Said Sebastian Schoepe, an executive at a fitness outfit called Heimat, quoted in "Think Getting Into College Is Hard? Try Applying for These Gyms. A new crop of luxury gyms requires referrals, interviews and even, in some cases, medical evaluations. And that’s before paying a monthly fee of up to $2,750" (NYT).
So... they discriminate fiercely, but against whom? Is it too subtle to puzzle out — too hard to identify as something known to be wrong, like the admissions process at an elite law school?
I thought maybe the name was a signal. What's "heimat"? Sounds German. Oh! It's the German word for "homeland"! Here's the Wikipedia page, "Heimat":
Am I in the right gym?The word has connotations specific to German culture, German society and specifically German Romanticism, German nationalism, German statehood and regionalism so that it has no exact English equivalent....Greverus (1979) focuses especially on the concept of identity. To him, "heimat" is an "idyllic world" and can only be found within the trinity of community, space and tradition; because only there human desires for identity, safety and an active designing of life can be pleased....
The concept of "Heimat" is closely associated with the present – as its meaning is established in a particular moment – and aims to provide an answer to a central question: Am I in the right place? Which place in the world do I want to make my home?”...
[Leary attempted] to describe what makes the perfect Remedy member: It’s someone, he said, “who will shine bright and help teach people the changes that need to happen.”
I think he's saying — in so many words — that beautiful people "teach" — by example — that non-beautiful people "need" to "change" into something more nearly beautiful. In other words, you learn, by seeing beautiful people, what you already knew when you decided to go to the gym: You need to get/stay in shape. Beautiful people also "teach" us another thing that we already know: Beauty is lovely and desirable.
The “who” for a majority of these gyms tends to be “cool” people in general, said John Atwood, the managing partner of Atwood Consulting in Boston, which specializes in health clubs. “If you’re making widgets in Akron, Ohio, they may not want you, even if you have an apartment in New York,” said Mr. Atwood, comparing the selection process to how exclusive club bouncers choose people to enter their venues. “They’re looking for cool people.”
Atwood isn't making widgets in Akron, but he's only able to think of the example of making widgets in Akron as something uncool. Is consulting in Boston cool? Is it cooler or less cool if the name of your firm is just your own name followed by "Consulting"? There's a question that answers itself. I think this paragraph is cool, but I don't think that's the kind of cool they want for this gym, and I'd like to know what proportion of the "memberships" are paid for, full price, and who pays full price, and whether young beautiful women are gathered in for the purposes of "shining bright" and "teaching" wealthy older men to want what they already know they want. Because that would make the place, actually, the height of uncoolness.
It's no surprise that this NYT article — which reads like a promo for the luxury gym industry — lacks a comments section. The commenters are shut out, like uncool people trying to join a luxury gym. Ironically, they're the only ones who'd be saying anything cool... them, and me, over here... in my remote outpost in Akron, Ohio Madison, Wisconsin.
IN THE COMMENTS: Yancey Ward found an ad for one of these gyms:
Posts
38 comments:
Interesting niche.
I don’t think they will turn away anyone who will pay that much to enter unless demand is high enough to afford exclusivity.
Maybe they just want to provide a grinder/only fans experience without having to use your phone.
So it's a country club in the city. Of course Groucho Marx's line comes to mind....
Velvet rope culture is velvet rope culture.
I've never understood it, never been attracted to it. I've also never been attracted to gym culture. Those who love it can have a field day with the folks they monetize. I suppose their life is their art, in a way.
Both of the places described sound cultish. It’s been my experience in life that the effort an organization expends to make itself look good is proportional to how rotten they are at their core.
I kept looking for the tiny print that said "Paid Advertisement" ... well, there's a sucker born every minute. No news here... rich people have always spent most of their most of their money on exclusivity. Separating themselves from the uggas, the hoi polloi....
No juice allowed.
The snobs can have their "luxury" gym. They probably just go for the selfies. Breaking a sweat while weight training or doing cardio just isn't "cool." I beat the snobs wear $10,000 workout outfits too. Can't wear $50 sweat pants and $15 t-shirts.
