Is Your Gym Nicer Than Your Apartment? How Design And Tech Are Transforming Fitness

The first gym opened in America was an open-air tangle of hung ropes and steel bars configured in the style of the German Turnplatz. It was the mid-1820s. Not much changed about the space in which we exercise in the 150 year interlude between the advent of the Turnplatz and the opening of the Venice Beach Gold's Gym popularized by Arnold Schwarzenegger. But in the last few decades, wellness as we know it exploded as a cultural imperative, a way of life embraced by working moms, entrepreneurs, and students—those far outside the body-building community who beforehand comprised the majority of gym-goers.

As the population frequenting gyms changes, so, too, do the demands made of fitness spaces. "I have so little free time, if I'm making the choice to workout, I really want it to be a great experience," says Meredith, a 34-year-old publicist in New York. She has room in her budget to spend on a monthly membership and studios competing for her business. Her fitness routine developed while she was in college, using her University's rec center to lift weights and run on a treadmill. "I worked out because my roommates did, and I loved how exercising made me feel, but the complex was a miserable place to be. I wouldn't go when it was sunny outside." Meredith didn't keep up her nascent running habit after graduating and moving to New York. "I just preferred to spend my time after work meeting up with friends for dinner or drinks rather than in some gym listening to techno." But in her early 30s, she felt a change in her body that made her rethink her habits. When she re-entered the fitness world, she hardly recognized it. "I thought, whoa, this place is nicer than my apartment. Can I be here all the time?"

Sky Ting's thousands of Instagram followers are a product of their popularity (they have some of the most beloved yoga teachers In New York City) but also of their keen design sensibilities, which lend themselves readily to the social media. Their whitewashed studio minimally accented with fiddle leaf figs and whimsical mascots (a towering stuffed giraffe and bright pink flamingo) provide the ideal backdrop for a selfie generation. "We were interested in creating our dream space for practice," says co-founder Chloe Kernaghan. "Our designer, Nick Poe, brilliantly combined our want for the space to feel clean and beautiful while still maintaining a playful tone. I think the energy of a space is very influential on a practice."

If the yoga studio outfitted with birch-plank floors and succulents represent the minimalist side of the fitness design spectrum, tech-enhanced spaces represent the opposite, offering members every advantage the latest innovations can provide. Robb O'Hagan is at the forefront of tech fitness. "Everywhere you turn there are digital technologies that are enabling people to engage with their fitness lifestyle across many platforms wherever they are," says the CEO. At Flywheel, proprietary TechPacks allow riders to track their performance and control their resistance and RPMs. Their overhead TorqBoads display live data from other class members. Personal stats are stored online and on Flywheel's app. "We're seeing the demise of fitness businesses that don't deliver a really meaningful experience," explains Robb O'Hagan.

Since Equinox launched their partnership with Kiehl's seven years ago, transforming gym showers from a necessary evil to an incentive to sweat, expectations of high-end amenities have risen. Lululemon's flagship fitness studio in New York City offers a concierge service to shoppers and class-goers looking for one-on-one customized experiences. S10Training, a gym catering to the metropolitan man, limits their sessions to a lucky eight so members always enjoy hands-on instruction in spacious atmosphere. Barry's Bootcamp stocks their locker rooms with peppermint shampoo, cilantro conditioner, and grapefruit cleanser by natural beauty line Malin + Goetz, to pamper their members after a hard workout.