Work up a sweat and do good? That’s what the GO90: Move With Meaning event is all about. On Saturday, October 25, 2025, Life Time clubs nationwide are uniting for a 90-minute workout in support of two powerful causes: advancing ALS research and helping kids across the country discover the joy and habit of movement.
This year’s event is more than a workout — it’s a movement for movement itself. The 90-minute format is symbolic: Every 90 minutes, someone is diagnosed with ALS, a progressive disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, altering the use of voluntary muscles.
All the proceeds raised benefit Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding innovative research for finding effective treatments and ultimately a cure for ALS, as well as the Life Time Foundation, Life Time’s nonprofit organization supporting youth movement, youth nutrition, and healthy planet initiatives.
To get all the details about the cause and the GO90: Move With Meaning event, we spoke with Matt Teske, business development manager for the Life Time Foundation; Payton Erickson, marketing specialist for the Life Time Foundation; and Sarah Emola, executive director of the Life Time Foundation and ESG programs at Life Time.
Life Time | What is Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS?
Matt Teske | Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS is a nonprofit organization founded by Augie Nieto, a former athlete who founded the organization in 2005 following his own diagnosis with ALS that same year. The aim was to drive breakthroughs in ALS research, defy limitations for those affected, and empower hope for a future without this devastating disease.
Nieto also cofounded Life Fitness, [the fitness equipment company that] Life Time members are likely familiar with from using the machines in the clubs. He was also behind Lifecyle and Octane Fitness. He passed away on February 22, 2023, after living with ALS for more than 18 years.
Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS is dedicated to finding a cure for ALS and focuses on raising funds for ALS research, supporting and collaborating with ALS researchers and institutions around the world, increasing awareness of the complex and devastating disease, and providing support for those living with the disease to help improve their quality of life.
Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS also launched the Champion Insights program in partnership with Answer ALS to better understand why certain populations, such as military personnel, high-performing athletes, and first responders, are diagnosed with ALS at a higher rate than the general public.
LT | Can you tell me about the Life Time GO90: Move With Meaning event?
Payton Erickson | GO90: Move With Meaning is a nationwide event taking place at Life Time athletic country clubs across the United States on October 25, 2025. It’s designed to raise awareness and funds for ALS research in partnership with Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS, as well as support the Life Time Foundation’s efforts to help kids spark a lifelong love of movement.
Each club will host a 90-minute workout and post-event social. The length of the event was thoughtfully chosen to symbolize that someone is diagnosed with ALS roughly every 90 minutes.
The 90-minute event features programming from Life Time’s signature group training formats. Depending on the club, participants may have the option to either participate in a 90-minute experience incorporating all of Life Time’s signature group training brands or a mashup of multiple formats — your club may offer an Ultra Fit and GTX mashup or Alpha Strength and Alpha Conditioning mashup, for example. Check your club’s schedule to see what the event options are at your club location. (Learn more about the formats: “What’s Your Signature Group Training Class Personality?”)
The $25 registration fee benefits both Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS and the Life Time Foundation. You can register for the event in the Life Time app. The aim of GO90 is to unite our club communities through the power of movement. Together, we’ll move for life and for a cure.
LT | How are Life Time and the Life Time Foundation connected to Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS — and how did that partnership come about?
MT | Augie Nieto was a friend of Bahram Akradi, Life Time’s founder, chairman, and CEO. In his postdiagnosis life, Nieto was dedicated to advancing research and finding a cure for ALS, inspiring countless people. Akradi was one of the first fitness leaders to support Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS when it was founded in 2005. Although Nieto passed away in 2023, his legacy lives on through the work of the nonprofit.
Movement is a gift not everyone gets to keep. ALS affects that ability, and this event — led and organized by the Life Time Foundation — gives us an opportunity to support those fighting the disease.
There are also millions of kids who face barriers to movement due to a lack of access to or opportunity for proper physical activity. The Life Time Foundation endeavors to remove those barriers so kids can build a lifelong love for movement. The GO90: Move With Meaning event grants an opportunity for our communities to come together and move with purpose.
