A New Gym,, What Do You Look For In A Gym???

[bigbuffstaples]

This is sort of a survey for me in a way. I plan on opening up a gym in the near future and I just wanna get people's feedback on what they look for in a gym. I'm looking for things as far as the weights, the machines, the staff, the atmosphere, the change rooms, a supplement bar, no supplement bar, just anything you can think of. Please be as honest as possible as I am taking your answer seriously and will strongly consider any thoughts you have.
Thank you,

bigbuffstaples

-Keep humping and keep pumping.

 

[DarkNinja]

- Latest technology tread mills
- Good music. (My gym has a live DJ)
- Hot chicks
- Not too many meat heads
- dress code. No stringing tank tops. Those are cheese.
- Juice bar (My gym allows bar tabs. VG idea)
- Free towel service
- private showers
- Scale
- Hairdryer, shampoo, soap
- lots of mat for stretching
- Nice looking female staff (No fat staff! Nothing worse than someone out of shape trying to tell me how to work out)
- Heavy bag - Very important for me
- skipping ropes
- core training platform
- ab rollers
- medicine balls

That's all I can think of...

 

[Mudge]

That sounds like a puzzy gym

 

[jcp2]

strippers
good equipment
heavy dumbells
good loud music

 

[Beast_19_301]

-at least 150 pound dumbells
- good variety of machine
- wide open spaces, nothing cramped up


I like easy gyms

 

[Mr. dB]

Price
Location
Equipment

 

[DADAWG]

This is sort of a survey for me in a way. I plan on opening up a gym in the near future and I just wanna get people's feedback on what they look for in a gym. I'm looking for things as far as the weights, the machines, the staff, the atmosphere, the change rooms, a supplement bar, no supplement bar, just anything you can think of. Please be as honest as possible as I am taking your answer seriously and will strongly consider any thoughts you have.
Thank you,

bigbuffstaples

-Keep humping and keep pumping.

some of the best gyms i have been to were divided into a couple of areas , nice cardio section , open gym area with typical free weight section plus cables and machines , then off to the side in its own room typically labeled something catchy like the dungeon there is a hard core room with seperate sound system allowing for loud hard music , squat rack , bench and deadlift platform , just the basics for the powerlifters and hardcore bodybuilders . this allowes a place for them to use chalk , heavy metal music and train in bench shirts , squat suits , etc without scaring away the fitness bunnies and corporate crowd

 

[Mudge]

My gym (World Gym), all the heavy shit is downstairs and there is tons of space, and hardly anyone there after 6PM - it rules.

All the cardio bunnies are upstairs.

 

[Injectyourspinach]

I've been to gyms that didn't have a Power Rack. That's a necessity. Also, a Deadlifting platform is a necessity. And make sure you allow chalk in that area. Dumbells that go all the way to 150 lbs. are a necessity. And they should be marked that they have to go back in order, or else have their membership revoked. The Trap bar's a great piece of equipment, but very few gyms I've been to have them. The Swiss ball is also a great piece of equipment that not every gym has. Reverse Hypterextension machine is of more practical usefulness than 90% of the machines found in most gyms, yet hardly any gyms have one (in my experience, at least). And I like a light warmup for five minutes on either the stationary cycle with the upperbody movers or the Nordic track to get body temperature up and the blood flowing before hitting the weights.

If you have more than 5 people in a place at once, you'll likely never have everyone agreeing with the music. I prefer faster breaks or hardcore drum 'n bass when I work out, so the walkman is a necessity for me. Only rarely have I ever heard music I liked in a gym with the headphones off.

I don't really care about special juice/supplement bars, but make sure you have an ice cold water fountain setup to easily fill large cups.

 

[Mr. dB]

Music is trivial compared to other basic gym needs, but get XM digital radio. No commercials, no chatter. Wide range of styles to choose from.

 

[Mr. dB]

Female trainers who are experienced at giving glute injections would be a plus...

 

[b fold the truth]

Gym owners who promote a hard-working work ethic...yet does NOT take crap from ANYONE over ANYTHING.

Not sure I could ever go back to training in anything but my garage.

B True

 

[DEVILtrainer666]

Re: Re: A New Gym,, What Do You Look For In A Gym???

some of the best gyms i have been to were divided into a couple of areas , nice cardio section , open gym area with typical free weight section plus cables and machines , then off to the side in its own room typically labeled something catchy like the dungeon there is a hard core room with seperate sound system allowing for loud hard music , squat rack , bench and deadlift platform , just the basics for the powerlifters and hardcore bodybuilders . this allowes a place for them to use chalk , heavy metal music and train in bench shirts , squat suits , etc without scaring away the fitness bunnies and corporate crowd

sounds like a good idea to have a gym like this , something for everyone this way .


i look for :
POWER RACK
MONSTER DUMBELLS
BIG ASS GYM MEMBERS TO FEED MOTIVATION FROM
LOUD PL'ing ENVIRONMENT
KILLER METAL MUSIC

yeah basically i want to train in a gym like DADAWG's example .

