High-end fitness chain Equinox is launching one of the world’s most expensive gym memberships — a $40,000-a-year program aimed at improving overall health and longevity.
Equinox is partnering with lab-testing startup Function Health to launch “Optimize by Equinox,” a personalized health program that includes everything from personal training and nutrition plans to sleep coaching and massage therapy. The program, announced Monday, is part of the fast-growing longevity and wellness market, where the fields of medicine, biotechnology, fitness and nutrition are merging in an effort to slow the effects of aging.
“It’s really a paradigm shift in how we can live with vitality and avoid pain,” said Jonathan Swerdlin, co-founder of Function Health. “It’s about what’s above the surface, your abs and your butt, which you can see in the mirror which are great. But it’s also about what’s below the surface and what you can’t see in the mirror. And that’s revolutionary.”
The Optimize program begins with a series of tests. Function Health will test members for 100 biomarkers — everything from heart, liver and kidney health to metabolic and immune systems to cancer markers and nutrients. Equinox will then run its own battery of fitness tests, including VO2 max, strength and range of motion. The exams are repeated twice a year.
An Equinox “concierge” compiles all the tests and data and helps the member design a personalized plan to improve their overall health and fitness. Each member will have a core team that includes a fitness coach, nutrition coach and sleep coach as well as a massage therapist.
The Optimize membership includes three 60-minute workouts per week with a top-level trainer. It also includes two half-hour sessions per month with a nutrition coach, two half-hour sessions per month with a sleep coach and one massage therapy session per month. In total, the program amounts to 16 hours a month of training and education, according to Equinox.
“It’s the same as Formula 1 or an athlete, where you’re given a team of top experts in all these different disciplines, to design a program based on all the data we’ve collected,” said Julia Klim, vice president of strategic partnerships and business development. at Equinox.
The move will mark a major test of Equinox’s ongoing efforts to expand beyond fitness into the broader health and wellness business, which has become a booming market among the affluent.
The company recently closed a new $1.8 billion funding round that refinances $1.2 billion in existing debt. It said its performance last month made it the second-best April in the company’s history.
Equinox plans to open new clubs in Philadelphia and the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles later this year, bringing its total locations to 27. The company currently operates 107 locations worldwide, according to its website.
Klim said Equinox has always focused on the “four pillars” of longevity: movement, regeneration, nutrition and community.
“Sometimes I joke that we’ve always been in the longevity business and science is catching up,” he said.
The new plan will cost $3,000 a month for at least six months. The fee does not include an Equinox gym membership, which brings the total to about $40,000 or more for the year.
“It’s a human-first, ultra-luxurious, performance-enhancing training program,” Klim said.
The Optimize program will initially be available starting in late May in New York City and Highland Park, Texas, and will eventually roll out to other states, according to Equinox. Members will be able to work out at Equinox’s elite “E Clubs,” which are more like private gyms with higher membership fees.
Swerdlin said Function Health’s mission is to help people live “100 healthy years.” The company’s program costs $499 for 100 biomarker tests. However, demand is so great that it has a waiting list of more than 200,000 people. He said Function wanted to partner with Equinox “because it’s the leader in the category.” He said Function’s data is most useful when it’s actionable, which is where Equinox, with its personalized fitness and health programs, comes in.
“Living 100 healthy years doesn’t happen in a doctor’s office,” Swerdlin said. “It happens in your daily decisions. And it also happens in how you exercise, and Equinox really helps close the loop on that.”
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