If you’ve ever watched someone circle a gym like a cautious cat in a room full of rocking chairs, you’ll understand why women-only gyms are having a moment. New data from Total Fitness’ The Women’s Gym suggests that when women are offered a private, dedicated fitness environment, they don’t just join — they stick, they train, and they take better care of themselves.
The findings come from a study of members at two women-only sites in Whitefield and Wilmslow, operated by Total Fitness and opened in 2024. The focus was on women who deliberately chose a women-only environment over the traditional mixed gym set-up — and the behaviour shift is hard to ignore.
According to the data, 80% of women using women-only gym spaces say they have taken better care of themselves over the past year. That’s not just a stat to paste on a leaflet. That’s a pretty loud signal that comfort and commitment are linked at the hip — and possibly sharing a locker.
And it’s not only about feeling better. Many women are also building a more regular workout routine after joining. The majority now clock up 3–4 workouts a week, suggesting that when the environment fits, the habit follows.
For plenty of women, the reasons aren’t abstract — they’re personal. The data shows 35% left a previous gym because they wanted a more private or single-sex environment. In other words: it wasn’t laziness or lack of willpower. It was the setting. Change the setting, change the story.
Tuesday Wilcox, a member at Total Fitness Wilmslow’s Women’s Gym, described that shift from uncertainty to ownership in a way that’ll ring true for anyone who’s ever pretended to understand a cable machine:
“At first, I only walked on the treadmill, just to get my confidence up. But when I was shown around the Women’s Gym, they explained each piece of equipment, which made me feel confident to start weights. A couple of times I’ve not been 100% sure on my form or how to set a machine up, and they’ve shown me straight away. I never had that in other gyms.”
That’s the quiet magic of many women-only gyms: not the exclusion, but the permission. Permission to learn without feeling watched. Permission to start small without feeling silly. Permission to take up space — literally and emotionally.
The data also points to who’s most drawn to these spaces right now. The largest age group is 25–34 (32%), making women-only gyms particularly popular with younger women. But the most interesting number might be this: almost half of members (48%) were not previously a gym or health club member before joining The Women’s Gym. That suggests these environments aren’t just rescuing the gym-curious — they’re bringing new women into fitness altogether.
Total Fitness says the demand has been building for a while, which is why The Women’s Gym launched in 2024 after listening to more than 3,500 women. The goal: create calm, inclusive fitness spaces shaped around women’s needs — and reduce the barriers that stop women walking through the door in the first place.
Kerry Curtis, Chief Commercial Officer of Total Fitness, says the message from women was consistent: “So many women have shared how different they feel when they step into a space that’s genuinely made for them. Women told us they wanted a place where they could just breathe, somewhere they could move without pressure or judgement. When women feel comfortable and supported, they naturally prioritise themselves more, and that’s exactly what these spaces are designed to enable.”
The design choices reflect that brief. Total Fitness says every detail has been shaped to help women feel at ease, confident and in control — from carefully chosen equipment to calming décor, lower lighting and operational mirror-free zones. Staff are also specially trained to support women through menstrual cycles, pregnancy, postpartum recovery and menopause — a level of lived-reality awareness that many mainstream gyms are only just beginning to understand.
None of this says women-only gyms are the only answer. But the data does suggest they’re an effective answer for a lot of women — especially those who’ve tried, stopped, and blamed themselves when the real culprit was the environment.
And if the outcome is more women training consistently, feeling better, and building routines they can actually sustain? That’s not niche. That’s the point.
Find out more about The Women’s Gym on the Total Fitness website.
