The Decibel - Why gyms have become so fancy and expensive

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

The new year is upon us and for some of us, that means New Year’s resolutions. These goals often involve improving our fitness, or going to the gym more often. But that’s not always cheap with gym membership and classes costing more and more.In today’s episode, host Sherrill Sutherland and The Globe’s healthy living reporter, Graham Isador, try a class at one of Toronto’s luxury gyms, Sweat and Tonic. They share their experiences and Graham discusses why gym prices have risen so drastically and how you can make your fitness resolutions possible.  Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Recently, I went to a workout class at a Toronto gym called Sweat and Tonic with my colleague and Healthy Living Reporter, Graham Isidore. How are you feeling before this booty hit class? I'm trepidacious about the booty hit class. I can't say that the booty hit is normally how I tend to work out, though I'm up in game for trying different stuff for the sake of journalism a lot of the time. So I do want our listeners to know that the booty hit is normally how I tend to work out, though I'm up in game for trying different stuff for the sake of journalism. hit class was not something that I selected for myself, but, you know, for the sake of the healthy living reporter beat, it's something I am going to participate in. What do you mean you do you select the spirit of yourself? Who selected it for you? I can't say. I think we're

keeping that off record maybe. It was you as far as I know. Booty hit is a workout that targets, you guessed it, the booty and lower body. It's a high intensity interval training session, or hit for short. Classes like these at boutique or luxury gyms are becoming more popular, and so are the increasingly high prices. Now that it's the new year, we decided to spend some time talking about the rise of the fancy gym, and what that means for how much it'll cost you to accomplish your fitness goals. So, Graham is our guest today. First, we'll take you into the class we attended. And then Graham will explain why gym prices have risen and how to make your fitness resolutions possible.

even on a budget. I'm Cheryl Sutherland, and this is The Decible from The Globe and Mail. Hi, Graham. Thanks for being on the show, and nice to see you outside of the gym. Yeah, thanks very much for having me. So, Graham, to start, I want to bring listeners into the class that we took together to give them a sense of what these classes have to offer. So, of course, we took a booty hit class, but there's a number of classes like these out there. So for me, for this class, I remember walking into the studio, and my first impression was, like, wow, this is a vibe, right? record. Wow, look at his studio. It was dark, there's colored lights. The trainer had like a mic on. I got to say, it made me really excited, right? Like there was like, the music was bumping.

And I just felt like, okay, let's get into it. But Graham, what do you remember from this class? It's a very specific place for sure. I think it felt more adjacent to a nightclub than it did to any kind of typical gym that I had been at before. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, we're perfect. My name is Megan. Welcome to Booney Hit. This is your 50 minute high intensity interval training where we work on the biggest muscle for it, okay, the lower body. You know, there were lights that were choreographed to music. As you said, like that kind of Britney Spears microphone going on with the instructor. And everybody was just kind of ready to go right away. It seemed very much that everybody was super jazzed and super excited to be there. And sweat and tonic is kind of a new breed of gym, right? It's not like your YMCA or your good life.

How would you describe, like I guess we call this kind of a boutique gym or a fancy gym, how would you describe that? Swentonic, it's a boutique fitness studio, has got a couple locations in Toronto. I would describe it as a luxury gym or an approaching luxury gym. That's going to be similar to a place like Equinox that also has locations in Toronto and Vancouver, Midtown Sanctuary and Montreal, archetype in Eminton. All of these things are trying to project an image and an idea and a location that seems kind of closer to a spa. or a luxury hotel, then what you would think of it as a typical place to work out. And in addition to having kind of those design elements that kind of speak to that more high-end clientele, many of them also have places and amenities like, you know, hot tubs and pools,

saunas, spa services that might also be included in your membership or can be accessed for additional fee. So these type of places, in addition to just being a place to work out, also become kind of this one-stop shop for all of your different wellness. deeds. Okay, so we went to the class to report on this trend of fitness classes and fitness more broadly becoming more and more expensive. Before we get into how much prices have increased, can you just walk us through the different business models for gyms? Yeah, so when we talk about the business models for gyms, many of the places that you think of that are these giant kind of

box store gym setups. You think about a place like Planet Fitness is probably the one that comes to mine most quickly. Make the majority of their money by actually having your clients not show up. So they're offering prices that are quite affordable and then trying to sell more memberships than people will actually use. So if everybody who had a membership at the gym came at the same time, you'd be completely packed and kind of unavailable to be able to use all the different equipment that you want. And you're trying to just get as many things sold with the thought process that if a person is paying $15 a month, if a person is paying $30 a month, then it's not that big of a deal to them if they don't show up that many times. And it's a mentality that has, you know, served for a lot of these gyms that have a little bit of a lower price point. With the BT studios that we're talking about, there is still that elements that, you know, they're trying to sell, you know, as many memberships as possible. But you're also coming in a much higher price point.

