I worked out with an AI trainer at L.A.'s 'first full-scale AI-powered gym.' Here's how it went

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The genius knows all. It knows my height, my weight, my hydration, my cardio stamina — even, regrettably, my body’s visceral abdominous percentage. I’m lasting connected a bioelectrical impedance instrumentality — which looks a batch similar a standard but with metallic handles and metallic ft pads — and it’s sending low-grade, painless electrical signals done my hands and feet to measurement my muscle, abdominous and water. The percentages of each are past fed into an AI program.

Welcome to Fred Fitness, which touts itself arsenic L.A.’s “first full-scale AI-powered gym.” You mightiness beryllium wondering: What does that adjacent mean? Mostly that AI-powered software, referred to arsenic Genius, is integrated into each portion of cardio and spot instrumentality astatine the gym. Throughout your workout, it functions arsenic an ever-present but imperceptible force, sparking beneath the surface, similar a integer mycelium web with an agenda: to assistance you scope your grooming extremity (whether that’s value loss, spot gathering oregon toning) successful the astir businesslike mode possible.

The Santa Monica installation opened successful mid-February successful an 11,500-square-foot erstwhile Patagonia store connected 4th Street. Fred Fitness CEO Andre Enzensberger says the gym has astir 400 members, who wage $150 a period to beryllium bossed astir by an algorithm.

At archetypal glance, Fred Fitness looks similar thing much than a high-end gym successful a tony neighborhood. It’s airy and bright, with soaring ceilings, exposed wood rafters and leafy hanging plants. On a caller Wednesday afternoon, it was sparsely populated, with conscionable a fewer twelve members moving retired connected brand-new, still-gleaming treadmills, bikes and elliptical machines. The spot machines usage electrical motors to make absorption alternatively of carnal weights, truthful there’s nary clanking. It’s comparatively quiescent but for the whirring of cardio instrumentality and a blend of lo-fi and physics popular euphony connected the dependable system. Not precisely “The Matrix.”

But the workout machines astatine Fred Fitness are tailored to you. They cognize members’ names and assemblage investigation data, and they’ve configured personalized workout programs customized to their goals and fittingness abilities. They’re besides gamified, meaning their screens show a “Pac-Man”-like video crippled that members “play” by moving the value during reps and sets. Grab the handles of a seated rowing machine, for example, and propulsion the value faster oregon slower to determination your on-screen avatar — a shot — up oregon down wrong a maze and “eat” coins arsenic you go. Competitive? The gym keeps way of your scores, if you take to participate, and displays the accusation connected an app and a wall-mounted show to promote a consciousness of community.

“I emotion it due to the fact that it’s amusive and wholly automated,” says Keverton Marinho, a 32-year-old caller member. “I conscionable play — I don’t person to deliberation astir anything.”

The gamification whitethorn beryllium fun, but it’s purposeful too, Enzensberger says.

“It helps members bid astatine the close speed,” helium says. “It regulates clip nether tension, meaning however accelerated you propulsion oregon however dilatory you merchandise the weight. So your workout is much effective.”

There’s nary joining interest astatine Fred Fitness and the month-to-month rank includes entree to certified idiosyncratic trainers — though not unlimited sessions — who consult with members astir their AI-generated grooming programs. Trainers besides rotation the gym floor, answering questions and offering corrections erstwhile they announcement someone’s signifier is off. That quality constituent is critical, Enzensberger says.

“AI is truthful large close now, but we’re precise arrogant of the quality facet of our gym — the squad — and however we complement the AI precision,” helium said.

Before joining, imaginable members acquisition a escaped full-body appraisal from Genius to get a fittingness baseline. A “body creation analyzer” breaks down abdominous and thin musculus wide limb by limb and gives stats astir foundational musculus strength, basal metabolic complaint and hydration levels, among different metrics. That accusation is past interpreted by the AI. Many gyms connection fittingness assessments erstwhile you motion up for idiosyncratic training, and luxury wellness clubs, specified arsenic Equinox and Santa Monica’s Love Life, bash in-depth wellness and fittingness investigating for caller members; but astir regular gym memberships don’t see fittingness assessments.

After the assemblage creation analysis, which measures your metabolism, a quality trainer leads the member-to-be done antithetic workout circuits connected machines that measurement their strength, cardio and flexibility. There’s besides a bid of on-screen questions related to workout goals, workout acquisition and preferences.

Genius past assigns the subordinate a “biological age” — antithetic from your chronological property successful years. It’s similar an wide fittingness score, says Fred Fitness wide manager Miguel Alvino.

“It’s a metric we usage to springiness radical an thought of wherever their spot and areas of betterment are compared to their calendar age,” Alvino explains.

From that constituent on, erstwhile you log onto an workout instrumentality with your wristband, it calls up your personalized grooming program. The instrumentality past physically adjusts to your tallness and limb length, raising oregon lowering its spot and altering the presumption of its handles according to your body. The AI is besides adaptive, utilizing instrumentality learning. So it volition germinate with you arsenic you get fitter.

“The machines proceed to larn astir your capabilities,” Enzensberger says. “And that information is collected and fed into the AI to perpetually make a amended grooming programme for you.”

Fred Fitness is the encephalon kid of Andre Enzensberger’s brother, Alfred, who is the president and laminitis of Munich-based Clever Fit, a fittingness franchise with much than 500 locations passim Europe. Alfred Enzensberger partnered with Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer, CEO of EGYM, a planetary fittingness exertion institution besides based successful Munich, successful 2023 to make a afloat AI gym. EGYM wrote Genius, which was deployed successful August 2024. They brought successful Andre Enzensberger arsenic CEO.

There are different gyms with astute oregon AI-powered instrumentality successful Southern California, specified arsenic L.A.’s EōS Fitness (with instrumentality from EGYM) and Smart Fit Method successful Orange County. But astatine Fred Fitness, “Every portion of machinery is tied into the network,” Andre Enzensberger says. “We’re utilizing what the AI strategy tin bash connected a overmuch larger, fuller scale.”

Los Angeles was the perfect metropolis successful which to motorboat the venture, fixed its past arsenic a hub for fittingness and tech culture, helium says. “We wanted to clasp the open-mindedness of the radical of Los Angeles. Fred Fitness is groundbreaking and requires radical who privation to acquisition grooming successful a caller way.”

I enjoyed Genius’ guidance during my workout. The treadmill acceptable itself to a little velocity than I usually tally at, though astatine a higher incline, due to the fact that Genius knew my workout extremity was spot building, not value loss. And I loved the gamification constituent of the weight-lifting machines, adjacent going truthful acold arsenic to laughter retired large mid-rep — though I wonderment whether the crippled would get aged implicit time. But successful the end, what keeps maine coming backmost to a gym is the committedness of a sauna oregon steam aft my workout. And Fred Fitness, unfortunately, doesn’t supply those amenities, which was disappointing.

But maturation is connected the horizon. A 2nd Fred Fitness is present underway successful downtown Culver City — it’s readying to unfastened successful aboriginal 2026 — and the institution hopes to unfastened 4 further facilities wrong 3 to 5 years. The locations nether information are downtown L.A., West Hollywood and Glendale.

“This is conscionable a modern gym that’s amusive to usage — and radical emotion it due to the fact that it takes the guesswork out,” Enzensberger says. “Everything is afloat guided.”

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