Women ask us the same five questions before they will come and look. Here are the answers in full, so you can decide from home.
I have shown a great many women around this floor, and the questions are always the same five. They are good questions and they deserve answering properly rather than in a brochure sentence.
Is it really ladies only, or is it a shared floor with a screen? It is a separate floor. Third floor, its own entrance from the stairwell, screened from the street and from the landing. From nine until twelve and from three until six every day, and nine until eleven on Friday, there is no man on the floor, no man at the desk and no man in the stairwell. The trainers on duty are women and the person who checks you in is a woman. In eight years there has been one exception, which was a medical emergency.
What equipment is there? A full set. Racks, free weights up to a proper size, machines, cardio and a studio. This is the question I most want people to come and check for themselves, because a ladies section in most places turns out to be three treadmills and a mat in a corner, and women have learned to expect that. Ours has more free weights on it than the main floor did in 2016.
Can I change and pray there? Yes. Changing room, showers and a prayer space on the same floor, so you never have to use a shared area or go down a floor in training clothes.
What do women wear? Whatever they are comfortable in. Most of our members train in long sleeves and full length leggings or loose trousers, some with a scarf, some without, and nobody comments on any of it. There is no dress code beyond shoes you can train in.
And will somebody show me what to do? Yes, and this is the part I would push hardest. Every new member gets two sessions with a trainer and a written programme, and during ladies hours that trainer is me or Zeba. If you have never trained, take the women only beginners intake instead: twelve women, six weeks, twice a week, all starting on the same day with me. That group is the reason most of our regular members are regular.
One thing I want to say about the timetable, because it is the part people underestimate. We do six hours a day rather than one class a week, and that is not generosity. A woman who can only train at half past nine, between the school run and work, needs half past nine to exist every single day. A weekly slot is a nice gesture that nobody can build a habit on, and it is why the ladies programme at most gyms stays small.
Come and look during the ladies hours and I will show you round myself. Ring or message and say you would like a woman to meet you at the door, and one of us will be there.
