The start of the year invariably sends us back to the gym to counteract festive excesses. But this does not have to be a soul-destroyingly drab experience. London has some spectacular gyms — new and old — featuring glamorous interiors, dedicated trainers, all sorts of swanky machines and extra services that make working out almost feel like a luxurious treat.
Cofounded by personal trainer Lee Mullins (Pippa Middleton and Eddie Redmayne are said to have availed themselves of his expertise), this gym is located in the Knightsbridge Bulgari Hotel spa, with its 11 treatment rooms and 25m pool clad in green onyx and Vicenza stone.
Training here starts with a “framework assessment” to test your movement capabilities, body composition and VO2 max levels. There is even a genetic analysis and food intolerance testing. This information will be used to underpin a bespoke exercise programme devised by Mullins or one of his hand-picked trainers — think yoga (there are small group classes), strength training (the equipment, of course, is second to none), boxing, water barre and more (your likes and hates are taken into account, don’t worry). There’s also nutrition plans devised by an in-house nutritional therapist. Recovery and longevity are built into your programme, with services such as red-light therapy, a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, hot and cold contrast therapy and Zerobody dry floatation. You may also be sent for massages or physiotherapy as required. To ensure exclusivity, a maximum of 200 membership packages are available, all combining Workshop Gymnasium training and assessment services with a number of bespoke spa treatments.
Packages (eight are available) start from £6,500. An annual Signature membership is £9,000 and includes your framework assessment, one PT session, unlimited access to the gym, classes and spa facilities, access to the recovery and longevity facilities and many additional perks such as two massages annually (these normally cost from £220). Individual PT sessions are £150 for members and £200 for non-members. Visit workshopgymnasium.com
Surrenne Belgravia
Surrenne boasts a science-led approach to fitness
Located at the Emory Hotel, Surrenne boasts a science-led approach to its members’ fitness and wellness: expect medical diagnostics (VO2 max, postural analysis, Kinvent strength testing) and bespoke exercise, recovery and longevity programmes. The club is the only place in the UK offering Tracy Anderson Method classes (unfortunately she’s not in residence herself, but some of her top instructors are). If you’re more of a gym person, there’s plenty to make your weights and cardio sessions slicker than your average. Peloton, Woodway and Hydrow equipment gleams under circadian lighting, which mimics natural light following the time of day to support your sleep/wake patterns — there’s also a collection of Damien Hirsts on the wood-panelled walls. Personal trainers work alongside in-house wellness specialists, spa therapists and medical practitioners to build a personal plan. Thought you were just going to build some strength? Consider your mobility, sleep, stress, recovery and injury prevention taken in hand as well.
Recovery comes in the shape of Hypervolt massage machines, steam rooms and spa treatments and the club even wants to take care of your cerebral and social life with members’ events such as roundtable discussions and live orchestral music by the pool. There are no worries about your sweaty gym kit either — that will be laundered by the club as part of your membership, and stored with your trainers. It rather turns every gym visit into a full-on wellness escape.
Membership is £10,000 a year plus a £5,000 initial joining fee, which includes access to all facilities, functional blood testing, four fitness assessments and body treatments, 12 Tracy Anderson classes, laundry and more. Visit surrenne.com
BXR
BXR Marylebone has a downtown industrial boxing gym vibe
If you want to exercise like an Olympian rather than a supermodel, this is the high-end gym for you. The feel in both the Marylebone and City locations is downtown industrial boxing gym but with all the mod cons and designer touches — exposed brick and a pro boxing ring alongside braided leather ropes, custom boxing details, gold-and-marble changing rooms stocked with Malin + Goetz and GHD and, in the case of the City outpost, skyscraper views.
Boxing-rooted but not boxing-only, BXR positions itself as an elite athlete’s gym where beginners and pros train alongside each other, all enjoying access to the most knowledgeable coaches and top-of-the-range equipment.
If boxing is not your bag, you can plump for cardio workouts and strength training set to a hip-hop heavy playlist, as long as you’re prepared to give it some welly. You should also be prepared to embrace the central values of boxing: resilience, focus and humility. But recovery is as important: at Marylebone, the new BXR Lab dedicated recovery area has an infrared sauna and cold-plunge bath. Members are offered access — through the Marylebone Health Group — to doctors, physiotherapists and nutrition experts offering the kind of medical-grade rehabilitation and physical therapy pro athletes are accustomed to.
Classes include kickboxing and a unique, notoriously tough Climb to the Beat VersaClimber class, and there’s proper coffee in the members’ club-like hangout spaces to keep your energy levels peaking.
