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Marissa Hart thought she was joining a fitness club. Instead, she ended up with a reason to keep calling New York home.
It all began on a sunny morning in August 2020, when she spotted a pack of runners in matching “West Village Athletics” T-shirts bounding down the West Side Highway.
The recent transplant was eager to break into the city’s group fitness scene, but was struggling to find a class she connected with. After finding the crew on social media, she reached out — and was invited to join them on a run that ended with a trip to a nearby café.
“I thought to myself, ‘I’ll go to the workout and I’ll leave before coffee. Like, I have my own friends,” Hart, 34, told The Post. “But I stayed, and honestly, it’s the reason I’m still going.”
Six years, three name changes and one tight-knit community later, the Manhattanite remains a devoted member of what is now known as Club Athletic.
The New York-based social fitness brand has built a loyal following with its “squad-based” approach to training.
Instead of dropping into random classes with strangers, members train in consistent, 20-person groups with the same coach at the same time every week. Fans of the model say it offers both a high-quality workout and a built-in community of like-minded people.
“I knew I wanted to be really fit and challenge myself in new ways, but what I didn’t know I needed was this social component,” said Hart, an account executive at Uber Eats.
“I had been thinking about moving to LA, but I ended up staying and making all of these friends,” she continued. “It’s been such a foundational piece of my life in New York.”
Now, the fitness-meets-friendship formula is heading beyond the Big Apple.
With more than 2,000 members in the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro area, Club Athletic is kicking off a national expansion with two Chicago locations opening this month. More cities are planned for 2027 as it rolls out its community-first workout model nationwide.
“We believe everyone deserves a squad,” said Dane McCarthy, founder of Club Athletic. “This next chapter is about bringing that sense of belonging to more communities across the country.”
Getting fit and finding community
In the US, fewer than a quarter of adults meet the federal government’s recommendations for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity each week.
And while millions sign up for gyms with good intentions, consistency is where things tend to fall apart, with only a small fraction of new members still going regularly within a year.
“I ended up signing up for a marathon that was never on my radar. It’s pushed me to achieve goals I never even thought to set for myself.”
Marissa Hart
But there’s evidence that training with others can help. In one study, 84% of participants in a group fitness program were still exercising regularly at six months, compared to just 63% of those following the same regimen at home.
Even in a class full of gymgoers, though, it was still difficult for Kaise White to stay consistent when he was surrounded by strangers.
“I found it easy to skip workouts when nobody noticed,” the Brooklyn-based software engineer said. “The accountability part of the squad model is what drew me in.”
White has been a Club Athletic member for four years, meeting his squad twice a week at 7 a.m. for a 55-minute strength and conditioning session.
The membership costs $295 a month and includes additional sculpt, Pilates and mobility classes, along with coach-led runs and community events.
“Having a set workout group and a set coach and a consistent schedule makes you feel like you’re more part of a team as opposed to a regular gym membership,” White, 34, said.
Members also get personal training and progress check-ins with their coaches to track their performance over time.
“A dedicated coach who sees you every week can actually push your performance, because they know where you were last month and where you’re trying to go,” McCarthy said.
“The people training next to you matter just as much. When you’ve built a real connection with them over time, you train harder, you enjoy it more and you get more out of it,” he added. “That connection doesn’t happen in a room full of strangers cycling through a class schedule.”
Hart confirms the model has helped her get in the best shape of her life — and set her sights on new fitness challenges.
“I’ve competed in three Hyrox races in the past year — before, I didn’t even know what Hyrox was,” she said. “Because of the run club, I ended up signing up for a marathon that was never on my radar. It’s pushed me to achieve goals I never even thought to set for myself.”
Hart has trained for both the marathon and Hyrox — an indoor fitness competition that combines 8 kilometers of running with eight functional workout stations — alongside fellow squad members she’s worked out with for the past six years.
“There are four people in my squad who have been with me since the beginning, and it’s one of the reasons I continue going, because it’s so nice to wake up and work out and see them all the time,” she said.
She’s even set to be a bridesmaid in one of their weddings later this year.
White, too, credits the model for helping him stay active and build a lasting community.
“People notice when you aren’t there,” he said. “You’re not just showing up for you — you’re showing up for the other people in your squad.”
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