NOT JUST A WORKOUT, A LIFESTYLE
A new breed of gyms is cropping up -- the antithesis of the big-chain, cookie-cutter concept -- complete with hip decor, concierge services and lavish amenities. There’s the Joint in Hollywood, with its rock ‘n’ roll, urban vibe. There’s Active Fitness in Santa Monica, with its New York-loft state of mind. Then there’s Burn Fitness, with its meld of soothing ocean views and ultra-sophisticated gym hardware. “You could define a club many years ago as providing equipment, and the club with the best equipment would get more people,” says Joe Moore, president and chief executive of the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Assn., a national trade organization. No longer. Now exercise is a way to make friends, hang out -- anything but sweat and leave. A look at the latest in fitness lifestyles.
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Live to work ... out
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Hollywood club kicks it with the latest classes, then pours on the pampering
IF Avril Lavigne were to design a gym, it would probably look something like the Joint. Hollywood’s hip new fitness hangout has a rock ‘n’ roll bent and chic sensibilities -- goth graphics, filmy curtains ringing the exercise studio and an exceedingly tranquil women’s lounge.
The gym takes up several rooms in the Hillview building, a recently restored Hollywood landmark. Downstairs is the black-walled cycling studio, and on the ground floor facing traffic-snarled Hollywood Boulevard is Studio A, home to pole dancing and cardio kickboxing classes as well as meditation guru Noah Levine of Dharma Punx. Leading a tour is creative director-partner Andrea Lawent, a longtime dance and fitness instructor, who descends a few steps into the small, dark private-training gym, where equipment is placed randomly around nooks and crannies. Then comes the clothing boutique down the hall and the women’s lounge featuring overstuffed chairs, dark wood and plush towels. A chiropractic office is one door down. Oversize photos serve as decor, such as the one of Rachel Hunter’s back -- accented with a tattoo, of course.
“We hang out hard,” Lawent says. “It’s home. We’re cool here. And we care.” The gym also offers a concierge service that will book a massage, a manicure and other services (for an additional fee of about 20% of the total price) -- even handling every detail of dream vacations such as skiing in Gstaad, Switzerland, and a trainer to help get you in shape. A kids’ program offering fitness and nutrition classes will start next month. There’s no membership; classes are $20 each or $275 a month for unlimited classes. For a $15,000 a year, you’re entitled to chiropractic and massage sessions, personal training, unlimited classes and other perks.
This month an organic cafe is set to open on the ground floor; downstairs Adleman’s supper club is under construction. And this year, a boxing ring will be perched on the roof. “Why wouldn’t you want to take a class or work out with a trainer, have a shower and then go eat dinner, or go to the nightclub and have a glass of wine and listen to great jazz?”
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High-tech sophistication -- near the beach
THERE’S nowhere to hide at Active Fitness. Its gray-toned, loft-like space reveals everything at once.
But that may be one of the reasons people choose this airy, high-ceilinged gym -- for the unadulterated equipment, pristine and functional. A schmooze palace this is not. The understated, chic decor -- with crisp LCD televisions and top-of-the-Billboard-chart music -- is just a few blocks from the beach, but the gym could be teleported to Manhattan, and no one would be the wiser.
The gym touts sports-specific training, Rene Abreu the muscled head trainer and director of education at Active Fitness, says clients come to him asking for everything from tennis-ready bodies to legs that can make a bicycle fly.
Then there’s the reverse-osmosis water cooler (dispensing ultra-filtered H2O) -- and thick towels that John Damon, founder and chief executive, proudly shows off. “These are like home towels,” he says, grabbing one off a shelf. “They smell like Downy or Snuggle or something.”
The flooring is substantial rubberized tile, and high-tech equipment is picked from the newest cardio and strength machines. The mounted TVs show the latest videos, and music is hand-selected, not dictated by corporate. Buy a personal training package and you’ll get a free massage at Fred Segal Beauty. And though classes aren’t an option here, the staff is happy to recommend a nearby Spinning or yoga studio.
Since launching last fall, the gym has seen its membership climb to 200, which translates into no more than a dozen people in the gym at once. Damon hopes to lure 300 to 800 more clients, still keeping the space relatively uncrowded, even at peak times. “We didn’t want it to be like an office, because people are in offices all day,” he says. “So we don’t have a dropped ceiling, and people don’t feel cramped.”
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New machines and Santa Monica at your feet
FAR from the smell of McDonald’s fries on Third Street Promenade is Burn Fitness, a 10,000-square-foot club with the trademarked motto, “May you burn in health.”
The club takes up two levels, with separate group cycling and group fitness rooms, a stretching area, new cardio and weight machines and copious large windows offering a spectacular view of Santa Monica and the ocean. On smog-less days you can even see the Hollywood sign. This is the perfect place for the gym rat aesthete -- top-quality, new machines with nary a speck of dust, a panoramic vista and unmarred hardwood floors you’d love to have in your home.
Clients can take a mat or stationary bike onto the deck and exercise al fresco with the setting sun -- an almost too-perfect celebration of the California lifestyle. They’re also encouraged to take advantage of a software program co-owner Tom Williams devised that calculates calories consumed and burned via exercise. This gym is trying hard to get people to stick around. “I think people across the board are shying away from the corporate deal,” says Williams, who is also a personal trainer. “They want to feel like they’re integrated into something. They don’t want to feel like a cog anymore.”
Shaye Laska defected from a nearby gym to come here. Besides the new equipment, the 30-year-old senior research analyst for a television network was lured by the everyone-knows-everyone-else ambience. “I like to be familiar with the people I’m around. You can trust them, and you don’t feel like you’re working out with strangers. If someone you know is working on a machine you can say, ‘Can I work in with you?’ That’s important to me.”
Then there’s the proximity to the promenade, a draw for those weary of traipsing around town to get their fun in. “People really like to do all these different things,” Williams says, “like exercise, shop, eat and be entertained, all in the same place.”
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* Gym: The Joint, Hollywood
* Distinguishing features: Clothing boutique, concierge service, women’s lounge, eclectic mix of classes, adjacent to a restaurant and supper club.
* For: Friendly free spirits who have an aversion to traditional gyms but love intense classes and a tight-knit community of people who live to exercise.
* Cost: $20 per class; package deals available. Personal training is extra.
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* Gym: Active Fitness, Santa Monica
* Distinguishing features: Loft-like space, sports-specific training, Olympic lifting area, iPod-driven music.
* For: Serious exercisers who like their workouts straight and uncomplicated, plus claustrophobes (who’ll appreciate the vaulted ceiling).
* Cost: $70 a month, no membership. Personal training is extra.
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* Gym: Burn Fitness, Santa Monica
* Distinguishing features: Great views of Santa Monica and the ocean, hardwood floors, calorie-tracking computer programs, easy access to Third Street Promenade.
* For: Multitaskers who like to exercise, eat, see movies and shop all in one location; geek types who like to track their progress via computers; aesthetes.
* Cost: $80 a month, no membership. Personal training is extra.