As a former chubby kid from Philadelphia, Jeremy Lindy was in for a shock when he moved to NYC three years ago. That’s when his fitness budget ballooned from zero — his Boston college gym was free — to a whopping $900 per month.
“I always wanted to be fitness model-esque,” admits the fashion marketer, 25. “As a gay male living in New York, there is definitely a need to be perfect, so I get any edge I can afford.”
Even if he can’t really afford it.
“It eats up a big part of my earnings,” says Lindy, who spends at least 20 percent of his income on fitness.
He shells out $200 per month for membership at the tony Equinox gym and $100 a week for a personal trainer, in addition to twice-weekly Barry’s Bootcamp sessions at $36 a pop. That’s more than $10,000 a year, even though Lindy estimates his yearly income to be between $40,000 and $50,000.
He’s not alone in shelling out big bucks to slim down. Fitness budgets have bulged in the past few years, thanks to soaring gym membership prices and the emergence of pricey boutique studios. According to a 2015 study by the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, the median annual dues paid across all club types (including studios and traditional gyms) in 2014 was $828 — a $108 jump from 2012.
“You have to rein in your extravagances every once in a while and prioritize,” admits Jenny Rentzel, a Gramercy Park resident who considers dinner with friends an extravagance — but not working out at pricey classes.
“There have been times that I skip drinks — right there, that’s $60. I’d rather put that [money] toward 305 [Fitness],” adds the 25-year-old account executive, referring to the trendy Greenwich Village dance-cardio studio she frequents twice a week, shelling out as much as $32 per 55-minute class.
‘There have been times I skip drinks — right there that’s $60. I’d rather put that [money] toward fitness.’
- Jenny Rentzel on her fitness spending habits
“Besides rent, this is the biggest chunk [of my income],” adds Rentzel, who declined to share her salary, though she does admit to getting help from her parents to help fund her fitness habit — which includes regular AKT InMotion classes at $175 per five-pack, SoulCycle twice a week ($34 each) and a weekly $37 Exhale barre class.
“They understand [fitness is] a big passion of mine,” she says, explaining that her parents bankroll her “with a package [of classes] here and there.”
Even when they can’t afford it, New York fitness freaks justify their habit as a healthy way to manage stress.
Nancy Hansen, who is currently unemployed, shells out nearly $500 a month just for her favorite fitness studio, Orangetheory.
“As I’m looking for a job, spending this kind of money shocks me,” Hansen says of her $14,000 annual fitness budget, “but it keeps me sane.”
In addition to Orangetheory, the 49-year-old exercise junkie’s regimen includes twice-weekly training sessions at Union Square coaching studio Nimble Fitness — at $165 per hourlong session — and a weekly tennis court rental at $84 a pop.
She’s not the only one whose unemployment isn’t stopping her from her fitness addiction, if only to gain a mental edge.
When she left her public-sector job two months ago, writer Emily Voorhees slashed much of her spending, saying goodbye to her $120 monthly cable bill, as well as pricey dinners with friends.
But one thing she won’t drop is her workout regimen — even if it forces her to dip into savings once the money she set aside for fitness runs out in February.
“I was so stressed — I was either going to the barre or the bar,” jokes the 38-year-old from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, who spends $270 a month taking almost-daily classes at the Bar Method, a trendy Soho studio that focuses on isometric exercises.
“It makes me feel confident and put-together — all the things you’d want to bring to a job interview.”
Even with the proliferation of fitness deals on sites such as ClassPass and FitReserve, some New Yorkers just won’t deign to discount.
“People love ClassPass, but I personally don’t use it,” says Joyce, a 21-year-old Soho resident and aspiring restaurateur, who declined to give her last name for privacy reasons.
She spends an estimated $20,000 per year on classes — sometimes more than once a day — that include Barry’s Bootcamp and SoulCycle, in addition to four studio classes and two private pilates classes each week at Gramercy Pilates.
“It gets expensive, but you invest in yourself.”
But the soon-to-be-married fitness buff has a solution.
“There’s a wait list to get into Tracy Anderson — it’s $1,000 a month,” says Joyce, who’s hoping to score entry into the all-in-one fitness studio.
“I’m already spending $400 a week, [so] it’s worth it.”
The phenomenon has even spread to the UK with the Skinny Bitch Collective, where classes start at $55 each.