The Latest Workout Trend Is All-Women Gyms. Introducing...
New all-female gyms are a far cry from the bubblegum pink, cheesy, aerobics-based no-men-allowed gyms your mom went to. Photo: Getty Images.
Celia, a 38-year-old Broadway actress in New York City, was always physically active — doing Barry’s Bootcamp classes and yoga and using her gym membership at Crunch. But when she got pregnant two and a half years ago, she wanted to find a new prenatal fitness regimen. Luckily, she says, she found Uplift Studios, an all-women boutique fitness studio-slash-“female society.” “Not only did Uplift keep me in shape and healthy during my pregnancy, it helped me postpartum to ‘get my body back’ — and feel like a human being again,” she says. In fact, she loved the badass, supportive, hip environment so much that it’s still her go-to place for exercise postpregnancy.
Uplift isn’t an anomaly. In fact, all-women workout havens are on the rise — and, like Uplift, they’re a far cry from the bubblegum pink, cheesy, aerobics-based no-men-allowed gyms your mom went to. For one, they’re catering to millennial ladies who’ve embraced the SoulCycle, juice generation, “healthy-is-hip” mindset by creating a “cool” atmosphere — sans the dudes — that women want to be a part of. “We are especially popular among young women in their 20s and 30s who are looking for more than a great workout,” says Britt Rettig, founder of GRIT Fitness, a female-centric studio in Dallas. “They are looking for a great experience and cool people to share it with.”
Unlike big box gyms like Lucille Roberts, Uplift, GRIT, and other similar concepts popping up around the country are boutique experiences. But it’s more than just size that separates these new models from the old. “Uplift is so much more than a fitness studio,” says Uplift co-founder Leanne Shear. “Though we specialize in group classes and personal training, we also empower women in all aspects of their lives, through things like our day-long Career and Inspiration Convention, our ongoing Strong Women Uplift Each Other speaker series, each of which tackles a topic difficult for women to open up about.”
That sense of 21st-century #GirlPower and camaraderie is palpable when you walk in the door of GRIT, too. Heavy on the friendly vibes (the etiquette policy encourages saying “hi” to everyone you see), the ladies of GRIT also host monthly social events and community classes at cool hotels and bars. That friendly feeling is exactly what attracted Allison, 27. When she moved to Dallas from Houston to be an operations manager with Teach for America, she thought the transition would be a cinch. “I found out quickly that ‘adulting’ is really hard, and I was struggling to find that core group of friends who are your plus ones for everything from going for a run to browsing the farmers’ market,” she says. Then she found GRIT. “I felt like I instantly connected with women with similar values and interests,” she says. “Having a group of athletic, strong women around you is one of the most empowering feelings — we all have that dialogue in our brains when our triceps are burning, and we know how to power through together to reach a whole new level of mental and physical strength,” she says. “GRIT very much reminds me of the Sex and the City crew for 2016 except rather than strutting around Dallas in Manolos, you’ll find us in leggings and a good pair of Nikes.”
So women like Allison and Celia are seeking out these gyms — and other women like Shear and Rettig are #bossbabe-style creating them — for community, but also as a “safe space” to work out.
In fact, there’s research to suggest that women prefer single-sex environments in general. It could be because when men are removed from the equation, we feel like we can just focus on the task at hand — the workout, in this case. “It does seem that women feel more self-confident in same-sex environments, especially those that are evaluative in nature, like, ahem, the gym, so it may be that women are interested in working out with other women who they feel would be more accepting in that environment,” says Julie Partridge, Ph.D., a sport and exercise psychology professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
“Oftentimes, workout avoidance has a lot less to do with the exercise, and a lot more to do with the social aspect,” agrees NSCA trainer Ali Holman, owner of CoreCamper.com. “Imagine you go to a party, know no one, and have to be at your most sweaty and vulnerable all at the same time — not fun, right? Women often benefit from working out with other like-minded women to focus more on burning fat and less on eyes burning a hole through you,” says Holman.