Sarah Emola | Augie Nieto was a fitness industry icon for decades. Upon his own diagnosis, he started Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS as a nonprofit to be able to find a cure for ALS — and that organization has now been around for 20 years.
The nonprofit has been able to do a lot of amazing work to support the efforts to find a cure for ALS because of who Nieto was and the relationships and reputation he built in the fitness industry.
ALS impacts your voluntary muscles. Every person who is in our Life Time clubs — members and team members — can attest to how important it is to have the ability to use our muscles. We’re in the fitness industry and we want to do our part to support.
The GO90: Move With Meaning event is in complete alignment with Life Time Foundation’s mission to inspire healthy kids and a healthy planet.
A Life Time Member and Team Member’s Personal Experience With ALS
Shawn and Andrea Sarbacker met online in March 2021 and got married on August 10, 2022. Their love story includes more challenge and commitment than many other couples.
Shawn, 58, was a lifelong fitness and athletics aficionado. He grew up in Minnesota playing football, baseball, and hockey. As an adult, he continued his fitness efforts by participating in CrossFit, group fitness classes, and cycling. “I was always a super healthy individual — to the point that I barely went to my primary care doctor,” he recalls.
In August 2020, Shawn began noticing he could no longer perform regular daily tasks such as clipping his fingernails or buttoning his pants. “I started experiencing muscle twitches, muscle cramping, and a loss of grip strength,” he says.
Shawn’s symptoms persisted and worsened in the following weeks, prompting him to search his symptoms on the internet. “ALS continued to pop up — ALS, ALS, ALS — and I said to myself, Holy shit, this is bad.”
He began pursuing a diagnosis, but it took a while: There were a lot of causes his doctors had to rule out first. Three months after noticing his symptoms, Shawn was formally diagnosed with ALS — and told his life expectancy was two to five years.
“It was terrifying,” he says. “I curled up in a ball for about a month. Then around New Years, I came to the realization that I could either make the decision to waste away or choose to live my life — living every day, squeezing the most out of every moment I could. I chose the latter.”
Shawn began online dating and committed to telling whomever he was dating about his diagnosis on the fourth date. He recalls sharing with one woman upon reaching that milestone: “It was as if her head exploded,” he says. “She walked away. But that opened the door for me to meet Andrea.”
When Andrea came along, and a fourth date was scheduled, he was nervous to tell her based on his previous experience. But Andrea surprised him with her response: “I was put on this earth to take care of people.”
The two have been together ever since.
Andrea, 47, started teaching fitness classes at a young age and currently teaches at Life Time in Ardmore, Pa. “As an instructor, I get to nurture people in so many ways,” she says. “I believe in people’s resolutions. I love watching the best of humanity show up to every one of my classes. Fitness has been a gift that’s kept me going through my own darkest moments so I could find the love of my life, Shawn. And in return, he takes care of me too. He always makes sure I feel heard, valued, and respected.”
It’s now been five years since Shawn was diagnosed with ALS. “Relative to the ‘typical’ ALS patient, I’m doing exceptionally well,” he says. “I’m working a very high-level executive job, traveling the world, and maintaining an active lifestyle both physically and socially.”
He attributes his current health status to a combination of factors: He thinks his particular form of the disease is slower progressing than most; he receives exceptional care at Massachusetts General Hospital Healey Center where he participates in several cutting-edge ALS therapies; and he believes his positive outlook on life — which is fostered by his Andrea and his friends — plays a role in the disease’s slow progression.
“I can’t button my pants by myself and sometimes I need help cutting a steak,” he says. “I still work out — I put the pin in the 5-pound plate and smile and do my presses. I do what I can.”
In the grand scheme of things, he notes, he’s much better off having had access to cutting-edge therapies, which he credits to Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS.
“Augie’s Quest is one of the leading foundations for pushing the research agenda forward for ALS,” Shawn says. “Augie [Nieto] understood this is a rare disease. We have to help the industry move forward. And for people like me, our only shot at living a full life and possibly a cure is the type of fundraising that you all are going to participate in at the GO90 event at Life Time. You have our deepest appreciation for making this happen. I’m still hopeful — I’m staying in the game.”
