Life Time opens its Lakewood Ranch athletic club Oct. 12

"A booming market of families in the right demographic, so that made a lot of sense," Bushaw said. "So, certainly not our last."

Bushaw said the company dropped "Fitness" from its name in 2017 to reflect all that Life Time offers beyond fitness.

"We are not an expensive gym. We are what people have told us: an athletic country club," Bushaw said. "Whereas it used to be like sell, sell, sell memberships, we now establish a waitlist."

Bushaw said Life Time limits the number of members at each club and adds more as it adds classes and class times.

The tour focused on the club's Pilates studios. Datte said Life Time spent $100,000 on the heating for the sauna workouts alone.

Members can take nearly 200 classes weekly as part of their membership. For an additional cost, members can book Dynamic Personal Training one-on-one sessions and one-on-one or small-group traditional Pilates.

Datte said he has personal reasons for backing CTR. He survived three years of blood and bone cancer and a bone marrow transplant.

"The way the cancer worked, it ate the bones as if I was about 100 years old," Datte said. "So when I was working out, I broke six vertebrae."

Datte said he kept working out through the pain and that weight training and proper nutrition rebuilt his bone density.

"CTR and the things that we're talking about, for the average person, is going to keep them living longer, but more importantly, living better," Datte said.

Life Time said it has something for members of all ages. Members can purchase Jr. memberships for children as young as 11.

Families can use the Life Time Kids Academy, which includes an infant play area, a language arts center, arts and crafts classes and birthday parties.

Membership options include Signature, Standard, 26 & Under and 65 Plus memberships. People who joined before the Oct. 12 opening got preferred monthly dues, which Life Time said would go up once the club opened, along with a free one-hour personal training session for each adult on the membership.

An adult membership at Life Time Lakewood Ranch starts at $339 a month, according to the club's website, and the monthly rate adjusts as family members are added. Prospective members can join a waitlist, and the club's concierge team will contact those who sign up, in order, with enrollment details.