And that ability to focus on the task at hand — the workout — has serious hot-body payoffs too: “I often receive feedback that our clients feel more free to take risks, especially when it comes to weight lifting and dancing, since they don’t have to worry about looking stupid or being gawked at,” says Rettig. That, in turn, leads to faster results.
Still, there are potential downsides, and this type of experience is not for every woman. “There could be some missed opportunity to be more outside of your comfort zone, and to get more comfortable with being around different people while working out,” says Partridge. It’s true that guys can contribute to the camaraderie at the gym rather than wreck it — just look at CrossFit, for example, and how men and women do the same WODs [“workout of the day”] and form minifamilies within their respective “boxes” [CrossFit speak for “gym.”]
What’s more, if you’re single and looking to meet someone, the gym can be a great place to pick up a date. So by cloistering yourself as a heterosexual female in an all-female gym, you’re also eliminating the possibility of working into the squat rack with Mr. Right.
Speaking of CrossFit, those guys and girls also understand that a good workout is a good workout — and it shouldn’t be gender-specific. So, just because you don’t work out with men does not mean you shouldn’t work out like them: “One of the most common misconceptions is that women will get “bulky” if they “work out like men,” says Holman. “Women are just not engineered to get bulky — our natural testosterone levels don’t allow it — but building muscle acts as our very own personal fat burner long after our workout is done,” she assures. So, when considering joining an all-gal gym, be sure to check out the classes available, and peruse the numbers etched on the weights — are there heavy dumbbells and kettlebells available or just “Barbie” bells?
The ladies at GRIT certainly don’t shun the heavy weights. “We focus on becoming strong and developing a larger than life spirit at GRIT — we don’t focus on weight loss, becoming small or skinny,” confirms Rettig. “Typically challenging workouts (i.e. CrossFit) have a masculine culture and are dominated by men. I wanted to create a place where women could work out hardcore but do so in a fun, encouraging, feminine environment.” Celia says the same is true for Uplift: “The strength and weight training component is real and powerful at Uplift, which makes it feel a lot more badass than the aerobics or weight machines I associate with my own mother’s fitness regime,” she says.
And their success is hard to ignore. Uplift recently opened a second location — across the country. “We opened in West Hollywood earlier this year and we are seeing the same hugely positive response from women on the West Coast as well,” says Shear. So has GRIT. Since the first location opened in January 2015, a second, 5,000-square-foot flagship followed —and attendance has more than doubled since the first year. “We’ve impacted over 4,000 women in the Dallas community in this short period of time,” says Rettig.
The bottom line: Like most things in life and in fitness, it’s all about finding what works for you. Just because your friend Sally lost 20 pounds on the Paleo diet doesn’t mean it’s right for you. And even if that blanket-scarf looks divine on Katherine, it doesn’t mean it’s a trend that’ll look good on your completely different figure. So, too, just because for Celia and Allison a female-centric workout environment works, doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for you.
As you would before joining any gym, do your research, find some options near you, and then go visit. See how you feel once you’re there, take ’em up on the free week or class or whatever offering they have, and try it out. Then, make your own educated decision. Holman sums it up well: “The most important thing is you feel you are in a comfortable, judgment-free zone and if it’s with only your fellow fit sisters … go for it.”
Check out these four other gyms that are doing the #girlpower fitness thing right:
Hiitgirl — London
Take their “signature” 30-minute efficient, interval-style workout — or one of their other eight class options from Yogabomb to Hiitgirl and Him (yes, you can bring your boyfriend to this one.)
Red Zone Fitness — Coral Gables, Florida
Check out their gallery of weight loss success stories on their site for proof their 50-minute group class concept yields results! Then, sign up for a free trial if you’re in the area.
Healthworks — Boston
15,000 female members among four Boston-area locations can’t be wrong, right? From group fitness to personal training — and even Pilates reformer classes — this gym has it all.
W3 — Chicago
Women’s Workout & Wellness has four locations in the Chicago area — and offers three-day trial passes.
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