And the reason that having that higher price point is like, okay, well, we're trying to get the super users at that point. So we're getting these people who create a community within that space because they're going multiple times a week. And they're paying a premium, you know, at the aforementioned gyms that are talking. about that's running somewhere between $160 to $300 plus a month for those memberships, which is a huge expense. But if you're going every day and then you take a look at the cost benefit analysis of how much that actually costs per visit if you show up the whole time, then it's a big kind of change with how things go.

So it's two different types of business models that we're kind of approaching here. And that sort of luxury high-end consumer product versus this kind of bare bones, you know, gym is going to be a different way that these people can make money. So, so Graham, how profitable are gyms generally? So according to statistics Canada, the profitability of gyms in 2024 was coming in at 8.3%. So with profit margins kind of being so slim, those are similar to kind of what you'd see in a restaurant, it can be challenging for smaller gyms to kind of turn a profit. And people are trying to find different sort of business models to figure out how to best make money in the industry right now that is still in many ways recovering and has changed so much since COVID in 2020 and the long shutdowns in Canada that happened for many of those different gyms across the country.

Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the pandemic because that has had an effect on a lot of companies, including gyms. So how much has the pandemic affected the business of gyms? Yeah, so there was a number of gyms that did not survive. A lot of times due to the closures that happened for a long period of time, but it was also a change that happened in consumer habits afterwards as well. So I think when people became more accustomed to figuring out that they can work out at home, whether that's going to be on a fancy thing like Peloton and getting gym equipment there, whether that's your online fitness classes that you can do through YouTube for free or, you know, for subscription service, whether that's just kind of figuring out a jogging program that you can either do on your own

or through something like Nike Run Club app. There just became a number of different options that people became more accustomed to and more aware of that were existing outside of these gym places. So when we're thinking about where people are spending money right now, those habits change quite a bit, which is in part why, you know, anecdotally, I would say a number of these different kind of interesting and unique and experiential fitness classes are kind of popping up because the aforementioned class that we took, the booty hit class in a kind of nightclub setting is not something that you'd be able to recreate at home unless you were kind of like flashing off your lights on not a lot and had a really good playlist going on. It would take a little bit more than you'd be able to do on your own. I mean, yeah, you just got to hire, like, when your kids or cousins, you get them to flash the lights on and off. I feel like you have the same vibe, right? I mean, maybe this is our new business model.

We can talk afterwards and figure something out. And it's interesting because, you know, how when the pandemic has, like, shifted to, you know, going back to normal times, quote unquote, we have seen people kind of go back to stores and this idea. And so I guess I'm assuming that from that, like, movement into outside of the pandemic life, we're seeing that also people are going back to the gym. When we're looking at the stats, it's just still like the majority of Canadians do not have, you know, a gym membership at those times. And the people who are consistently going who do have a gym membership are even less than that. But I think that gyms and particularly kind of those boutique spaces are also kind of existing as social spaces as well for many people.

So when we're talking about these boutique studios and we're talking about these classes that can run for a dropping class $34 up at many of these places. we're talking about investments that people are making into the spaces and communities there. But if you're seeing the same people at these types of places the whole time, if you're at an income level where you guys have the same sort of disposable income to be able to be spending on a place like this, if you have the interest that you're spending your disposable income on wellness and fitness-related products, it's a lot of times that these gyms operate as social centers as well, too. Let's talk a bit about the price.

You mentioned a couple of figures there. So the class we took was $34. But can you give us a sense of like when it comes to classes, how much are we talking about here? Yeah, it's going to widely range kind of like depending on the membership options that you have, whether you want to commit to one gym, whether you're doing a thing like class pass, which allows you to jump from a number of different kind of studios with some restrictions on kind of like when you can access those studios and how many people can be in them at a time. So that $34 number is something that I had come across a lot when looking at these different gym classes.

