Sweating together offers benefits that go beyond socializing. Multiple studies point to the power of community as it relates to fitness.

To DIY your own world of life signifiers, you have to think you can improve on a

bar mitzvah

as a coming-of-age ritual, on shabbat as a form of digital detox, and as

teshuvah

as a way to grapple with your guilt (or analogs in other religious traditions). Many do of course, and every trendy San Franciscan has their personal regimen of special diets, ... See more

Devotees say 'gym is church' and that customers will come flocking back, but analysts aren't so sure.