SNOHOMISH — Snohomish-based fitness and kickboxing academy WildStyle Gym has decided to do its part in saving the whales of Puget Sound with its ‘Little Ripples Make Big Waves’ fitness challenge.
Since 2016 the Eastern North Pacific’s gray whale population has dropped by almost half, falling from a peak of about 27,000 down to roughly 13,000, according to the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. Since the beginning of 2026, only 89 gray whale calves have completed their migration, which is the lowest number since marine biologists began tracking this information.
Even more tragically, a total of 31 gray whales have been found dead on Pacific Northwest beaches in the first six months of 2026 alone.
“When I was a little girl, the gray whales used to swim next to my house on Bainbridge Island every spring. It was always one of the most beautiful experiences. When I heard this I was really heartbroken,” said WildStyle Gym Co-Owner Sara Palazzolo-Morris. “Finally, one day I realized me sitting around and being sad was not the example I wanted to set for my kids, so I decided to do something about it.”
Palazzolo-Morris decided to launch a summer challenge at her gym to save the gray whale population in Pacific Northwest water by partnering with Cascadia Research Collective.
“We are a community of people who always rally. We had two of our members who got diagnosed with cancer and we were able to raise $8,000 for one and $18,000 for another. We rally when people are in trouble. I knew it was a big ask to save the whales but this was something that needed to be addressed,” said Palazzolo-Morris.
The intention of the challenge is ultimately to keep people training through August, when most people fall off their New Year’s fitness goals. The kicker, however, is to donate the proceeds of said challenge to Olympia-based nonprofit Cascadia Research Collective, which has a division specifically set up to address the influx of gray whale strandings across the West Coast.
Recently this work has seen funding cuts by the current federal administration, making public fundraisers like WildStyle’s ‘Little Ripples Make Big Waves’ effort more important than ever.
The fitness challenge costs $99 to participate in (half of which will go to Cascadia Research Collective) and comes with a special edition T-shirt. The goal is to raise $5,000 by the end of the challenge for gray whale research. One WildStyle Gym member has even decided to match every dollar raised for the cause.
“Alone we can only do so little and together we can only do so much. I didn’t want this to just be about the workouts, what we’re doing in addition to you getting your 12 workouts in throughout the month of August, you’re also committing to three little ripples, which are three little habits which you’ve probably been saying to yourself ‘man if I had just done this my world would be better’…’If I had just chosen to this the world would be better,” said Palazzolo-Morris.
These three commitments are things like: committing to not taking plastic bags from the grocery store throughout the month of August, going on a mile walk and picking up trash, something that’s good for health as well as environmental health.
Palazzolo-Morris shared with the Lynnwood Times that she decided to launch a fundraiser to help the Puget Sound’s gray whale population, and not Orcas for example, because Orcas typically get the most attention leaving gray whales frequently forgotten.
WildStyle Gym owners Palazzolo-Morris, and her husband, Jason Morris, moved to Snohomish County in 2019 – from the Silver Spring, Maryland area – with the goal of opening a fitness academy back in Sara’s home state. However, the couple quickly learned that there was a massive interest in kickboxing in the region. What started as WildStyle Gym quickly expanded into WildStyle Kickboxing Academy, a second space that is separate, but works in conjunction with their existing fitness academy.
“We have two spaces, but they work directly together. To say it in short, we’re kickboxing and kettlebells,” said Palazzolo-Morris.
Palazzolo-Morris’s husband, Jason, competed as a professional MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter for many years prior to opening the gym, but had to retire due to health problems a few years ago.
Both academies opened in March of 2019. Just a year later they hit 200 members on their one-year anniversary, but were forced to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic a few days later. Throughout the shutdown they continued to run online training out of their garage in Lake Stevens, maintaining about 80% of their enrollment throughout.
“We’re really grateful to still be here. Within that first year it felt like we just pivoted and pivoted and just rolled with the punches. It’s been really interesting to see the evolution of it all, with our youth programs, seeing those kids now do our mainline 13 and up programs. We’re really just grateful to do what we do and serve the community while being fortunate enough to make a living doing it. The community, I think, is the best part of what we do,” said Palazzolo-Morris.
There was a bright side to the COVID shutdown, Palazzolo-Morris continued, in that the gym was forced to have smaller group sizes (of just up to five people) when they were allowed to convene in person, which led to more one-on-one training and building athletes up for competition levels. This approach has remained a staple for the gym owners even until this day, specifically choosing “quality over quantity” as far as the programs offered go.
Today, WildStyle Gym has approximately 400 members spread across its three programs: Adult Kickboxing, Adult Fitness, and Youth Kickboxing.
“Our kickboxing programs, like our martial arts programs, are curriculum-based and our fitness program are phase-based. So our members are not only getting a very intentional fitness program, it’s done in four phases and each time you return to that phase you’re coming back a new version of you, and are able to take on a very different part of that phase,” said Palazzolo-Morris. “That’s why we’ve had continued to have the same people we’ve had since 2019, and they continue to have great results.”
Even at 400 members, Palazzolo-Morris said the gym is not at capacity and is always looking for new people who want to work with others in the process and grow.
To sign up for WildStyle Gym’s ‘Little Ripples Make Big Waves’ fitness challenge, you can register in person by visiting their gym, located at 1207 13th Street in Snohomish, or calling them at (360) 217-7220.
You can sign up for a free session at WildStyle Gym by visiting: https://www.wildstylegym.com/contact
Author: Kienan Briscoe
