You are already training hard. But the gym you work out in is probably built for heavy lifting, maybe a functional space, and mostly to get as many people through the door as possible. Good for short-term goals, but not intended for what you should be after long-term.
Premium fitness facilities are changing that bill, along with data that shows growing consumer demand. A 2025 survey found that 60% of Americans are referencing longevity and healthy aging as one of the main factors of their fitness. And while muscle is a huge part of this healthy aging equation, an integrated recovery protocol for optimal health outcomes is not something to be taken lightly.
“Building and maintaining lean muscle mass is one of the most important things a person can do for long-term health, with downstream effects on bone density, injury prevention, metabolic function and quality of life in adulthood,” Brian Mazza, VP at Life Timesaid Muscles and Fitness, adding that “people are increasingly realizing that they need to slow down to move faster and that they need to slow down to live longer.”
Facilities built around this logic attract clients who think about health the same way they think about their training program: with information, intention and team.
A player on the scale
Life Time makes that argument at scale, and the market backs it up. The company expects to generate nearly $3 billion in revenue in 2025, with average revenue per membership growing 10.7% per quarter. This increase shows that members are going deeper into the services available and represents a record retention rate for it. In addition, Life Time plans to open 14 new sports clubs in the country by 2026, the most in its history, each with rehabilitation areas, saunas, cold plunges and shared wellness suites.
Central to this expansion is Miora, Life Time’s long-term center concept, which will launch in 2023. It optimizes hormones, supports GLP-1, peptidesand red light therapy under the same roof as the training floor, but not available at all locations yet.
Mazza says the member who shows up today is a different consumer than he was five years ago. They are more informed and want more from their gym.
“The messaging, the programming, the lessons, the feel and the vibe of the facilities don’t scream short-term; it’s all long-term,” says Mazza, noting that while some facilities are quick fixes, for him it’s part of life. “I want to be anchored here and I want to grow up here, I want my kids to be a part of this.”
Life Time is not the only player expanding in this direction. Equinox is increasing its recreational facilities and long-term programming across its locations, and smaller boutique facilities are on the rise, also emphasizing that the integration of whole health is expected at all levels of the premium market.
Why are premium gyms replacing traditional fitness models?
If you prefer a more intimate atmosphere and a crowded sports floor, a number of boutique facilities bring the same integrated approach. In Scottsdale, Hive offers training and rehabilitation along with functional health services. In LA, Love Life connects longevity and preventative care directly in a learning environment.
These offer smaller member caps, tighter teams and a level of continuity between your trainer, doctor and physical therapist that a 100,000 square foot facility cannot replicate. In Monarch Athletic Club in California (and soon in Florida), memberships include personal training, physical therapy, preventative medicine, nutrition and a variety of longevity services.
Dr. Ryan Greene, co-founder and Medical Director of Monarch Athletic Clubhe built that model around a failure he observed in every other environment he worked in, whether it was a health care system designed to treat disease rather than prevent it, or a fitness industry that lacked post-workout infrastructure.
“I pitched it to the Mayo Clinic,” Green recalled at the time he was a clinical research fellow there. “They liked it a lot. But they just said there’s no money in preventive medicine. Nothing can be patented here.”
A mutual connection led him to his co-founder, so he moved to Southern California and opened it anyway in January 2020. The void he filled hasn’t closed over the years, if anything, it’s only gotten wider.
People are now flocking to facilities like Monarch that have hidden data, automated bloodletting, and additional stacks assembled from social media and AI.
“Data without direction is just noise. It’s good to measure, but nobody has an action plan,” says Green. “They don’t know what to do with the data. They put it into ChatGPT and try to put it all together.”
However, when experts in medicine, nutrition, training, physical therapy, and even mental health communicate about a person’s information, clients see results.
Greene recently conducted a five-year internal performance data analysis to objectively see Monarch’s impact on customers. Across 2,400 data points, including lab records and body composition scans from a nearly even population of men and women, Monarch members showed increased lean muscle mass, improved body composition, decreased body fat percentage, improved HDL, a 30% decrease in inflammatory markers, and decreased triglycerides.
This integrated approach, according to Greene, is what makes these numbers move together rather than trading one against the other. “I believe in a measured approach that is an integrated system between medicine, exercise, rehabilitation and nutrition,” he said. “These are all aspects of what makes the human system work.”
The real cost of a Premium Fitness membership
Entry fees vary by model and location. Lifetime runs from $199 to $379 per month, but can vary by location. The Miora experience starts at a $299 intake package that includes a detailed blood panel, Metabolic Code report and consultation. A regular membership is $199 a month and includes red light therapy, cryotherapy, infrared saunas and a hyperbaric chamber.
Equinox costs $205 to $395, depending on location and access level, but its new longevity program, developed in partnership with Function Health, runs $3,000 a month for at least six months, excluding gym memberships, bringing the annual commitment to $40,000 or more.
In Scottsdale, AZ, Unit srates are $299 per month, which includes gym access, unlimited cold plunges, sauna and compression, and goes up to $899 for the premium plan. Love Life ranges from $350 with fitness and recovery to $2,200 with access to a full degree of integrative medicine. Monarch costs from $380, which includes a 12-month training plan, recovery techniques and unlimited access to concierge medicine and nutrition, to a $2,200 access option where members can take advantage of many unlimited services.
Is a longevity-focused gym worth the investment?
Listing a great facility like these shouldn’t be a rash decision, and don’t hold your breath if you’re expecting a sale. These memberships are not eligible for discounts. What strategy is better is deliberate budgeting.
If you’ve already spent on separate parts like personal training, blood transfusions, functional medicine consultations, VO₂ max testing, body composition scans and rehab gym memberships piled on top of regular gym fees, that number adds up faster than most people keep track of.
However, distribution can have extra-financial costs. It comes with a lack of continuity between the person programming your training and the person managing your injury, between the nutritionist reviewing your meal plan and the doctor looking at your labs.
“You have to be your own health expert,” says Green. “And then when you have questions or you need someone to do something that requires medical intervention, you come to me, and I’m at the gym that you’re at because I’m part of your program. I can look at your information, we can make a decision together, and then we’ll go.”
