“I met Tori at an F45 class back in 2018,” says 30-year-old Alice. “We pretty much laughed our way around all the exercise stations – especially as we both sucked at the pull-ups. Afterwards, we grabbed a coffee and I don’t think we stopped talking – mainly sharing stories about our equally disastrous love lives and the awful dates we’d been on.

“Friendship in your 20s is hard. I suddenly found myself living miles away from my university friends, my school friends were all married off or living with long-term boyfriends, and so my closest friends became the ones I lived with, exercised with or met through work,” Alice adds.

“Since meeting, Tori and I have continued to put the world to rights over many a brunch, championing each other’s ambitious career dreams. She cheered me over the line at the London Marathon, celebrated my 30th birthday with my family and we’re hoping to go on holiday together at the end of this summer.”

Tori feels similarly sentimental about her friendship with Alice: “I adore Alice’s friendship,” she says. “We bond over wellness and mental health. We can talk for England but also sit in complete silence. It feels very much a two-way street. We don’t see each other every week but we both make the effort.”

4 women share their stories of friendships that started in the gym