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When Continuum opened in the West Village in 2024, there were a lot of headlines about the $100,000-a-year wellness club — including in The Post.
It’s capped at 250 members — among them pro athletes and celebs whose names you definitely know — and in addition to a gym, it boasts in-demand recovery technology like a float tank, a red light bed and a hyperbaric chamber.
But as exclusive and well-equipped as it is, it’s hard not to wonder — what could possibly justify that price? The next most expensive option in the city is E by Equinox, and even their top tier is “only” $26,000.
In a truly grit-testing display of investigative journalism, I became a Continuum “member” for a week. And I have to tell you — I get it. And I could get used to this.
We have access to a lot of health data these days. There are plenty of at-home tests, plus wearables like Oura and Fitbit that tell you about your sleep, calorie burn and heart rate.
“The difficulty is, if you’re a consumer, you’re getting a ton of signal and you don’t know what to do with it,” Continuum founder and CEO Jeff Halevy told The Post. “And what people end up doing is playing doctor with their data.”
Worst case scenario, that can lead to getting advice from AI chatbots so bad it ends in a hospital visit. Best case scenario, you’ve spent hundreds of dollars on tech that’s not leading to any actual life improvements.
Continuum knows what to do with that data — and how to help members use it to get the most out of their health.
Using a series of tests (and your wearable), they put together a detailed report — plus personalized recommendations for how to make improvements, like how often to train for strength, sauna for cardio, and do red light therapy for cellular health. And all the equipment you need is right there.
“That’s what Continuum is. It’s a single source of truth and execution, a fully integrated precision wellness club,” says Halevy. “Everything’s under one roof. There’s one plan, one place you go, you don’t really have to even think about it. You just show up.”
Massage and red light and sauna, oh my!
The first thing new members do is complete bloodwork and other testing, all of which is synthesized for their report and recommendations. Over time, those tests are redone — and recommendations get updated.
Members have access to a fully-equipped gym with high-end pneumatic strength equipment — plus trainers with advanced degrees who use the test results to design personalized workouts.
That’s all upstairs, an area Halevy says is dedicated to expending energy. Downstairs, meanwhile, is dedicated to cultivating energy.
There’s red light therapy, which most people know can be good for your skin. But emerging research supports a bunch of other benefits, including reduced pain and inflammation, improved sleep, and better muscle growth with training.
“Red light’s super popular,” says Halevy. “You’re only in there for 10–20 minutes, two to three times a week, and you’re not getting sweaty. It’s so easy to get in and out — it’s a high-leverage intervention.”
They also have a clinical-grade hyperbaric chamber, which speeds recovery and reduces inflammation, and a sensory deprivation float tank, which research shows lowers stress, improves sleep and relieves muscle tension.
“It’s a really amazing tool that immediately shifts the state of the body,” says Halevy. “A lot of pro sports teams are now adopting this.”
Then there’s contrast therapy. Sauna has been linked to a ton of benefits for longevity, brain function, sleep and immunity. One study found that doing it two to three times a week lowered heart attack and stroke risk by 25%. Four to seven sessions reduced risk by 77%.
Unlimited appointments are also available for massages and IVs.
But Halevy stresses that Continuum isn’t a “buffet” — they don’t leave members to fend for themselves, figuring out which treatments to use and when.
“We’re like Google Maps for your health,” he explained. “Inevitably, traffic will arise. Wrong turns will be made. Life is going to life. But we’ve built up the navigational system and the team to support it to always bring you back onto the best path possible.”
Home away from home
Membership at Continuum is about 60% male, 40% female, and includes major players in tech, finance, law and entertainment. Many have the sort of flexible jobs where they can visit in the middle of the day and spend hours working out, doing a treatment, taking a meeting and eating.
The club is designed for that, with food, drinks, meeting rooms and a lounge.
“The idea is to truly bring people together and give them a place to set up shop and do work, connect, relax,” says Halevy, who notes that studies show social connection is the “greatest lever” for healthspan and lifespan, even beyond diet and exercise.
About that $100,000 price tag…
To be clear, not everyone is paying $100,000. That price gets unlimited access to all of their high-tech devices and amenities, including personal training, massages and IVs as often as you’d like.
It also includes concierge lifestyle support that has involved everything from securing hard-to-get dinner reservations to scheduling personal training for members on vacation in other countries.
“Look, it’s not cheap,” Halevy admits. “But for a certain demographic that’s already spending money on these things, it’s actually a good deal.”
There’s also a $40,000 tier, which gets you everything except that concierge service — meaning it still includes unlimited massages and training.
Finally, Continuum just launched a $25,000 tier, which drops the unlimited massages and training, but still gets full access to the gym and amenities like hyperbaric chamber and red light.
Despite the price, Halevy says his mission is to democratize their offerings, and plans for their app — which puts together all the test results and recommendations — to be available to everyone in the next couple of years.
So — what’s it really like?
I am definitely not the average Continuum member — based on my tax bracket, for sure, but my fitness regimen also … needs some work.
So I was super excited to pretend to be “drops-$100k-a-year-on-a-wellness-club rich” for a week. But my favorite part wasn’t what I thought it would be.
We kicked things off with a blood test. This was the first taste of luxury — a nurse came to my office, so I didn’t have to disrupt my day. Time is money, people.
Later, at Continuum, Head of Human Performance Kennedy Chukwuocha, who has a doctorate in physical therapy, ran me through more tests. First was a DEXA scan, which gives a breakdown of your body composition including bone density, body fat and lean muscle mass.
That was followed by a Resting Metabolic Rate assessment (measuring how many calories my body burns at rest) and a functional movement screen.
The FMS is a standardized test that evaluates how you perform certain movements to assess whether you’re at risk for injury and help figure out how you might move better. I did things like deep squats, lunges and push-ups while Chukwuocha took notes. His relaxed encouragement headed off any high school gym class PTSD flashbacks.
Finally came the part I was dreading the most: a VO2 max test, which determines aerobic fitness level. It involves running on a treadmill with a mask fitted tightly over your face for as long as you can, as the speed gets faster and faster.
How long I managed for is a shameful secret saved for me and Chukwuocha.
After all that, I was sure the best part was going to be all the bells and whistles, including a lovely after-work massage.
And I can’t lie, those were great. I’ve already written about my love of sauna. And the float tank — a first for me — was a blissful chance to tune out (even if I didn’t have a psychic experience à la Eleven in “Stranger Things”).
But it turns out, I was most impressed by what I learned from all that testing.
Combining those results with my Oura ring data, Chukwuocha gave me a full presentation that covered everything from my hydration (100% — woohoo!) to my micronutrient levels (85% — not bad) to my gut health (93% — killing it).
It also tackled my cardio and strength, including my body fat percentage and aerobic threshold (So weird, that slide is missing, I guess I can’t share it here! Darn it).
It’s nice to know the areas where I’m doing well, but even more helpful to see exactly what needs some work. Last year, a presentation in a dentist’s office finally got me to commit to flossing — and this may be the thing that pushes me back into weight training. Sure, my strength needs a boost — but as a woman in my late 30s, my bone health would really benefit, too.
Ultimately, the data and suggestions are what I’m going to take with me now that my “membership” is up. Though I’d take a red light bed, too, if I could.
English (US)