RIZAP tests a co-working-and-fitness lounge format for its first overseas launch, in Seoul's Gangnam

RIZAP Group said it has opened RIZAP LOUNGE, a new co-working-and-fitness hybrid format, on the first and second floors of RDL Tower in Seoul's Gangnam district, a two-to-three-minute walk from Sinnonhyeon Station. It is the format's first location anywhere, and the company chose an overseas market — rather than Japan — for the debut, according to the announcement.

The two-floor space totals about 231 square metres, RIZAP said. The first floor, styled "Active & Refresh", combines an open workspace with treadmills, stair-climbing machines, a stretching zone, a body-composition analyser and a self-service coffee machine. The second floor, "Quiet & Premium Recovery", holds private focus rooms, conference rooms, massage chairs and a powder room. Membership runs from a ₩40,000 day pass to a ₩198,000 monthly flex plan, with cheaper effective monthly rates on six- and twelve-month commitments, the company said.

RIZAP said it intends to expand the format across South Korea and, eventually, other Asian markets, including sites beyond office districts, such as residential and roadside locations.

RIZAP's own description of the format — built around what it calls "active rest", short bursts of exercise folded into a working day — sets it apart from both the supervised, results-guaranteed personal training the RIZAP name is best known for in Japan and the unstaffed, low-cost chocoZAP gyms it has been opening by the hundreds at home. Testing an unproven, higher-touch hybrid in Seoul first, rather than in Tokyo, lets the group find out whether the co-working-plus-wellness pitch has real demand before it risks blurring either of its existing Japanese brands with a third concept.