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Once upon a time, gyms were the places where fitness attire was a tired T-shirt and pair of shorts, added extras were bottles of tepid water, and a workout was a quick in-and-out job. Not any more. Getting fit has gone seriously upmarket,

as the capital welcomes a new breed of supergym. Leading the lavish revolution in fitness is US chain Equinox,

which recently opened its first UK outpost – an industrial-chic space in Kensington that offers a glittering array of classes and equipment, as well as a crèche, library and laundry service.

Not to be outdone, Grace Belgravia, London’s first permanent women-only club, has thrown open its doors. For a £5,500 annual fee, members can make full use of gym sessions headed up by Samantha Cameron’s personal trainer Matt Roberts, plus a health spa, nutrition service, bar and restaurant. In Knightsbridge, Bodyism at The Bulgari Hotel offers a complete holistic and innovative approach in wonderfully decadent surroundings. 

Today, gyms aren’t solely places for flexing pecs: they’ve become lifestyle spaces to cut deals and entertain. KX in Chelsea, with its gourmet restaurant and private membership, has become quite the place to do business in SW3. So it’s time to ditch the grimy kit – here are the gyms to be seen at while you sweat. 

EQUINOX99 Kensington High Street, W8Gym bling Uplifting house music greets you on arrival, which is rather fitting as this luxurious shrine to fitness is situated beneath the fashionable nightspot Kensington Roof Gardens. The gym’s sleek wooden reception area is like a design hotel, with plasma screens displaying the day’s classes. The main gym room is enormous, with a cardio area boasting no less than 30 treadmills. Around this floodlit space you’ll find boxing and cycling studios and a yoga room. There’s also a shop, spa and lounge area with

glossy coffee-table books, floor-to-ceiling windows, Mac terminals and free Wi-Fi. Showers are huge and come equipped with monster bottles of Kiehl’s products. The Juicery serves some terrifyingly healthy concoctions: shot of pea protein, anyone? The class to book The brochure needs a glossary – most classes are imports from the US and have snappy names. Lights Out! is a boxing session and Whipped! may sound like a Fifty Shades of Grey introductory class, but it’s a session with kettle bells and ropes. Get your abs in shape with trainer Alex Lawson.Who’s on the treadmill? Pumped-up men, glossy wives and homesick Americans. Don’t say… “Shall we pop upstairs to the Roof Gardens for a Sea Breeze or two?” Do say… “Can you clean my kit please?” The gym offers an overnight laundry service.It’ll set you back £250 joining fee and then £180 a month, which includes all classes.(020) 7666 6000, equinox.com/clubs/kensington

BODYISMThe Bulgari Hotel, 171 Knightsbridge, SW7Gym bling The ultimate in glitz, Bodyism at The Bulgari Hotel is the Koh-i-Noor of fitness regimes. For a start, the Bodyism gym – complete with TRX suspension systems – is attached to the hotel’s own gym, jaw-dropping pool and spa. Yet it comes into its own with its highly personalised service: every session is one-to-one, so there’s no opportunity for skiving. Sign up and you’re treated to a Body Oracle session, including a fat percentage test. The trainers then go through a series of further tests with you to devise a fitness plan. Much of the focus is on honing in on specific areas of the body, so all workouts are different. Most clients go for two to three private sessions a week; however, they recommend up to five a week in the first three months. Sessions

Luxe workouts

Premier cru wines on tap, resident fertility experts and membership fees that can run into the thousands... A new breed of gym has come to town.

Jemima Sissons dons her Lycra for a workout with a differencePortrait by Alex Cayley

SUPERGYMS? NO SWEAT

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Clockwise from main image: The floodlit main gym at Equinox; Grace Belgravia’s relaxation room; The Bulgari Hotel’s Bodyism centre has an impressive underground pool area

Luxe workouts

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The class to book Reformer Pilates with Anna Milani. Women swear by it. Who’s on the treadmill? Female CEOs letting off steam and Belgravia blondes honing their immaculate figures and gossiping in the hammam. Don’t say… “Male bosses are just so much less complicated.”Do say… “Make mine a Moët.” In the evenings, members kick back with their friends at the bar. It’ll set you back Membership to Grace Belgravia costs £5,500 per year with a £2,000 joining fee.(020) 7235 8900, gracebelgravia.com

