A Fife personal trainer has opened a 24-hour women-only gym in Cowdenbeath.
Parisa Tavakoli, 32, unveiled Elite Female Fitness in a former boxing gym on the town’s High Street last week.
She wants to help women who may be “worried and intimidated” to feel confident in the gym.
The personal trainer, who is originally from Dalgety Bay and now lives in Hill of Beath, has also ensured the 24-hour gym is safe for women to visit when they can.
Parisa told The Courier: “I work with clients who are worried and intimidated about going to the gym and are not confident.
“Where we are there is nothing that offers anything for women to feel confident with a community around them.
“I turned it around in eight weeks, I only signed the lease on February 1, and have just opened up.
Cowdenbeath businesswoman says gym is ‘dark but feminine’
“I am a personal trainer and have been working with clients for four or five years.
“I first went to see the unit last year and then saw it was still available and went back and thought I will just take the chance.
“It gives me a space to have my clients and I know how hard it is for women to feel safe and confident in the gym.
“I have also got a little boy and I am a single mum so that is challenging, this means I have got the freedom to work where I want and when I want.”
Parisa is running the gym on her own so it will be unmanned at times, with members able to come and go, but it is covered by CCTV.
She is also limiting Elite Female Fitness memberships to 100 spaces at £35 per month so the gym is never too crowded.
Parisa said: “I will be here most of the time but overnight it will be monitored by CCTV.
“I will also be offering classes in the gym but not yet; classes will come as an addition.
“I did not expect to get the response I have, it has been amazing.
“We only have a few membership places left and I have been inundated with messages.
“I know I have been that girl in the past when I was younger who struggled to go to the gym and struggled with confidence.
“I have listened to people over the years being in this industry and hearing what their struggles are and thought of all of that when planning this.
“I knew what I wanted, I wanted it to be all black with neon signs, I just wanted to make it feminine.
“It is nice when you come in, it has a nice aura, it is dark but feminine, I am in love with it.”
The Courier has previously looked at six women-only gyms in Dundee, Perth, Angus and Fife.
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