Issue #10: A love letter to January fitness
Plus, the gym that banned New Year's Day sign-ups, and reflections from my former career in wellness journalism.
On January 1st this year, Equinox – one of the world’s most expensive gym franchises – received precisely zero new sign-ups.
Far from signalling the collapse of the premium fitness industry, this New Year’s Day no-show was owing to the company’s ‘anti new year resolutions’ campaign, which banned new members on what is, at least anecdotally, the most popular date to join a gym. Essentially, Equinox spent millions of pounds hiring an independent creative branding agency to tell would-be clients: ‘You can’t sit with us.’
‘We believe January is a farce, laden with mantras and affirmations that are pleasant for three weeks, but never push you further. Equinox is not buying in*… we can’t in good conscience support the ‘new year, new me’ movement that happens every January.’
- A statement from Equinox’s vice-president, James Mayer
To paraphrase a much-loved episode of Come Dine With Me, Dear Lord, what a sad little life, James… Thoughts and prayers for the front desk staff, who presumably had to drop the ‘We Don’t Speak January’ party line when membership promptly re-opened on Monday January 2nd.
As you & I both know, the policy was little more than a clever marketing ploy pandering to Equinox’s darkest client archetype, the kind of gym-goer who lords their toned abs over others as if they signify moral superiority (it’s not a fitness venue, after all, but a ‘temple of well-being’, according to the website). It’s the stuff of playground bullying, which, again, isn’t all too surprising from a company that refers to its former members as ‘alumni’ as if it’s a private prep school, not a gym for grown-ups.
‘It needs a new outfit
before it can begin.
Stalling, short-cutting,
giving up.’
Elsewhere in the fitness world on January 1st, Netflix announced its Nike Training Club deal – making 30 hours of exercise classes available to its existing 223.1 million subscribers – while the ‘nation’s PT’ Joe Wicks signalled followers to his free YouTube channel, and the Deliciously Ella Twitter account shared a gentle message about gratitude, walks and cuddles. It captures a mood that began in the lockdown: an appreciation that any amount of exercise is ‘good enough’, even if it’s in your pyjamas in front of a live stream. In contrast, Equinox’s elitist messaging is a good few years out of fashion.
Fitness is no longer a stick to beat ourselves with
As the mainstream wellness movement exploded throughout the mid 2010s, I was working as a health and fitness journalist, witnessing the rise and fall of ‘clean eating’, ‘shredding’, detox teas and #beachbodyready (who remembers those banned billboards?). And so, as we navigate the ‘New Year, New You’ mood of 2023, let me share how the industry, and my own relationship with exercise, has evolved from a shame-filled ‘Should’ into a positive, life-changing force.
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