Back in the day, gyms were places where (mostly) men could lift, grunt, and sweat a lot. Old-school outfits like Gold’s Gym were the gold standard, until advances in fitness equipment helped change the gym game, along with a growing drive to attract women into the market.
Now gyms are changing again. The latest rounds of changes are potentially exponential, driven by a combination of ever-advancing technology and the ability to use it to offer a variety of leading-edge luxury features. Welcome to the world of super gyms, where you can truly have it all: Try out the latest fitness tech, get your vitals and body comp tested, actually be examined by your doctor, have a spa experience, and try to live forever.
Oh, and yeah…you might even be able to slip in a workout, too.
So what exactly is a super gym?
Pinning this one down is tricky, because the definition of a super gym is a slippery, evolving thing. The simplest way to describe it to say it’s an effort to shift your basic trip to the gym into a complete luxury experience, but the definition of luxury can vary wildly depending on the prospective member.
Take John Mackey, for instance. He’s the founder of Whole Foods and the co-founder of Love.Life, the latter of which is a leading super gym. Mackey has already managed to turn the basic act of grocery shopping into an all-encompassing, paycheck-consuming experience, so he certainly has the corporate chops to tackle the gym format.
“We’re creating a new kind of wellness center that integrates primary care, fitness, nutrition, and recovery all under one roof,” he says, giving what’s become a stock reply when asked about the intent of Love.Life. “It’s not just a gym — it’s a super gym.”
The “super” part of super gym also extends to the price tag. As in “high.” A Love.Life Unlimited plan costs about $50K, which buys a lot of privileges. It also buys a lot of attention from multiple professionals who provide “unlimited personal training, physical therapy, and unparalleled precision care from a physician-led team of 20-plus multidisciplinary experts.”
The health care factor is driving super gyms, too
The key words in that last paragraph are “physician-led team.” One factor driving the growth of super gyms is the health care factor, and the issue there is the problems we all face when we actually try to get an in-person exam and treatment from a physician.
That issue is even affecting the one-percenters, and many are joining super gyms to customize their health care experience by marrying comprehensive care with tailored fitness-and-wellness services. These clients are also interested in new tech, diet and supplements related to longevity that are being pioneered by companies hellbent on extending the human life span.
This entire area is the wild card in the potential growth of super gyms. With major aspects of health care shifting on what seems like a monthly basis and the quality of that care in general decline, the kind of access elite gyms can provide to high-level doctors and medical care is going to become more and more attractive.
Some other names on the super gym roster
There are other super gyms offering elite experiences, of course. Equinox is a leader in this market, as is Life Time. Unlike old-school gyms, super gyms are upsold using flowery verbiage that sounds like it was lifted from a vacation travel brochure.
“From the warm welcome of the yoga studio to the cool shade of the cabana, every inch of Life Time is designed with your well-being in mind. It’s so much more than a gym.”
Not all super gyms are part of growing super chains, however. Some are singular entities — think elite clubs that start with a single upper-crust sport like racquet ball, then expand to add catered services that culminate in an expansive (and expensive), curated experience.
Super gyms vs virtual gyms: Which is better?
While super gyms might dwarf their down-the-block competitors, they do have competition from another source — virtual gyms.
These entities are based on high-end technology that focus largely on workouts. You get virtual-reality fitness experiences, both live-streamed and on-demand, and personal workout plans that include feedback from a virtual AI trainers and coaches, along with their live counterparts.
The competition from virtual gyms may be indirect, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. Virtual gym members want to take the basic gym experience and replicate and extend it in their home, complete with interactive experiences that make it social in a controlled way that can be easily limited.
Super gym members want to opposite of that, to at least some degree. They want an elite, members-only experience where the gym experience becomes a kind of getaway based on their overall fitness plan and their busy daily schedules.
Super tech is also defining super gyms
The availability of advanced tech is a huge driving factor for super gyms. Your super gym experience, for instance, might include the ability to get an MRI, then have your body composition analyzed, right down to last T-cell. The idea is to give you a lot more than just saunas, spacious jacuzzis, and Olympic-size pools.
Multiple companies are competing to provide these kinds of services. Ammortal, for example, offers a soup-to-nuts fitness and wellness experience in a private chamber that includes multiple modalies like red light therapy, molecular hydrogen treatment, and vibroacoustic sound designed to “harmonize” the nervous system.
The chamber that houses this experience doesn’t come cheap. It’s being sold into luxury gyms at a price point of just under $160K, and several pro sports teams are using the Ammortal chamber as well.
“Gym-goers are craving more from their memberships,” says Brian Le Gette, the CEO and co-founder of Ammortal. “And in a [busy] space such as fitness, businesses are needing to be more intentional and focused than ever on their key differentiators and offerings in their facilities. Amenities will need to adapt to meet the expectations of a more dynamic and comprehensive health-and-wellness interest in their members.
“When selling to gyms and resorts, we are finding that there is a focused interest in understanding and integrating technologies like the chamber into their facilities. The chamber is unique in its offering as it’s a low-staff [and] low-touch, but [a] high-revenue investment that people are craving to experience and willing to pay for.”
They’re also willing to pay for advanced recovery devices for members who overextend themselves in their workouts. Hyperice is another high-end tech company that supplies devices like boots and compression sleeves designed to enhance recovery and improve performance.
“Our Normatec compression boots are becoming a staple in gyms across the world,” says Joe Cannon, Hyperice SVP of Business Development. “Normatec has gone from luxury to necessity when it comes to meeting consumer expectations for what a club should have.”
Would you get a massage from a AI robot?
Getting a massage is yet another great recovery experience, but would you get one from an AI-driven robot? A company called Aescape is betting you will, and they’re renting this latest version of Mr. Robot to your local super gym to see if this particular offering will pique your curiosity.
So what’s the attraction? Curiosity is a huge initial factor, but there are also clients who don’t necessarily want to be worked over by a human masseuse. The initial response to this kind of massage has been surprisingly positive, and while they won’t necessarily replace the human touch, they could easily become a standard super gym feature.
Is a super gym right for you?
The first thing you need to check if you’re considering membership in a super gym is your bank account. If you’re used to paying a hundred bucks or two a month to join a quality gym, you’re in for some sticker shock, especially if you want to add features and services related to healthcare.
Geography is important, too. While super gyms like Equinox, Love.Life and Life Time are growing and expanding, they tend to cluster near large cities with enough educated professionals to offer a potential client base.
What are your fitness and wellness priorities?To get this one right, ask yourself some basic questions. What’s missing in your current gym experience that’s making you consider a super gym? Is it the isolation of working out alone? The need for community? The answers will steer you toward the experiene you want, along with the right frills and luxuries in the appropriate activities.
Make that fitness list. Once you’ve answered those questions, make a list and see what’s realistic. Does your prospective super gym have the right set of adventurous
Privacy vs community. This is another important consideration. If privacy is a priority for you when you work out, a virtual gym may end up offering everything you need. But if you’re a communal type looking for a customized experience, a super gym may give you everything need in to craft your own unique fitness and wellness experience.