I hear LA Fitness and 24-hr Fitness are either in bankruptcy or on bankruptcy's door. The 24-hr fitness I went to in Redmond WA cut back on their hours and ended their towel service. During the lockdowns, with everyone wearing those useless masks, a busy day might be 25 people at one time. Most likely 15. I shutdown our memberships after we moved to Snoqualmie, too far away.
I joined Anytime Fitness. It's a bare-bones gym with free weights and machines. No pool, no sauna, no locker room. They have about 5 individual shower/bath rooms and a three-row, 10(?) set of lockers. It has the equipment I need without being "cool." The people there are doing workouts, not beauty poses.
So it's a country club in the city. Of course Groucho Marx's line comes to mind....
My thoughts exactly.
So, Nazi gym. Aryans welcome.
AA: "I thought maybe the name was a signal. What's "heimat"? Sounds German. Oh! It's the German word for 'homeland'!"
Should have named it Herrenrasse. The master race (German: Herrenrasse) is a pseudoscientific concept in Nazi ideology in which the putative "Aryan race" is deemed the pinnacle of human racial hierarchy. Members were referred to as "Herrenmenschen" ("master humans").
But this gym is even more exclusive, since blond hair and blue eyes wont get you in automatically. Have to come from the right place and have the right background and job and "promote the brand." Who are the mal-adjusted pathetic status-seekers who seek this?
The ideal work out: Hike the property and locate a downed tree in the woods. Haul the safety gear, rope, loppers, log roller/Cant Hook and chainsaw in a sled to said tree. Remove branches. Use chainsaw to section off the trunk into rounds. Lift rounds into sled, haul to woodshed. Split rounds using splitting maul, sledge hammer and wedges. Stack split wood to burn later. Lather, rinse, repeat until too tired to continue. Get beer, sit in hot tub until recovered. Do it again the next day. Muscle groups used: lots. Sweat level: high. Heart rate: variable, very high at times. Personal satisfaction: high. Status points earned: low.
The modern family of selfieshness.
Exercise for the socials is hard
There is no end to the paths elitism can find. Those who practice telling all of society what to think, what to say, how to live, find it impossible to rub elbows with the rest of the society that they are looking to reign over. Why, it's as if we have millions of mini-monarchies led by millions of Marie Antoinettes shouting, "Remove their gas ranges, cut out their air conditioners, take away their meat, let them eat....turmeric dusted climate-conscious vegetables."
Today it's Heimat, tomorrow it's Lebensraum.
Slippery slope : )
What your gym says about you.
https://youtu.be/s2XMhGSXtaI
Well, I know where I am not wanted.
Pfffffffft!
The greatest evils of human history were perpetrated by those with the greatest appreciation for the value of mingling with like-minded people.
Mediocrities spending money to exclusively hang out with other mediocrities in the false hope that the world will one day fall to it's knees and proclaim them superior.
This is something new?
Just a variation on the old school, high society social/athletic clubs, like The New York Athletic Club, The Union Club, The University Club, The Yale Club, The Racquet and Tennis Club, etc.
The advent of cell phone cameras has changed the psychology. It's conspicuous consumption re-visited.
"I'm in this really expensive gym working out, and I look really cute in my spandex. Did I mention I look really cute??"
So... they discriminate fiercely, but against whom?
People without money.
Here is an ad for one of these gyms.
We are like-minded, and that's good.
You are conformist, and that's terrible.
Heimat was the German television series about 20th century German history as it affected a village in Rheinland-Pfalz. The show and its sequels are worth watching if you think you might be interested in something like that.
