Earlier this fall, more than 500 New Yorkers filled Brass Monkey in Meatpacking and Café Balearica in Williamsburg for The AC’s annual Halloween party, a two-venue social takeover that felt more like a fashion-adjacent downtown party than anything typically associated with a gym.
The guests were members from The AC’s six neighborhood locations, (West Village, Greenwich Village, Williamsburg, Meatpacking, Flatiron, and the Lower East Side) who train together twice per week in 20-person squads and, increasingly, plan their social lives around one another.
As trend reports spotlight the rise of social fitness, wellness “fourth spaces,” and healthy hedonism, The AC has emerged as one of the clearest examples of how these ideas take shape in city life.
“We built the social life people are writing about.”
Industry data and cultural reporting all point in the same direction: people are choosing fitness groups for community, connection and identity, not just exercise. The AC is where that shift is already playing out.
For the past four years, The AC has grown a membership-based social fitness ecosystem that now connects more than 2,000 New Yorkers across Manhattan and Brooklyn, with expansion planned for 2026.
The community is shaped by:
- 20-person squads on fixed days and times that create rhythm, trust and accountability
- Coach-lead workouts that makes consistency feel natural, not forced
- Neighborhood clubs with distinct identities shaped by their members and rituals
- A year-round calendar with weekly runs, coffees, club mixers, dinners, ski trips, Halloween, AC Games and the annual Winter Gala
“We weren’t chasing a trend,” says Dane McCarthy, founder of The AC. “We were giving people a reason to show up for each other. Now the industry calls it social fitness. Our members have been living it for years.”
Halloween as a Case Study: When a Gym Feels Like a Scene
This year’s Halloween celebration showed the power of the model with more than 500 members from six locations filling two nightlife venues across two boroughs. Squads that normally see each other in 7:00 am strength blocks showed up in costume, buying each other drinks, mingling with members from other clubs, and closing down the night together.
It wasn’t a branded activation or a sponsored moment.
It was a community gathering, people who met through training and now choose to spend weekends, celebrations and even vacations together.
“We see Halloween as proof, not performance,” says McCarthy. “When a gym community fills two venues on a major city weekend, that’s culture.”
An Alternative to the Industry’s Current Playbook
As competitions and large-scale events become the industry’s default engagement strategy, and as digital platforms attempt to manufacture community online, The AC offers a different approach. While luxury fitness leans on exclusivity, image and aesthetic polish, The AC builds belonging through small squads, repeated interaction and neighborhood culture, building a structure where everyday routine naturally becomes community.
The “fourth space” concept often appears in theory, but The AC has built it in brick and mortar. The “wellness replaces nightlife” storyline is now familiar, yet The AC shows what it looks like when that shift becomes a lasting way of living, shaped by squads that stay together, annual galas, long-term traditions and friendships that extend far beyond the gym.
“If social fitness is the wave, we’re proud to be at the front of it in New York,” says McCarthy.
What’s Next: Winter at NYC’s Fittest Social Club
Following Halloween, The AC moves into its most active social season. The Winter Social Calendar includes:
- The AC Winter Gala, a black-tie celebration across all locations
- The Run Club winter series and après-run gatherings
- Holiday charity initiatives with local nonprofits
- European Ski Week, The AC’s annual Alps trip
- Neighborhood community nights, workshops and book clubs
In a city where loneliness continues to rise, The AC believes that the most valuable thing a fitness brand can create is not a new class or an app, but a real, in-person community.
The Athletic Clubs is a private, membership-based fitness and social community with six locations across New York City. Built around squad-based training, neighborhood identity and a year-round social calendar, The AC has become known as “NYC’s Fittest Social Club,” helping New Yorkers find consistency, accountability and connection.
Learn more at the-athleticclubs.com or follow @the.athleticclubs on Instagram.
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The Athletic Clubs