But when I say $34, that's not going to be the same price if you have a membership at those place, which again, you know, these boutique studios can run between $160 to $300 plus, depending on kind of like what amenities that you want to go along with it and the programs that you're accessing. And then making an investment in a membership can drastically bring down that cost per class. And on memberships, I mean, prices have increased, right? Can you talk about how much prices have increased for things like gym memberships? Yeah, so the consumer price index from Stats can report an increase of 14.7% in prices for recreational facilities and services from 2019 to 2023.

Operating expenses for those places in 2020 were up 16%. So those numbers aren't giving you your membership options, but what's happening right now is the trickle down and the gym's costing more money to operate means that that's being passed on to consumers. So these are kind of all rough estimates right now in terms of like how those prices are going up. But we are seeing prices for gym memberships go up across the board, mostly because everything is getting more expensive across the board. We'll be right back. Okay, Graham, so we talked about fancy gyms, but let's talk about fitness goals more broadly, because I think this will be top of mind for many people, given that it's the new year.

So, Graham, what do fitness experts say about the necessity of a gym membership? Like, do you need a membership to achieve your fitness goals? That really depends on what your fitness goals are, and a lot of things. of ways. You can get a great workout at home using calisthenics. That's pushups. That's by weight, squats. You can get a great workout outside by going for a jog. But all these things aren't necessarily going to get you to your ideal body weights for these fancy kind of Instagram style aesthetics that are kind of pushed down our throats in so many ways. So I think it really depends on like what your goals are and defining that for yourself and then figuring out what are the tools

you need to make that happen. So there's ways to do all of this without a gym for sure, but a gym can definitely be helpful depending on what you need to do. I'm glad you brought up social media because I think it's fair to say that fitness culture is very mainstream thanks to social media. And there's this expectation out there that people need to be putting a ton of hours and at the gym, you know, to see these kind of like sculpted results. But what do experts say you actually have to do to start seeing results if you're starting from zero or nearly zero? When we're thinking about results, again, it's kind of defining what that is.

If immediately we're kind of talking about these very sculpted bodies that we see on social media or we see in different superhero movies, those are not the type of physiques that you're going to be able to get without kind of baking that's your full-time job. And when I say full-time job, that's multiple hours in the gym and day. And that's also a focus on recovery, meaning that you're making sure that you're sleeping enough and that your body is having a number of different access to things like hydration. is having massages that's like these people are kind of getting at the time. So when we're thinking about those types of goals, you know, I would love to be able to do that.

Personally, it would be really nice to have a full-time nutritionist and trainer and recovery experts kind of running me through those things. But for all the reasonable people out here, you know, who have jobs and lives and families and things that they want to do that are not fitness, we're kind of looking at ideally kind of three weight workouts a week and then walking every day. That's the advice that came from the expert Dan John, who is an expert in kettlebell training and also one of my favorite people to refer to when they get about reasonable and achievable fitness goals. When you say three weight workouts a week, how many minutes are we talking about in total? That can be as low as about 45 minutes. It doesn't really need to be longer than that. So you're going to start to see changes in your strength and then some muscle added as well at that point.

You know, if you're doing this as a person who has never worked out before. And if you're doing those types of weight workouts consistently for kind of a six-month time period, we are going to see some changes in strengths and some minor changes in terms of like your muscle mass that goes along with that too. Is that going to kind of give you this version of your body that you might have in your head or that I would love to have or kind of those six-pack abs in the beach? Probably not. But those are going to kind of be where we can start with sort of some reasonable exercise expectations around those things. And it's usually kind of what I push towards when people are kind of asking me on what they should do if they kind of want to get started. You know, when we're talking about weight workouts, trying to figure out a beginner program,

there's a number of different resources that you can kind of be able to look up online. But those things are kind of going to depend on like where you're starting from, how you move in your body, your age. And then again, what your goals are with these things. Okay, so walking, but really a focus on weight workouts, which is kind of strength training, right? Why do experts say strength training is so important? Strength training is so important because when we're trying to think about aesthetic goals, those are coming through sculpted lean muscle.