My favorite Secret Societies (not-so-secret) ---and Clubs. 1) Skull and Bones, 2) Bohemian Grove/Bohemian Club
This from Wikipedia
"Like other Yale senior societies, Skull and Bones membership was almost exclusively limited to white Protestant males for much of its history. While Yale itself had exclusionary policies directed at particular ethnic and religious groups, the senior societies were even more exclusionary.[19][20] While some Catholics were able to join such groups, Jews were more often not.[20] "
(And, no Italians either. Nor, could Jews and Italians pass, no matter how Waspy they looked. Sniffle. The Buffet line would give it all away. They get too grabby where food is concerned)
Wikipedia on Bohemian Club/Grove:
"In 1978, the Bohemian Club was charged with discrimination by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing over its refusal to hire female employees. In January 1981, an administrative law judge issued a decision supporting the practices of the club, noting that club members at the Grove "urinate in the open without even the use of rudimentary toilet facilities" and that the presence of females would alter club members' behavior.[38] The Bohemian Club then filed a petition in California Superior Court, which ruled in favor of the club, finding "the male gender [to be] a bona fide occupational qualification."[40]
I have a big storeroom below my office (family business) with free weights, a C2 rowerg, and 400 square feet of padded floor for taikwondo. It's not that cool, but it beats the hell out of going to a public gym. It's only a ten minute walk from my house and it's always open. The whole thing cost me less than a month at this gym where I would be rejected despite my amazing good looks. It's my personality that would get in the way...
"I'd like to know what proportion of the "memberships" are paid for, full price, and who pays full price, and whether young beautiful women are gathered in for the purposes of "shining bright" and "teaching" wealthy older men to want what they already know they want."
Althouse, you seem to be developing this weird suspicion that men -- heterosexual men, in all likelihood -- want to have sex with attractive young women. Where do you get these wild ideas?
So... they discriminate fiercely, but against whom?
People without money.
... and people with money but of the wrong class. #Diversity
Like-mindedness has become a very high value in our culture, it seems. Perhaps it's our highest value. It's what cancel culture is all about, isn't it?
Elon Musk went from being loved to being hated by the cool kids because he wasn't like-minded about the value of like-mindedness.
The recent Stanford Law kerfuffle was students demanding guest speakers must be like-minded.
Political correctness was about encouraging like-mindedness. PC has evolved to Woke which insists on like-mindedness.
Joe: "Today it's Heimat, tomorrow it's Lebensraum."
Good one.
Here in the US of A, cool must mean ignorant. In German, Heimat is definitely uncool.
Looks like the set of a 1980's vampire movie.
Just the sort of place I look for to workout. NOT!!!
They're just plastic people.
Back in the 90's and the early 00's I had the opportunity to stay a lot in the Soho Grand. It was clear that they constantly had several rooms available at a reduced (maybe non-existent) rate for the clientele of some of nearby the elite modeling agencies. They were unapologetically blunt about it. All of this was know to attract a "cool" set of men. Everybody seemed to dig it. When I'd pop up the elevator with some of the young women, they were clearly having a gas. It's been a business theory for a while.
I'm too lazy to link to the web-site, however I read this in the NYT earlier this month (Mar. 6) that "premiumization" is the new thing - even for donuts and common household lubricants.
Big companies are prodding their customers toward fancier, and often pricier, versions of everything from Krispy Kreme doughnuts to cans of WD-40.
It’s evidence of the corporate world’s new favorite buzzword: “premiumization.”
Businesses are hoping to keep the good times rolling after several years in which they seized on strong spending by consumers and rapid inflation to raise prices and pump up profit margins. Many firms are embracing offerings that cater to higher-income customers — people who are willing and able to pay more for products and services.
One sign of the trend: The notion of premiumization was raised in nearly 60 earnings calls and investor meetings over the past three weeks.
I have a good friend who ran marketing for a well know consumer brand. He noted that he couldn't even sit in a marketing meeting today - they have changed so much that he wouldn't know what to offer or how to guide it. Maybe not worse, but definitely different.
And, I can't believe that Mr. Atwood would be dumb enough to let himself be quoted dismissing anybody like that - the widget makers of Akron - of which there are none. But still, have a little class man! You're from Boston and you run a consulting company, for crying out loud. Consult like you have some class and you're from a sophisticated place. You can charge more that way.
It did remind me of a small insult that was used in my group for a while. Which was that we'd say that doing something pretty well was like "being the best oboe player in Muncie Indiana". It kind of meant, you might be, but so what?
We're kind of snobby too.
Howard Stern used to run a radio dating game called "Dial a Date".
He would ask prospective female contestants, "How big are your breasts?".
Males would be asked "How much money do you make?"
I think the same thing is going on here.
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