The super rich are getting super fit
The wellness revolution is turning droves of ordinary people into part-time athletes. You know the sort: permanently in training for marathons, triathlons and Iron Man competitions and whose bucket list (which might well be the very thing that finishes them off) includes running for six days straight across the Sahara in the Marathon des Sables.
This passion for ultra fitness is having “a huge impact” on what high net worth types are looking for in their homes, according to Penny Mosgrove, founder of the British estate agency Quintessentially Estates.
Whereas a decade ago an in-basement nightclub “was worthy of serious bragging rights”, she says, now specialist exercise facilities such as ice baths and hypoxic chambers to simulate training at altitude are the most envy-inducing features in super-prime homes.
Hypoxic chambers are typically housed in a small glass-fronted room containing an exercise bike or treadmill or in a tent positioned near the master bedroom. “For those preparing for a climbing expedition or a race incorporating high terrain, training in a low-oxygen environment gives them a serious advantage,” says Mosgrove.
Buyers are used to having such equipment in their exclusive gyms as a hypoxic chamber and quartz lamps to purify the air. “Buyers now want this kind of technology to complement their workouts at home, too,” says Mosgrove.
While women tend to favour using the facilities in their gyms so they can train alongside friends and use the spa, middle-aged men are most interested in buying into the full at-home fitness experience.
“Installing this level of equipment in a home requires a certain level of obsession, and the buyers most interested in doing this tend to be men at the top of competitive city careers,” says Mosgrove.
“They realise they’ve spent too much of their 20s and 30s in the office and now want life-changing experiences.”
A beautifully designed private pool, with hot tub, sauna, steam and spa rooms, is now a requisite in luxury developments in London. But Centre Point Residences, where prices start at £1.88m (about R35m), has just taken gold by unveiling central London’s first 30m-long pool.
Another luxury development boasts a transparent 25m-long pool that will link two residential towers at the 10th floor, allowing swimmers to fast-crawl their
way between the two while gazing at the new US embassy.
Also offered is a “Train with an Olympian” programme that includes body weight classes designed by gold medal-winning gymnast Steve Frew and bespoke barre classes inspired by the English National Ballet. Residents can also have prepared meals delivered to their apartment courtesy of a fitness foods training company, which will assess their health and help set their workout goals.
Another 50-storey development offers a snow cabin and ice fountain for an instant chill-down after a sauna and a circulation-boosting Vichy shower, inspired by a 17th-century French practice of shooting water from seven shower heads while you lie beneath on a shallow wet bed.
A new house is being touted as the healthiest home in Beverly Hills. On sale for $24.5m (about R351m), it is the first standalone house in the US to be fitted with energising lighting, air purification and comfort ergonomics.
The house includes lighting timed to circadian rhythms, subtly changing hue throughout the day to mimic the movement of the sun. “These almost imperceptible changes of lighting are picked up by the circadian nerves in our eyes, which impact on the release of serotonin and energy levels,” according to Aram Afshar, president of Quintessentially Estates LA.
“The only way I can describe the feeling of the air quality is that one actively wants to take a deep breath — an unusual sensation for those used to living and working in the centre of a busy city.”
They realise they’ve spent too much of their 20s and 30s in the office and now want life-changing experiences