High-end fitness chain Equinox is launching one of the most expensive gym memberships in the world: a $40,000-a-year program aimed at improving overall health and longevity.
Equinox has partnered 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 rapidly growing longevity and wellness market, where the fields of medicine, biotechnology, fitness and nutrition are converging in the quest to slow the effects of aging.
“It's truly a paradigm shift in how we can live with vitality and avoid suffering,” says Jonathan Swerdlin, co-founder of Function Health. “It's about what's above the surface, your abs and glutes, which you can see in the mirror and 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 starts with a series of tests. Function Health will test members on 100 biomarkers – everything from heart, liver and kidney health to metabolic and immune systems to cancer markers and nutrients. Equinox will then perform its own battery of fitness tests, including VO2 max, strength and range of motion. The tests are repeated twice a year.
An Equinox concierge collects all testing and data and helps the member create a personalized plan to improve their overall health and fitness. Each member will have a core team including a fitness trainer, a nutrition coach, a sleep coach and 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 per month of coaching and training, according to Equinox.
“It's the same as Formula 1 or an athlete, where you get a team of top experts in all these different industries 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.
This move will be a key test of Equinox's ongoing efforts to expand beyond fitness into the broader health and wellness sector, which has become a booming market among the affluent.
The company recently closed a new $1.8 billion financing round, refinancing $1.2 billion of existing debt. It said last month's performance made for 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 the total number of locations in the pipeline 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.
“I sometimes joke that we've always been in the sustainability business and science is catching up,” she said.
The new program costs $3,000 per month for a minimum of six months. The fee does not include an Equinox gym membership, bringing the total to approximately $40,000 or more for the year.
“It's a people-centered, very upscale service-meets-data-meets-coaching program,” Klim said.
The Optimize program will initially be available in New York City and Highland Park, Texas, starting in late May, and will eventually be rolled out to other states, according to Equinox. Members can train at Equinox's elite “E Clubs,” which are more like private gyms with higher membership prices.
Swerdlin said Function Health's mission is to help people live “100 healthy years.” The company's proprietary program costs $499 for testing 100 biomarkers. Yet the demand is so high that there is a waiting list of more than 200,000 people. He said Function wanted to partner with Equinox “because they are the leader in the category.” He said Function's data is most useful when it can be applied, and that's where Equinox, with its personalized fitness and health programs, comes in.
“100 healthy years of living doesn't happen in a doctor's office,” Swerdlin said. “It happens in your daily decisions. And it also happens with the way you train, and Equinox really helps close the loop on that.”