Equinox rolls out a $3K/month longevity membership as healthspan takes focus
Hittin’ the gym… for IVs and red-light therapy. Equinox is bulking up its offerings with “Optimize by Equinox,” a pricey membership that aims to boost longevity. The fancy gym chain is teaming up with lab-testing startup Function Health to create personalized programs for members. Optimize, which costs $3K/month for a minimum of six months, includes perks like personal training, biomarker testing, sleep coaching, and nutrition planning. Because Equinox’s gym fee isn’t included in the Optimize package, the total comes out to over $40K/year.
VIP treatment: Equinox says the program gives members a team of experts who work to create a custom lifestyle program, similar to how it’s done for top athletes.
Step by step: Optimize will first roll out in New York City and Highland Park, Texas, this month and later expand to other cities.
From “Blue Zones” to blue-light therapy… Equinox isn’t the only gym promoting the 100-year health goal. In November, rival fitness chain Life Time opened a longevity-focused health-concierge service offering treatments like red-light therapies, blood tests, and peptide treatments. Soon after, Xponential Fitness (which owns Pure Barre and Rumble Boxing) scooped up Lindora, a wellness clinic chain that promotes metabolic health. Meanwhile, preventive MRI scan company Prenuvo has gotten thousands of people to pay $2.5K for full-body scans, which it says can detect 500+ conditions.
It’s not just about living longer… it’s about staying healthy while doing it. The pandemic and an aging population in the US have increased interest in healthspan, the period of life in which a person is in good health. Global life expectancy has risen more than 54% since 1950. Health insurers say medical costs have surged as more Americans go in for visits, and preventive measures and innovative treatments are gaining steam.