So that's part of it. But when we're talking about health goals more broadly, the reason it's important to have muscle as we age is basically kind of be able to prevent you from hurting yourself if you fall and also preventing you from falling more in general. So we're seeing that, you know, especially in kind of some older adults, you start to lose muscle mass after age of 40 around that time period. and that kind of continue to go down slowly as we get older. But luckily, you know, some, again, like we're kind of talking about three workouts a week,

hopefully is some time that you can find for. And those don't need to be kind of intense, crazy things that you would see on Instagram or, you know, these giant Herculean task of weightlifting workouts. So, like, we're talking about kind of moving some reasonable weights around and then finding a different program that works for you. Getting started, you know, if you don't want to invest in one of these high-end memberships for classes or anything like that, spending a couple hundred bucks on a trainer once to kind of be able to give you a program and walk you through the movements that you might need for that

program is a really great kind of one-time, two-time investment that can kind of go on that pays dividends down the line because you're going to have the guidance of like what you want to do while you're at the gym by yourself and how that kind of goes later. But if that's not accessible to you, again, there are so many different YouTube videos and tutorials and a number different programs that you can look online that can kind of really give you a starting point for what you need to do. Fine. I'll add it's one of my fitness goals. I had some more strength training. I mean, I will say this editorial wise. You did kick my butt in the in the booty hip class thing too, which had some strength elements there too. I fancy myself a little bit of a strong man over here.

But yeah, I was I was huffing and puffing to try to keep up with you on those gobblets squats. So I think you're doing it after. Okay. I was like, I think you're doing fine. Thanks, Graham. But it might be, it might be good to add a couple of extra things too. So Graham, what if your goal is more weight loss focused? Is it still strength training?

What should people be focusing on if their goal is more weight loss? If your goal is more weight loss focused, the main thing that you're going to have to do is diet. That's going to contribute to about, like, 80% of, like, what we're talking about when we talk about fat loss. It's a thing that I get really sad about because there's a lot of time. where I'm like, no, I'll just work harder or I'll put in, you know, more hours at the gym, and surely that'll bring me to my goals. But the majority of what we're talking about when we're talking about body recomposition, so losing fat, is going to be coming through diet in a lot of ways. That said, I still would encourage people to think about resistance training and weight trading.

In addition to kind of aesthetic things that go along with that, there's also the fact that when we gain more lean muscle that can also help boost our metabolism. So those changes that can kind of happen in your body through strength training in addition to, you know, helping with balance, and in addition to keeping you safe if you fall when you're older, is also going to kind of bring you closer to those body goals that we're kind of seeing on social media or in movies. Let's bring it back to our booty hit class just to end here. So we had a quick chat after it was done about how it went. How are you feeling, Graham? I feel pretty good. It was a good class. It had a good sweating. I felt like I kept up the entire time. I was worried.

worried about not keeping up with you between the running and the more booty-oriented exercises. It's not exactly what I'm working out for a lot of the time. But yeah, I felt like I kept up pretty okay. And yeah, I'm not dead or exhausted or anything right now, but I do feel like I had a good workout. Listener, he did keep up. He was very, very good. So Graham, what did you think? Was it worth the $34?

I'm trying to be diplomatic because I think everybody else. in the class seemed to have a really, really great time. And I think that they do what they do in that class extremely well. And if you were a person who was there and a booty hit class seemed very exciting for you to do, I think you would have got your money's worth. I think you would have enjoyed what you were getting at that time. It was not for me. The way that I like to work out is usually just finding the heaviest thing I can pick up

and then trying to pick that up and put that down a couple more times again. and sort of the dance club atmosphere and the techno remixes of pop songs that were going on, the lights that came along between our jogging and the treadmill and our lower body-focused weight exercises and then the Pilates adjacent stuff we were doing. All that stuff seemed very fun for other people, and I didn't love it. But yeah, good workout, and I felt suitably sore the next day, but pretty fine the most of the time. I don't think I was hurting like you were on the same way.

Well, on to the next class, right? Graham, maybe we'll join something else in 2026 together. Yeah, I hope so. Hopefully we can figure out time to do it before another year from now. But yeah, it was a super fun class, and thank you so much for having me out today. Yeah, Graham, thanks for being on the show. That was Graham Isidore, the Globe's Healthy Living Reporter.

That's it for today. I'm Cheryl Sutherland. This episode was produced by our Brooke Forbes Fellow, and associate producer, Alyssa Wheeler. Our producers are Madeline White, Mikhail Stein, and Ali Graham. Our editor is Dave Crosby. Adrian Chung is our senior producer,

and Angela Pichenza is our executive editor. Thanks so much for listening.