What A $10k A Month Wellness Club Gets You – And How To Get It For Less

In New York City, it seems like a new members-only club pops up every week. Oftentimes, they have locations worldwide. These venues sometimes have a restaurant and bar or lounge and often tout exclusivity, community and access to it as a draw. Beyond the Soho Houses and Casa Cipriani’s of the city, there’s a niche, members only club on the rise – the elite wellness social club. Part gym or wellness spa, part community, Equinox finally has a bit of direct competition. Luxury wellness is hitting fever pitch. But there’s one that’s particularly aspirational, and I have to wonder how it offers enough bang for potential members' buck at $10,000 a month. 

Located in The Federal Archive building in the West Village, Continuum is 25,000 square feet of “state-of-the-art wellness and recovery equipment, spacious workout and lounge areas, and luxurious spa facilities and top of the line equipment and amenities.” The biggest draw is the personalized profile Continuum establishes for each member as a baseline to establish their wellness program from. This intake assessment includes biometric screenings and performance-based tests like V02 Max, bone density scans, blood panels and sleep analysis, which will also work directly with members’ doctors as no MDs are employed by the club. Continuum prides itself on a data-forward approach by wellness practitioners with a minimum of a Master's or Doctorate in Exercise Science, Physiology, or similar field as well as five years of applied experience. 

Sure, it seems like the club offers things other places don’t, but does that mean those things are necessary or worthwhile? At minimum for $10,000 a month, I’d want an expansive view of the greatest city in the world. Continuum is street level and subterranean, there’s no view of the outside, just ground floor daylight into the gym area. The decor is forgettable, especially when clubs like WSA in New York’s Financial District and its sister property SAA exist.

In nearly any major city, you can achieve a thorough wellness routine through multiple memberships at a lesser cost. While you may not get an AI-powered program Continuum offers, you can probably get the best of any trainer or wellness practitioner with a heartbeat in any city for a fraction of the cost. Here’s what $10,000 of wellness a month can look like for you, for less. 

Fitness-Focused Clubs

The concept of a members-only gym isn’t new by any means. It’s believed that the first gym opened in Brussels in 1848. Yet, both the commercialization of community and the rise in wellness and fitness industries has resulted in a bevy of not only fitness studios and gyms, but high-end fitness-centered clubs. Think of it as the country club meets the gym, but modern. They’re supposed to be a place for your entire body and socializing, 360 wellness. 

The largest and most well known would be Equinox. Introduced in 1991, there are over 300 locations in cities worldwide. Memberships range from about $200 to $400/month, and most club locations include thousands of square feet of gym and recovery equipment, a full class schedule with yoga, barre, boxing and other group activity options and amenities like rooftop pools, steam rooms and saunas. Some locations even have a basketball court or rock climbing wall. They’ve just introduced their highest tier specifically focused on longevity, which runs about $42,000 for the year but has access to the hundreds of clubs and existing amenities for a fraction of what Coninuum is offering. 

In 2019, Toronto welcomed Sweat & Tonic, a multi-location gym with recovery options like sauna and cold plunge treatments, massages  and red light therapy; a full class schedule including spin and yoga; and a multi-function lounge and cafe for co-working, taking meetings and connecting with other members. They also have a sister property in Los Angeles. Largely comparable to Equinox, the main dissimilarity is S&T doesn’t offer personal training.

More recently, spots like Mercedes Club have popped up in New York – both fitness-centered with much intention around social events at the club like movie nights and Super Bowl viewing parties. And, some members-only social clubs themselves are becoming more fitness and wellness focused. The aforementioned properties WSA and SAA both are regarded as social clubs, have gyms; yoga, pilates and other speciality classes; and wellness options in their 154 Spa and Water Lounge. This also aligns with the groups satellite location Palm Heights Grand Cayman, which has an on-property athletic club and spa, with reformer pilates, a boxing ring, indoor-outdoor gym, pole dancing classes and other highly specialized fitness classes and resident trainers.