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Membership and joining
One membership covers the gym floor, every studio class, the sauna, the tanning booths and a free fitness review with a written programme. You can pay annually up front, monthly on a rolling basis, or annually by monthly instalments — and there is a six-week intensive option for members who want a fixed block instead. Joining is done at reception or through the club's online portal, and the club holds a maximum of 500 members at any one time.
Before you pay anything
Three free ways to see the club first
These are separate offers, not one offer described three ways. Pick the one that matches what you actually want to test.
A free workout
A single session on the gym floor. An instructor walks you round the equipment, sets the machines to you and stays available while you use them.
Best if you have never used a gym, or the last one you joined left you to work it out alone.
A taster class
A single studio class of your choice, booked in advance because studio spaces are limited and a class can be full.
Right for you if classes are the reason you are interested — trying the room and the instructor tells you more than any timetable.
A free two-day pass
Two separate visits on one free pass, so you judge the club on more than a single session. This offer has run before; availability changes.
Worth it if you want to test the club at two different times of day — a Tuesday morning and a Thursday evening are different places.
All three are booked at reception rather than through an online form, which means you get a straight answer about availability instead of waiting for a callback. Bring trainers and a bottle of water; everything else the club has.
What you are paying for
Everything is on one membership
There is no "classes package" priced on top of a gym membership, and no premium tier that adds the sauna. The split is simple: membership covers the facility, and personal training is the only thing charged separately.
Included
- Unlimited use of the gym floor in opening hours
- Unlimited studio classes, subject to booking a space
- Sauna and changing rooms
- Tanning booths
- A free fitness review and a written programme, repeatable when your goals change
- Instructor supervision on the floor
- Members' lounge and free on-site parking
- ClubLink app access for booking and account details
Charged separately
- One-to-one personal training
- The six-week intensive programme, when it is running
Prices are confirmed by the club, not by this page. Rates change, and a stale number on a website is worse than no number. Ask at reception for the current rate on each plan before you sign anything.
Four ways to pay
Choosing a membership plan
Same facility, four commitment lengths. Which one fits depends less on money than on how predictable the next twelve months look for you.
- Annual, paid up front
- One payment for twelve months. The best value per week, and the option that removes the monthly decision to keep going. Choose it if you already know you will use the club — not as a way of forcing yourself to.
- Rolling monthly
- Renews month by month. Right if your shifts, childcare or health make the next few months genuinely uncertain, and worth the higher per-month cost for that flexibility.
- Annual, paid monthly
- A twelve-month commitment spread across monthly payments. Cheaper per month than rolling, but it is still a twelve-month agreement — read the term before you sign it, because this is the plan people most often misremember as monthly.
- Six-week intensive
- A fixed block with a structured programme, aimed at a specific result in a specific window. Ask when the next block starts and who is running it.
If you only want occasional access, day passes to Healthlands Durham are also sold through the third-party platform Hussle, priced by them rather than by the club. That route makes sense for a visitor to Durham for a week; it does not include the fitness review, and it is more expensive per visit than membership if you are training regularly.
The cap
Why membership stops at 500
Most gyms sell as many memberships as the direct debit system will hold, on the arithmetic that a large share of members will not come. Healthlands caps its roster at 500 instead. It is a commercial choice with an obvious cost to the club and an obvious benefit to the people in the building. The car park works, the studio has space, and the equipment you planned your session around is free when you get to it.
The practical consequence is that joining is not always open. When the club is at 500, new members wait for a place to come up. If you are thinking about it, ask where the numbers are before you plan a start date — particularly in January, when demand is highest and places go quickest.
ClubLink
The members' app
Class booking, cancelling a booked space, the live timetable and your membership details all sit in ClubLink, available on the App Store and Google Play. There is also a browser sign-in for members who would rather use a laptop.
Your login is set up at the desk on the first visit. Download the app before you go and it takes two minutes rather than ten.
Cancelling a class you cannot attend is not a formality. Studio spaces are limited, and a space released in the app goes straight back to another member.
Straight answers
Questions members ask before joining
Is the club really women only?
Yes, and it has been since 2001. There are no mixed sessions and no men's hours. That also means you cannot bring a male partner in on a guest visit.
I have never trained before. Will I be the only one?
No. The club's own description of its membership is that most women who join are new to exercise, and the average member is in her thirties or older. The fitness review exists precisely because the majority of new members need a starting programme rather than a tour.
How do I cancel a membership?
Cancellation is handled through a written cancellation form rather than by telling an instructor on your way out. The notice period and the terms depend on which plan you are on — a rolling monthly plan and a twelve-month agreement are not the same thing. Ask for the cancellation terms of your specific plan before you sign, and keep a copy of the completed form and the date you submitted it.
What if I am injured or ill for a long period?
Tell the club as soon as it happens rather than after the payments have gone out. Whether a freeze is possible depends on your agreement, and the reasonable point to raise it is at the start of the absence, with something in writing from your GP or physio if you have it.
Is there a joining fee?
Reception has the current figure. Joining fees and promotions change through the year, and this page does not quote a number it cannot keep accurate.
What about the Morpeth club?
It closed in 2020. The Morpeth club was taken over by another operator, and the team consolidated in Durham. Durham is the only Healthlands club.
Can under-18s join?
Age limits for gym and studio use are set by the club's own policy and insurance. Check at reception before travelling with a teenager who wants to join.
Start with the free workout
Ask at reception. If the club is at capacity you will be told so on the spot, rather than after a form submission.