Women only gym. Am I being a killjoy?

Nope. Just recognise that for many women a 'nice bum' is really not on their radar (maybe they already have one or just maybe they don't actually care) and they're at the gym for the health benefits and general well being.

Sprinters (who do lots of strength training) nearly always look much more buff than long distance runners. I don't know that many women that seriously squat or deadlift but most want to have a nice bum etc.

It's the sprinters who look bulky though.... some of them, not all.
Never seen a bulky looking long distance runner.

As for the second sentence. Speak for yourself!

I don’t think it’s dodgy- I suspect they’ve spotted a gap in the market and assume they can make money.

As a fatty (hate cupcakes by the way - they're just disappointment camouflaged in pretty frosting) - it's the women I've had nastier experience with at the gyms... making comments about me to their mates, leaning over machines to chat so I can't get on to use them, and one female member of staff who openly laughed at me being there. I no longer go.

Haha 2 early 20s guys open a gym with a name that sounds like fake S London patois for MILF.... I don’t think I am the target market.

Our council gym used to have women only sessions that were well attended, but in truth, in my years of intensive gym going I never encountered anything other than respectful support from the men who used it. Of all the places I have been harassed or assaulted by men, the gym has not been a problem.

I don’t think it’s dodgy at all but I think the reason they’re targeting mums is probably because they assumed transwomen can’t give birth and so it gives them some cover to let them know that the gym is for women that give birth and hence make it exclusive to one sex.

I think there trying their best and it would be good for us to give them feedback without defaming them

It'd be great if the owners would clarify their policy so people can make an informed decision.

However, those exemptions do not allow you to provide for one gender only. In other words, offering a gym that is open only to women and trans women (but not to men) is in breach of the Equality Act.

What you fail to mention is that under the equality act you are perfectly entitled to open a gym and limit membership to women and Trans men only (all being the same sex).

Am I to only one who thinks it's a bit dodgy 2 men deciding their life dream is to own a gym for women only?

Delirium

Oh hell, that gets on my nerves too. And ending your work out by leaving the ONE Olympic bar, stacked with plates, on the rack, and sodding off to the shower.

Extra points if you do this with the ladies Olympic bar, because you chose a lighter bar just so you could put extra plates on it, for the sake of the photos your mate was taking of you.

And leaving a bar full of plates on the squat rack so I have to strip it before I can get the bar down because it’s also set too high.

It used to piss me off so much about men putting 30kg plates on top of the 1.25kg plates.

I used to have start my workout by rearranging everything on the plate tree so it was all accessible, every morning.

If you don't have the energy to put the plate back where it should be after your bicep curls, it was obviously too heavy for you. There should be signs saying this.

I've been to a fair few gyms. My favourites have both had women only sections, and I've really appreciated them.

My current gym is massive, but there's a room that's women's only, which has a couple of running machines, one of all the various other machines, a couple of squat racks, and some space for floor/free weights. I have been onto the main floor, but the racks there are often monopolised by massive, sweaty, grunting men, who don't put stuff back, and the smaller bars are generally buried at the back etc. Whereas in the women's section, it's cleaner, tidier, and the equipment (where possible) is sized towards women (I really wish they'd do smaller machines too - I can't use some of it because it just doesn't adjust down to someone 5' tall!).

I do also like that no-one's staring at anyone, and the women are generally friendly, whilst also keeping to themselves most of the time - ie. the right balance for strangers in a room.

So I appreciate a women's gym. I don't appreciate being patronised.

Can't private companies just do whatever they want? No excuse necessary?

Yes in theory they can, so long as any the exclusions on the service relating to a protected characteristic is to meet a legitimate and proportionate aim. So you could have a gym for 60+ , a gym for pregnant women, a gym for people aged up to 18 etc , from a business sense it would make more sense to have a gym which offered these sessions individually, but if there was a demand for a 60+ gym or an under 18 gym then yes you could open it.

People misunderstand what the Equality Act is for , it’s to ensure that people aren’t treated unfavourable because of their sex/age/disability/religion/sexuality, not to make sure that all businesses have to be all things to all people.

Hopefully a woman will open up a women only gym in direct competition and exclude transwomen (be used it would legitimate and proportionate) and the transwomen can all train together in the male-owned gym for the 'mamas'.

Can't private companies just do whatever they want? No excuse necessary? There are adult-only gyms, why not-female only gyms? Do you see 17-yr olds piling on to gyms who do this, saying they're not exclusive?

No - the EA allows segregation by age in some, but not all circumstances.

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/age-discrimination#lawful

Why? I don't see the issue here at all. If there's a market for this what difference does it make?

If there's a market, fine, it might serve some purpose ... but a women only gym is likely to attract more members and therefore be a better business proposition if it actually is women only including the trainers.

I'm generally fine with male trainers, doctors etc myself, but it's clear that many women for very good reasons aren't so properly single sex provision of services will be of benefit to them.

I wonder if the owners know there is a thread about their gym on MN.

I agree the name is awful.

Why? I don't see the issue here at all. If there's a market for this what difference does it make?

They say they want to create a business that is female led and female focused, but it's an article about two men opening a gym. Where are the women who will be 'leading' the gym? They have less than a month till they open, but all I can see in the paper is pictures of men.

Nothing wrong with men investing in any business, but if my USP were 'female only gym led by women', I think I'd at least try to give the impression that I had employed some female staff.

I like the idea of female PTs- I’ve had some good male PTs but one female trainer had had 4 kids, she knew what happens to your body after a baby. Every woman is different but I nearly burst into tears not long after having had my daughter when a young male PT asked if I had any injuries etc and I told him my pelvic floor was fucked. I don’t feel that way now but I can empathise that some women will feel unable to discuss stuff like that. And I had no birth injuries other than stitches.

There's a fantastic women-only (and women-run) gym near London Bridge, if anyone's interested. I felt so safe there and the equipment is excellent. Forgot what it's called.

The poster who wrote about the Equalities Act needs to look at the permitted exceptions.

Though I'm much stronger (physically and mentally) and more flexible than I ever have been from doing daily yoga at home than from going to the gym three times a week when I was younger.

And I never get so much as a sniffle whereas I used to get several nasty colds a year. Gyms are just filthy germ boxes, I'll never set foot in one again.