In order to ensure the Optimize program is moving you in the right direction, a wide range of your wellness information gets measured before, during, and after your first coaching sessions. Sign up, and you’ll get an Oura ring so that a sleep specialist can monitor how well you’re recovering from workouts, and a personal trainer will test your blood pressure, VO2 max, and mobility at regular intervals.
But the foundation of this program is biomarker testing, which Equinox does in partnership with Function Health. These tests, done through extensive bloodwork, measure everything from testosterone and environmental toxins to cortisol and insulin—almost 180 biomarkers get checked. These numbers are used to calculate your biological age, and to inform what kind of exercise and nutrition changes might help improve any markers that are out of range.
“To us, Equinox is the best place in the world at creating a space for people to exercise, feel their best, and build a lifestyle around it,” says Jonathan Swerdlin, Function Health’s CEO. “So much of what Function does is help you understand what’s going on inside your body and what you need to do.”
I breathed a sigh of relief when, after giving one of the company’s phlebotomists over a dozen vials of blood, most of my results came back well within range. What I needed to work on was improving my diet, lowering my insulin resistance, and losing fat.
“Basically, you’re pretty healthy as far as cardiovascular risk,” said Dr. Mark Hyman, a renowned longevity specialist who co-founded Function Health and serves as its chief medical officer. “After three months of doing this, you should see a big improvement.”
What “this” looks like is slightly different for every Optimize client, but what all of the programs have in common is their focus on three pillars: movement, nutrition, and sleep. In other words, optimizing the things human beings do every day—often in ways that aren’t ideal—forms the core of the strategy. “I went to visit Sardinia when I was doing my research on my book Young Forever,” Hyman said of the Italian blue zone. “And you know, they don’t have to exercise because they herd their sheep five miles up and down a rocky mountain all day, and they only eat real food. We’re not living in a world where those are defaults.”