to go viral,” he said.

“I think a lot of people are probably tired of the culture of filming. It can be ridiculously toxic.”

Sports etiquette

As a trainer who also creates content, Mr Butterworth said there was a basic level of etiquette that was being overlooked in this case.

“If I’m filming and I know there’s people in the background, I’ll be like, ‘Excuse me guys, I’m just filming there, is it all good?’ You just have to have some consideration for the people around you,” he said.

Kennedy has since deleted the video after backlash.

News.com.au has reached out to her for comment.