Trends
Where work and workout meet
Forget WFH, luxe private clubs are now offering WFG—work from gym.
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when companies like Google and Microsoft lured employees with on-site amenities from running tracks and hair salons to, yes, even treehouses. (We have yet to figure out the reasoning behind that, but whatever.) These days, companies are lucky if employees leave their couches to come in at all. Even as people are increasingly heading back to the office, few are showing up five days a week and woe be to any CEO who tries to make them.
We have all become if not full digital nomads, nomad-adjacent. But let’s face it, working from home can be distracting at best and often isolating. Starbucks et al are loud and have zero cool-factor. Coworking spaces like WeWork that once enticed the laptop-carrying brigade with free beer and bro culture? Crashed and burned.
In the search for a “third space”—not work, not home—a new trend is emerging from New York to L.A. WFH (work from home) is morphing into WFG (work from gym). We’re not talking about hiding out in an Equinox café with your laptop and hoping not to run into your trainer but an entirely new luxe (and outsized) offering. Taking advantage of the wealth of available real estate as companies reduce their footprints, the near universal emphasis on wellness, and employees from the creative to the financial sectors desperate for a place to go, upscale fitness centers are pioneering a hybrid that combines well-appointed co-working spaces, top-notch gym classes, yoga studios, and spa-like amenities to become the workday destination of choice.
The new 60,000-square-foot Chelsea Piers Fitness in the Flatiron district of New York boasts a light-filled coworking space replete with faux gas fireplace and marble tables strewn with the latest issue of Vogue, a quiet study area and private booths for Zoom calls. It’s possible to do a little work in the morning, take a barre class, indulge in an infrared sauna, shock your brain waves back into productivity with a cold plunge, then return to work—all without leaving the premises. Within a week of opening, nearly every seat was taken with people as likely to be wearing a cashmere sweater as workout wear. Luckily, the space is vast enough to fit all newcomers.
The LifeTime chain has pioneered combining ginormous country club-styled offerings with coworking spaces in locations like Houston and Atlanta. Now they’re betting big that the creative class will jump on board. Currently under development: a 110,000-square-foot tower in Brooklyn slated to feature cutting-edge workout options along with private and open-plan workspaces. After all, hipsters need to move their booties, too.
According to Axios, the outlet of choice for political intelligentsia, policy wonks in the DC area are joining the WFG movement. Georgetown’s Alkova, which combines yoga studios with co-working spaces, has proven so popular there is now a waiting list for slots. In LA, the tony LAAC (Los Angeles Athletic Club) blends old world luxe with modern day demands, creating a clubby atmosphere where members can “work where they play” in co-working spaces or private offices. And network, of course.
WFG may be one of the rare trends where everyone wins. Companies, many of whom have long offered discounts on gym memberships as a perk, can take heart that exercise is proven to boost productivity, real estate brokers are doing a brisk business, gyms are once again thriving, and the rest of us can more readily avoid what the New York Times has so lovingly called Dead Butt Syndrome, better known as gluteal amnesia, caused by sitting at your desk for too long. We have yet to spot anyone taking a call in a cold plunge but it’s just a matter of time.
Hero photo by Stray Cat /Getty Images
