New female-only gym opens in North End to help women build strength and improve health
Athoria also offers classes and red light therapy
A new female-only gym has opened in North End, offering strength training and red light therapy to help improve female health.
Athoria, owned by friends Chelsea Sturgess and Malgorzata Dominska, opened on Powerscourt Road on November 2 after three years of planning.
Ms Sturgess and Ms Dominska met while working as personal trainers at the Pure Gym on Commercial Road, and soon came up with the idea of opening a women’s only space after a female fitness class they began at the chain gym had excellent feedback.
“We just wanted to create a really good community of women to come together, a nice, comfortable, safe space for women to train in,” said Ms Sturgess.
“We've been working at different gyms in Portsmouth, and I think the services for females was a little bit lacking, and space or the equipment they provide, it wasn't what we would like to have for our female clients,” said Ms Dominska.
Ms Sturgess said: “We have run a couple of female-only programs within the commercial gyms, and we had really good results from them. And we found the women were coming really regularly; they were really consistent.
“We had a group chat, and a lot of them—some of them became friends from the group chat, and they would text outside, say, ‘Are you coming tonight?’. It made it a bit more of a community and like a buddy system, because I think if you come with someone or you share the experience with someone, it helps keep you accountable.”
The new gym is built around strength training, using equipment designed to be better suited for women. The gym does not offer much cardio equipment, with the primary focus of training being building muscle, rather than fat loss.
Ms Dominska said: “We want females to be strong. For a long time, obviously females were just taught how to look small and skinny, and, you know, everything comes back to just the looks.
“I think strength is important because as a female, we are prone to osteoporosis, menopause, endometriosis, and all those kinds of aspects of female health can be improved by fitness and building strength. It's about being strong from the inside out.
“When I started at the gym when I was 21 and I was very shy. But when you're building confidence at the gym, that confidence shows into your life as well. You are feeling better, you're moving better, you have more energy, and in general just life feels much better when you just feel strong.
“When females are in a big gym, there is obviously lots of testosterone there and they do feel watched. Not that it's always the case that they're constantly being watched, but they are aware of that male energy. Sometimes even if they want to do the strength training and they see like five massive blokes in the free weights area, they're more likely not to go there, so they will stick to maybe cardio where there are not as many men.”
Athoria offers classes to take care of “every single aspect of fitness”, including classes to help improve strength and muscle tone. However, they also offer ‘Restore’ classes, which are held at a far slower pace and incorporate red light mats.
Ms Sturgess said: “When you come in, we offer you a collagen shot, and then it's very slow-paced.
“The restore classes are more about mobility, slow breathwork, really just coming in and just resetting.”
Entry to the gym can be paid for through a pay-as-you-go or membership system. Classes and gym sessions are capped at small numbers, to ensure visitors do not have to wait to use the equipment they want to.
Until Saturday November 15, all classes and gym induction sessions are free to access, allowing women to try out the studio. More information about the gym can be found here.