Memberships start from £2,000, or you can opt for pay-as-you-go SWEAT by BXR classes (charged in monthly packages from £11 per class). Visit bxrlondon.com
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Lanserhof at the Arts Club
Lanserhof at the Arts Club claims to be the “world’s first medical gym”
Across the road from the Dover Street Arts Club and restaurant, members can offset too much indulgence at the Lanserhof at the Arts Club medical and cosmetic clinic, which also houses 200 sq m worth of “the world’s first medical gym”. It all starts with a turn in a science fiction piece of swivelling kit that assesses your body composition, posture, gait and musculoskeletal system. From here, your bespoke treatment and training schedule will incorporate preventative diagnostics, medicine and complementary therapies alongside workouts on Technogym equipment that will automatically sync to your programme. Personal trainers work with physicians and physiologists to perfect your training, plus there are four group classes a day, with reformer Pilates the most popular.
Among the health-optimising options are the clinic’s full-body MRI scanner and a cryo chamber and IV drip-suite for recovery and immune-boosting. The vibe inside this six-floor townhouse is sleek and minimal but not too clinical, with a café serving spirulina shakes.
Membership pricing is POA (but rumoured to start at £6,500 with a £1,500 joining fee), with six packages varying from gym-only to executive (which includes personal training and daily butler service). Visit lhtac.com
V LDN Mayfair
V London is aimed at the demanding fitness enthusiast who wants a design-led environment
The brainchild of the man behind Fitness First gyms, V is a Mayfair health club for the more discerning and demanding fitness enthusiast who wants a design-led environment. Against a backdrop of pale woods and cream leather, trainers work to a “precision fitness” philosophy, prescribing bespoke training methods based on clients’ health goals, and Watson, Rogue and Therabody gear ensures you can work out in style. Members can join the V running club to pound Berkeley Square and Green Park with the performance coach and Nike Trainer Naomi Heffernan then slip into the club’s dedicated recovery space, which includes a sauna, ice bath, and zero-gravity Therabody Lounger with multisensory sound vibration.
The class schedule balances body, mind and wellness, with options including reformer Pilates, yoga, HIIT and a unique recovery-focused Therabody Percussion Stretch Therapy class.
Membership is £250 a month, with a £200 joining fee, PT sessions are £130, with discounts for packages. Visit v-london.co.uk
Bath & Racquets Club
Bath & Racquets Club is deliberately old-world, cultivating an atmosphere of refinement
Don’t call it a gym but rather an exclusive private sporting institution. A world away from the thrusting, high-tech sleekness of contemporary luxury health venues, this Mark Birley club, now owned by Richard Caring and tucked away behind Claridge’s in Brook’s Mews since 1989, is and will ever be deliberately old-world, luxuriating in an atmosphere of refinement and discretion. The club blends high-end fitness with the culture and heritage of a traditional gentlemen’s club — yes, that means the gym, squash facilities and steam rooms (that’s what the “Bath” refers to) are for men only.
The gym features wood panelling, Turkish rugs, Birley-monogrammed dumbbells and members in obligatory sporting whites — it’s rather like working out on the Titanic. Both the personal trainers and squash coaches are accustomed to the kind of attentive training club members expect. Racquets instruction is the club’s standout strength, with world-ranking players like the former world No 2 Hiddy Jahan among the instructors. Physiotherapy and massage are available and everyone’s “club whites” are laundered on site. After working up a sweat, there’s drinks at the bar.
Membership is highly selective with pricing on application, requiring proposal and seconding from existing members. Visit bathandraquetsclub.co.uk
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Lanesborough Club & Spa
Lanesborough Club and Spa is an opulently furnished spa and gym
JAMES MERRELL
If nothing less than a palatial setting will do for your workouts, head down the secret entrance to the Lanesborough Club & Spa (in a mews behind the Hyde Park hotel) into the opulently furnished spa restaurant offering all-day healthy fare from 7am. Glide on through to the gilded changing rooms and into the 18,000 square feet of marble-clad splendour housing a spa, gym, Roman bath house-inspired thermal rooms and hydrotherapy pool.
Work out alone or take advantage of the top-flight personal trainers available to create personal fitness plans. Alternatively, choose from any of the classes (reformer Pilates, boxing, HIIT, spinning and even “Dance Club”, a high-energy dance fitness class) of no more than four participants. You can also join the running club for a lap around the Serpentine. For something truly unique, try electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) training, where you work out with pads that contract and strengthen your muscles for noticeable results in 20 minutes.
The spa houses an osteopath, chiropractor, reflexologist and meditation coach to look after your recovery and stress levels, while the brow artist Suzanne Martin and the regenerative cosmetic physician Dr Galyna Selezneva are on hand for any tweaks you may desire. Want to not have to lug your gym kit around? £1,000 a year gets you your own locker and gym gear laundry service.
Membership starts from £6,000 per year, plus a joining free between £1,000-£2,000, visit lanesboroughclubandspa.com