Equinox isn’t afraid of weight-loss drugs. Really.

With a new training protocol, fitness chain Equinox wants to show that Wegovy and workouts can go hand in hand.

Upscale fitness chain Equinox seemed to be throwing in the towel. In January, gym members in select markets started receiving messages about a new club benefit: a training program that was, according to Equinox, a “one-of-a-kind approach to weight loss with GLP-1.” Coming soon after WeightWatchers’s launch of a telehealth program to prescribe weight-loss drugs for its members last December, Equinox’s so-called GLP-1 training “protocol” looked like another admission that diet and exercise were no match for powerful drugs such as Wegovy and Zepbound (or Ozempic and Mounjaro, which are approved for treating Type 2 diabetes and frequently prescribed off-label for weight loss). And as Equinox sought lenders to help it refinance some $1.5 billion in maturing loans, it seemed like a Hail Mary. Given the seemingly effortless weight loss possible with drugs such as Wegovy or Zepbound, why would anyone bother going to the gym at all?