Luxury gym slammed for refusing new members on Jan 1. ‘Stop gatekeeping fitness’
A luxury gym chain’s bold choice to refuse Jan. 1 members backfired among some in the fitness community online.
Equinox, which has more than 100 clubs across the country, refused to allow new members in its gyms on Jan. 1 as a part of its “We Don’t Speak January” campaign.
“You are not a New Year’s resolution. Your life doesn’t start at the beginning of the year. And that’s not what being part of Equinox is about,” the club posted on its website Jan. 1.
While the message was meant to be call to action for discipline and long-term change instead of short-lived shortcuts, it didn’t go over well with droves of people in the fitness community.
“How about we support any and everyone trying to get healthy. It’s scary enough to just go to the gym when you’re not confident,” Nathan Tsuji, a fitness influencer, posted on TikTok in response to Equinox.
“Stop gate keeping fitness,” one commenter said in support of Tsuji’s TikTok. “This is why so many people are afraid to step foot in (the gym).“
In addition to the statement on its website, Equinox also posted a TikTok video on Jan. 1 captioned “Take your resolutions somewhere else,” with the person in the video smirking at the fact that no new people were allowed in their Equinox gym at the start of the new year.
The video, which can be seen in Tsuji’s TikTok, has since been removed.
“As an equinox member this is just odd marketing,” one person commented on the club’s Instagram campaign post. “We should be encouraging everyone to start their fitness journey whenever they choose.”
The fitness community has cracked down on exclusive behavior in the fitness space lately on TikTok, with one of the biggest advocates of gym accessibility being Joey Swoll, who has addressed multiple instances of New Year gym exclusionists other than Equinox.
“You have every right to be there just as much as anybody else,” Swoll said to new members about starting at any gym on Jan. 1. “Please GO to the gym and don’t let anyone tell you different. You have every right to be there. This needs to stop.”
Other fitness buffs online supported the company’s decision not to feed into the “New Year, New Me” mindset — but one woman shared an email she received from Equinox encouraging her to join on Dec. 31, 2022 to ring in the new year.
Equinox reopened its membership application pool on Jan. 2, according to its website.
This story was originally published January 3, 2023 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Luxury gym slammed for refusing new members on Jan 1. ‘Stop gatekeeping fitness’."
