The best gyms in Manchester for 2024

Like all the gyms in this US-born franchise, Barry’s Manchester is known for challenging classes and workout studios that look and feel like a high-tempo club night.

BLOK is popular thanks to the variety of classes on offer at its Manchester studios (you can do strength, various forms of yoga, boxing, barre, calisthenics, HIIT, meditation, pilates and more).

This boxing gym next to Mayfield Park doubles as the headquarters of boxing tech company Corner, hence the name Corner HQ. While the tech developers tap away on their computers upstairs, the downstairs is devoted to the sport itself with a boxing ring, bags, strength equipment, and indoor and outdoor workout space, plus changing rooms.

The F45 franchise has gyms all over the world but we doubt there are any quite like F45 Training Manchester NQ. The team, led by studio manager Ruben, have created a really friendly, inclusive environment with their no-mirrors, no-egos policy and their high-fun approach to HIIT. 

The first thing you see when you step into this under-the-arches gym near Victoria Station is the long line of medals on the wall.

At under £20 a month, JD Gyms Manchester is one of your cheaper gym membership options in the city centre. And you get more than you might expect for that price. 

Just the tip of this huge, iceberg-like gym is visible from street level. Head down the stairs and you’ll find it’s a much bigger beast than you might have imagined, with an 18m pool, an expansive gym floor, a sauna, a steam room, and two good-sized fitness studios.

Manchester Aquatics Centre is open once again, following an 18-month closure for an extensive refurbishment and upgrade. The new centre is smarter, more accessible, and crucially, more environmentally-friendly.

This gym on top of The Printworks is probably best known for its pool with views over Corporation Street. There’s much more to it though than a photogenic swimming spot. Especially since it became part of the Nuffield Health Group, which also runs hospitals and medical centres, including one here at Nuffield Health Manchester Printworks.

The Olympus Projects takes its inspiration from the original musclebound warriors, the Greek Gods. The motivational quote as you enter tells you to forget the constraints of your human form and embrace your inner Perseus, Hercules or Athena. And then you meet the man, AJ, who’s going to help you do it, and you start to believe it might actually be possible.

This huge sports facility just off Oxford Road is part of Better, the organisation that runs all the council’s leisure centres and swimming pools. The Sugden Sports Centre gets a lot of investment from Manchester Uni and Manchester Met so their students and staff get discounted rates (and make up the majority of the customers).

If you’re specifically looking for a CrossFit gym near to Manchester city centre, Train CrossFit Manchester on the edge of Castlefield is one of your best options.

UBX Media City is a new boxing fitness gym at Salford Quays offering small group sessions that pack a punch. It’s part of a franchise that has 90 gyms in Australia and New Zealand; this is one of the first to open in the UK.

This Hyrox-affiliated gym is five minutes’ walk from Piccadilly Station, in the direction of Mayfield Park.

V1BE by Lifestyle Fitness Mosley Street is an edgier, and dare we say cooler, gym than what you might expect from this nationwide chain. Partly it’s in the industrial, neon-lit design, and partly it’s in the V1BE class concept.

If you like your gym to be the kind of place where you can spend an entire day, hopping from class to treadmill to pool to sauna to cafe, Waterside Leisure Club will fit the bill.

If you want a gym with a pool in the city centre, The Y Club is one of just a handful of options. And if you want it to also have a sports hall, indoor running track, and a whole range of associated sports clubs, it’s your only one.

With its stylish design and on-trend classes, boutique gym Zeno Health Club (formerly known as Hero Training Clubs) is well suited to the NOMA neighbourhood’s young, apartment-dwelling residents.