A new premium health club concept – LAX – has launched its first club in the City of London.

LAX is a brand new health club brand developed by LA Leisure, which also owns LA Fitness. However, although LAX members have automatic access to all LA Fitness clubs, LAX is positioned as a distinct, upmarket brand.

Built over three floors, the club offers top of the range Technogym CV and resistance equipment. One floor down from the main gym is a 250sq m (2,690sq ft) dedicated functional floor offering space for group training sessions, personal training and independent workouts. Equipment on offer in this functional area includes an Octagon rig, Bulgarian bags, steel bags and Dynamax balls.

Also on this floor is a large group exercise studio offering the full range of Les Mills classes alongside pilates, yoga and Zumba; a 97sq m (1,044sq ft) cycle studio with capacity for 50–60 bike; and a Learning Pod for member education and assessments – body composition analysis, postural analysis and fitness testing are available.

LAX has been designed specifically with time-pressured City workers in mind and offers small group training sessions in the functional area and on the gym floor in the shape of LAX20 and LAX30. These 20- and 30-minutes sessions focus on maximising people’s workouts in the limited time they may have available.

Membership has been set at a very competitive £79 a month, with early joiners being offered a £69 a month deal.

While further LAX sites may be rolled out within London, the club is also being used as a testbed to trial new concepts and services, with a view to potentially rolling some of these out across the LA Fitness estate. CEO Martin Long says there is also the possibility of smaller format LAX clubs in the future.