KX151 Draycott Avenue, SW3Gym bling The original supergym, this is the ultimate in lifestyle spaces, where business deals are cut while iron is pumped. However, for social networking, the restaurant is the best place to be. At KX, hair is immaculately blow-dried – even after the workouts. The gourmet food ispricey but fantastic. The premier cru wine fridge winks temptingly but goes mostly untouched. Russian and Italian accents are the order of the day; in fact,

can be anything from cardio to yoga. The service doesn’t stop there: trainers will make sure you don’t tuck into the cakes once you leave, with regular SMSing. The class to book There are no classes as such, but with most of the trainers being current or former models, rest assured you will be trained by the most beautiful team in the world – very good ‘thinspiration’. Lee Mullins is a whiz at understanding bodies, while Tom Puntis is the one to bag for swimming lessons. Who’s on the treadmill? Elle ‘The Body’ Macpherson is a fan. Enough said. 

Don’t say… “I’ve got a hangover.” Get ready for a whole new lifestyle. Do say… “Hold the carbs.”It’ll set you back From £18,000 to £39,000 a year, including entry to the Bulgari spa and pool plus treatments, Bodyism supplements and other extras. (020) 7151 1010, bodyism.com

GRACE BELGRAVIA11c West Halkin Street, SW1Gym bling London’s first permanent women-only private club has created a buzz in the capital, not least for its light and

airy gym run by Matt Roberts. The gym may be compact but it’s packed with state-of-the-art equipment including TRX suspension systems, Precor fitness equipment, Kinesis machines and three reformer Pilates beds. There’s also a private studio. Most members opt for one-to-one sessions: trainers use an integrated approach, also advising on nutrition and lifestyle. Changing rooms have a heavenly hammam and beauty area. There is also a world-class medical centre that non-members can access, with specialists including fertility experts and a visiting clinician from Viva Mayr.

if you don’t speak at least four languages, you are probably in the wrong place. The gym’s top-notch, too, with Technogym equipment, reformer beds and private rooms for yoga, spinning and boxing. The spa is home to some of the best specialists in London – especially for issues with structural realignment, physio and nutrition. Non-members can use the spa. The class to book Xtend Barrecamp, Athletic Reformer Conditioning, Spinning and BBC (ballet bar conditioning) classes are all top-notch. Who’s on the treadmill? Women with abs tougher than their titanium Cartier Tanks. Men with yachting muscles and year-round tans. Don’t say… “Here’s my credit card.” All extras are discreetly billed to your account at the end of the month, including food and drink.Do say… “See you in Gstaad.”It’ll set you back To become a full member of KX, there’s an initial joining fee of £2,000 and then the membership subscription, which is either £6,000 for the year upfront or £550 per month if you opt for direct debit.(020) 7584 5333, kxlife.co.uk

American Apparel Shiny Pack Cloth Duffle Bag, £25.

americanapparel.co.uk

Anya Hindmarch Gym Tote

in Coal, £275. anyahindmarch.com

Polo Ralph Lauren Duffle Bag, £430.

Available at Harrods, harrods.com

Maison Goyard Sac de Voyage Croisière in Bordeaux, £2,520.

goyard.com

TOO STYLISH FOR A GYM BAG? NEVER

WELLINGtON COURt, SW1Available to let for £25,000 per week, this Knightsbridge penthouse (above) overlooking Hyde Park comes with its own gym, as well as a spa treatment room. waellis.co.uk

SOUth END, W8The £16.5m Kensington home boasts a gym as well as a swimming pool that, when covered, turns into a dance floor. chestertonhumberts.com

BOURNE StREEt, SW1A gym with a view of your private swimming pool is one of the perks of this five-bedroom Belgravia townhouse, on the market for £11.45m. struttandparker.com

PRIMROSE hILL, NW3A family home with more than 6,000 sq ft of space to let for £10,000 per week. The majority of electricity is supplied by solar panels, with enough to power a variety of machines in an impressive gym. chestertonhumberts.com

EGERtON CRESCENt, SW3A private mirrored gym is among the many rooms behind the white stucco façade of this five-bedroom house (below), yours for £17.5m. struttandparker.com

DON’T JOIN THE GYM, OWN IT

Properties to buy or let that include a luxe gym, without the

scary personal trainers