Debra Arend wants to live until she’s 120. Her husband, Kevin DeLashmutt, goes several steps further. His goal is 150.

That’s just one reason why the couple recently became a franchisee of Upgrade Labs, a Bellevue-based wellness center whose website says is “unlike any gym you’ve ever experienced in North America.”

Upgrade Labs is the brainchild of Dave Asprey, an Austin, Texas, resident and longevity expert. Asprey is generally credited with creating the biohacking movement, defined as “maximizing human performance” through a better understanding of biology. DeLashmutt and Arend operate the only Upgrade facility in the Pacific Northwest — there are only seven others across the United States.

The setting is certainly unusual. For starters, it resembles a high-end, almost space-age medical training facility more than a place to pump iron or run on a treadmill. It offers machines that use electrical sonar to analyze health cells; machines that create days or weeks’ worth of training in a fraction of the time; and “recovery services” designed to reduce inflammation, detoxify the body, remove excess water and strengthen the immune system. There’s also a cryotherapy machine that uses cold air, gases and liquids for pain relief and skin treatments. 

Cell Health Analysis Machine

Photo courtesy of Upgrade Labs

Cryotherapy chamber

Photo courtesy of Upgrade Labs

The machines themselves have exotic names, such as the PEMF recovery device, the Big Squeeze or the Red Light Bed. Members undergo a comprehensive analysis and then receive a program based around “stacks,” or the machines and treatments that best benefit them. Such treatments were formerly reserved only for the rich or for athletes, DeLashmutt adds.

Big Squeeze Red Light Bed

Photo courtesy of Upgrade Labs

Neither DeLashmutt — a residential real estate agent — nor Arend, with a long career in the natural supplement industry, define themselves as “gym rats.” They became interested in the concept of biohacking before they even knew what it was, and along the way met Asprey. They jumped at the chance to buy in.

“Some of the equipment was very helpful to me,” says Arend, who struggles with tremors. “When we learned about Upgrade Labs, it was kind of like, wait a second, here’s all the equipment that we want to buy but can’t afford, that others can’t afford, but maybe we can put it together in a business like Upgrade Labs.”

Their financial commitment seems steep, but isn’t unlike other franchising opportunities. Initial buy in is upwards of $2 million. The equipment alone is worth more than $500,000, and that’s half off retail prices. Initial membership costs $400 for 36 visits, though packages vary. All but one of Upgrade’s 11 employees are part-time, and include trainers and nutritionists. Upgrade also sells supplements from one of Asprey’s companies.

The couple, who envision at least three and up to seven Upgrade locations, say education is their biggest hurdle. Most people have no idea what biohacking is.

Debra Arend and Kevin DeLashmutt, franchise owners of Upgrade Labs

“We just tell people to come in for a week and you’ll see and feel a difference,” Arend says. “We have some members now who have been using this equipment for three months, and everything about them is different. 

“Their blood sugar balance, their circulation, their skin coloring, their vitality, it’s all different. We’re just here to positively impact people’s health.”