Oh, It's Happening: Gyms Are Getting in on GLP-1s
Do we call this selling out or leveling up?
Resul Adas, a 27-year-old account executive in Dallas, recently noticed a sign at the gym encouraging members to "boost your results."
The ad was promoting a new service: GLP-1 at cut-rate prices under a physician’s supervision. In just a month, Adas has lost 12 pounds.
"I'm trying to move away from that party lifestyle and transition into adulthood," he says.
Gyms, the very places that have long preached discipline, hard work, and avoiding shortcuts, are now jumping into the business of, well, shortcuts.
Life Time Group Holdings Inc., the publicly traded company that operates more than 175 high-end athletic clubs across the US and Canada, is in the midst of expanding its “longevity and performance” centers to more cities. The MIORA center, first launched at the Life Time Target Center in Minneapolis, presents gym-goers with a menu of services you might otherwise find in a doctor’s office or a medical spa—bloodwork, IV therapies, and physical assessments, all administered by MDs, nurses and physician assistants. The most intriguing option? GLP-1s.
Other fitness brands are also easing in. Xponential Fitness Inc. has acquired Lindora weight-loss clinics, a move that’s expected to pave the way for hawking GLP-1s to customers of its franchises— among them Club Pilates, Pure Barre, and Row House.
Meanwhile, Dallas-based Recess Fitness, known for its strength and conditioning classes and personal training, has introduced “RecessRX,” a program offering GLP-1s along with other services, all administered by a board-certified physician. A seven-foot banner welcomes members with the Rx offerings, and a membership handout states the weight-loss treatments “allow nearly anyone to reach a healthy weight, starting at $249 a month.”
No pain, no gain? So 2019.
According to a new report by San Francisco-based investment bank Harrison Co., excising pain from the equation may well be where the future–-and the money–-is. GLP-1s, it asserts, are a $6.7 billion opportunity for gyms, driven by two kinds of members: existing ones seeking miracle weight loss, and new ones who may have once been shy to sign up, craving a confidence boost before they enter the glass doors.
Titled GLP-1 Agonists: New Opportunities for Battling Obesity and Driving Growth for the Fitness and Wellness Industry, the report states that “rapid weight loss and visible improvements in patients’ appearance will be powerful intrinsic motivators.” It also notes that in many cases, the commitment of those on GLP-1s “will be stronger compared to other club members—people are twice as likely to begin exercising once they take the medication.”
The additional monthly membership fee to participate in Life Time’s MIORA program averages $299, plus the cost of services. Prices for GLP-1 medications range from $230 for semaglutide to $390 for the more potent tirzepatide, with each dose potentially lasting 8 to 12 weeks. The upshot: Customers could start paying a high-end gym exponentially more than a couple hundred dollars a month.
Muscle loss is a known side effect of these weight-loss medications— a concern for anyone who believes in building strength, says MIORA Executive Director Jeff Zwiefel at Life Time, which is why he emphasizes the value of a gym environment that encourages both weight training and proper nutrition. The company’s GLP-1 offerings, he says, are intended for people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of at least 25 to 30.
Other gyms take a more relaxed approach. “If you’re above your ideal body weight and composition, I will happily prescribe GLP-1s, whether you have 10 or 100 pounds to lose,” says Ian Justl Ellis, a physician who sees patients in the RecessRx program.
A semi-retired college professor and executive coach who asked to remain nameless has spent over $2,000 on tirzepatide injections at Recess, where memberships and personal training cost him and his wife an additional $600 per month. Since starting the program in June, he has lost 40 pounds, and believes receiving treatment through the fitness center has helped stave off any potential muscle loss. Achieving weight loss goals with the support of a personal trainer and a doctor close by, he says, has been “very synergistic.”
Still, industry veterans worry that gyms are now entering uncharted territory, profiting from medical decision-making and deeming what is medically necessary versus cosmetic. “For short-term gain, is it worth a long-term plan?” asks Charlottesville, Va.-based industry advisor Lise Kuecker. Consumers will surely turn to places that offer the easiest and cheapest access, which may not always align with their best health interests, she warns. And of course, there’s the complicated web of body image issues, eating disorders, and medical liability.
“Where are the boundaries?” she asks. “That’s what bothers people.”
Not commenting on your piece per se, but to bless the algorithm for showing me new writing i actually care about! I very much enjoy lifting and have been training in the powerlifting style for almost a year now. (With consistency gaps off and on…!) Giving you a follow and am excited to read more of your work soon.
Will be interesting to see metrics over time on things like gym memberships. Will this addition encourage others to begin getting into fitness with the initial help of GLP-1s or have unintended consequences.
In many ways, pairing delivery of these treatments around fitness centers makes great sense to encourage the lifestyle that is necessary to prevent muscle, tendon, and other beneficial tissue loss.
An opportunity to bring more into the arena that may otherwise avoid it assuming the execution continues to emphasize the overall identity shift.
The meds give a bump but ultimately will do nothing without continuously putting in the work.
Another great post as always Anne!