No Boys Allowed! - Why Are Some Gyms Becoming Female Only?

Poppy Knight

Gym’s made ‘for women by women’ have been popping up over the past decade, but is the reason simply that ladies want a girls only club? Signs point to no...

“I feel like I’m being watched, like every movement is exactly how you’re not supposed to do it, waiting for me to fuck up… like my shorts are too small and my top is too tight.”

Caitlyn Shaw at the age of 19 decided to start lifting weights to help improve her bone density and muscle mass.

When she showed up for the first time, however, she felt “like a fish out of water”.

“Even finding a machine to use is an obstacle, every single one was taken by a man twice my size scrolling on his phone.”

Many gyms know those in the fitness community struggle with certain machines always being occupied - the cables, hip thrust, and smith machine never seen with an empty seat - so owners order duplicates of the most popular machines to accommodate for the high demand.

However, Caitlyn’s struggle isn’t in waiting her turn, it's that when a machine becomes available she doesn’t “stand a chance against the lads around me” in claiming it.

Ainslie Hodgkinson, a 56-year-old Cert-4 qualified fitness coach, has spent the last 12 years making sure her clients are pushing themselves to get the best health results.

“As a PT (personal trainer) I often see people training with really poor form, and it’s hard for me not to correct them for safety reasons -  it feels like my duty of care. But to be honest I’m never sure how people - men more so - will take the guidance.”

During a workout she became concerned that a man  was going to “throw his back out” because his form was at risk of injury, and decided to offer him advice.

“With every biceps curl he would swing the weights forward, and he’d dramatically arch his back in the process.”

Ainslie reflects on how she felt after speaking to him, saying she wished she’d never opened her mouth.

“He rounded his shoulders to make himself bigger and he said ‘I’ve been doing this a while darl, I’ve got this.’”

“He made me feel small, he made me feel weak, he made me feel like my time and experience was worthless.”

For many women - experienced or not - public gyms can be so intimidating that it impacts their ability to work on their health and wellbeing.

Emma S. Cowley and Jekaterina Schneider’s  2025 mixed-methods study  on ‘Women’s body image and experiences of exercising in gym settings’ highlights how shared spaces can negatively impact women’s psyche.

279 women were surveyed, 84% of which were active gym-goers.

Some of the participants explained how being overly aware of their appearance can make the gym an uncomfortable experience.

55% of participants claimed their stomach was the part of their body they were “least confident in”, followed by the legs with 13%.

“I get insecure about camel toe even when wearing appropriate underwear”, one says.

Another is worried about “Being able to see period knickers when wearing leggings.”

41.4% of respondents said they saw “potential dangers” when deciding what to wear to the gym, beyond how the outfits could make them self-conscious.

The reason is swiftly explained when 46.6% of them admitted they had received unsolicited comments at the gym, mostly from men.

Lastly, many of the responses included words like “foolish” “stupid” and “newbie”, where fears of seeming incompetent or silly meant many wouldn’t try at all.

Women have taken to TikTok to share these grievances and find community.

Often videos of women receiving unwanted solicitations, having uncomfortable encounters with other members, or about male-centric design of gyms go viral.

Many commenters advocate for their women's only gym claiming it was the solution to their problems.

Others comment that they wish they could find a female-only centre that is affordable or close by.

Online discourse has led to new lines of discussion opening up about gyms and gender.

Some are questioning why men shouldn't also get male only gyms, or even men's only areas in public facilities.

Others criticise gender-private gyms, and those who support them, for creating segregation and hostility.

In response to this unrest many business owners have decided to market their gyms as female-only.

K5 fitness - a women's only exercise centre - was established in 2020 not only to create a safe space for women, but also to accomodate specifically for those who wear religious coverings and struggle to find the space and support needed to improve their health.

Salma, from KF's administration, says that many of their members "finally feel comfortable training in a gym setting".

"Some people may question why the gym is female only, but we always explain that our purpose is to fill a gap in the fitness industry. Women deserve a space where their needs are the priority," says Salma.

73% of adult Australian females reported having sedentary or low activty levels to  VicHealth .

Gyms like KF Fitness are trying to lower this number by tackling the obstacles they face, such as having a children's play area so mothers can make time to exercise, or having blacked out windows so religious coverings can be taken off so women can move freely.

With studies emerging over the recent decades on the female body conversations have sparked up on how the fitness world must adapt to benefit women the same way it has for men.

"Women have unique fitness needs, whether it’s building strength to support daily activities, improving core and pelvic floor health, or training in ways that complement hormonal cycles," says Salma.

"Alongside this, nutrition coaching plays a key role in helping women fuel their bodies properly, support hormone balance, and achieve their health and fitness goals."

Each human has a circadian rhythm: our sleep-wake cycle that helps our body adjust our hormones across 24 hours.

Men experience this cycle - just as women do - giving them energy in the mornings, alertness during the day, and drowsiness in the evening, feeling more or less the same each day.

Women, however, are regulated primarily on the infradian rhythm: the 28 day cycle which releases and suppresses hormones in females depending on which phase they are in.

The four phases of this cycle mean from week to week women have drastically different energy levels.

Menopause and the harsh hormonal changes are also important to consider when you are exercising, as it could impact your ability to move, your mental health, and what exercises would benefit you best.

Even the difference between women's centre of gravity being closer to the hips, while men are above the torso, can mean typical workouts and machines can have a drastically different feel and impact on the person using it.

 The National Library of Medicine's 2023 study  on how 'biological sex-related differences' can impact simply doing a standing turn.

Because of the shape of women's pelvic structures and tendency to carry fat in the lower half of the body, the study highlights how this different centre of gravity indicates "a decrease in the effective mechanical advantage of the hip abductor muscles, and the maintenance of pelvic stability during a single leg support activity".

In short, women and men are made differently: in our muscles, skeletons, brains, and hormones.

Women therefore are likely to struggle in conventional gyms which are traditionally made to enhance and work with the male physique.

After 30 years of age the  Office On Women's Health  claims that 3-5% of muscle mass is naturally lost, often exaggerated in women during menopause and hormone therapy.

Women who are not training their bodies to accomodate for this through diet and strength training could be at risk of developing Sarcopenia.

Workout regimes like pilates, yoga and martial arts involve balance, low impact strength training, and tailoring to the individuals body.

Female only gyms have incorporated this into their marketing, where women can come to feel safe and ensure that they are exercising to better their health in the way their body needs.