 

[DEVILtrainer666]

strippers
good equipment
heavy dumbells
good loud music

this is good but i would get much work done . i use to lift at bally's on 6 corners in chicago when i lived near there . i would be using the calf machine or ab crunch towards end of workout and right next to me in my face (oh man i can still remember how hot she was) would be a hot babe doing butt crunches with her ass in my face and leg up in the air . *drooling*

anyways after this i couldnt help but want to watch these babes from then on and was hard to stay focussed so i relocated to the ymca on irving park till i moved to get a great hard core type workout in .

 

[bigbuffstaples]

Thanks for the answers everyone, keep em coming if you can, because they will all help me out in the long run as I continue to work on my business plan. I really like the idea of having certain sections to give everyone what they want, like the dungeon part of the gym, that's a really good idea and i'll certainly have to look into that a little more. If anyone can let me know where abouts a gym like that is i would greatly appreciate it, as someday I will travel around and see what other kinds of gyms are out there and get some more ideas.

As for the music played in the gym, no matter what everyone will have differences, but when I open the gym I plan on being very close with as many of my members as possible and I will constantly be trying to get their feedback on how "their" gym (as they will be the ones paying me to work out there, so it is in a way their gym, that's how i look at it anyway) is and how they like it. Their feedback will help the growth of the gym in a positive manner.

Thanks again,

Keep humping and keep pumping.

 

[fatchops]

strippers
good equipment
heavy dumbells
good loud music

DITTO!!! Damn I wish we can train at least one time together bro!!!

 

[Intelligent Muscle]

A major factor that you must take into consideration is your market demographics. we would all love to see you open a balls-to-the-wall gym that offers everything from primo showers and dressing rooms to a full servie juice and supplement bar, but unless you are in a metro area your market will not support your investment; hence, YOUR DOORS WILL NOT STAY OPENED LONG. If you are in a metro area, I would agree with DADAWG. If you are in a smaller city that probably couldn't support a "Gold's" type gym, then i would stick to the basics. Something that I have found to be very attractive is a full set of preloaded (set weights) barbells (like for curling and presses) ranging from 20 - 160 lbs or so. Of course, you should have plenty of steel and a full range of bumbells (up to 150). Adequate cardio equipment such as treadmills, stationary bikes, stairmasters, elipticals. Also, it is a must that you remember the "older" population. Have smaller weights and adequate machines for them. Make sure you have enough benches, squat racks, power racks, dip stations, pull-up stations etc. I would definitley suggest aerobics classes throughout the day taught be certified instructors. Having a few certified personal trainers on staff would also be beneficial, espacially for the women and older crowd. Remember, base all your decisions on your market demographics. DO your research or you'll be sorry. Opening a gym can be a substantail investment. I have seen too many GREAT gyms go under because the proper research wasn't done before opening them. Good luck Bro.

 

[bigbuffstaples]

Thanks a lot for the comment. It's very true about what you are saying. And I do live in a very populated area so opening a big gym like that isn't a problem. The problem is, there's so many women only gym's poping up all over the place around here, and there's a gym that's been around for over 10 years now and they've got over 10 locations around this area, very, very hard to compete with. I'm trying to take into consideration that I'll have to compete with those gyms, also I'll have to offer something a bit different from them to get their members on in my gym instead. There's so many factors and i'm still young, i'm only 20 years old so I've got a lot more research and work to do, but in my mind, i've done more research in the last 3 or 4 months then most people who open these gyms that fail have done. And it's true, there's so many really great gyms out there that just don't last long because of a few things... poor management, lack of members, rates too low (or too high), or it's too intimidating to gain more members,,, so many things. I will definately continue to keep all of these things in mind, and this post that I put up has been a great way to get a small survey out of people who KNOW what their doing in a gym. And I thank you all yet again for contributing to this post and as you continue to give me your input, I will continue to read and keep these things in mind and add them into my business plan.

Thank you all again,

Keep humping and keep pumping,

BigbuffStaples.

A major factor that you must take into consideration is your market demographics. we would all love to see you open a balls-to-the-wall gym that offers everything from primo showers and dressing rooms to a full servie juice and supplement bar, but unless you are in a metro area your market will not support your investment; hence, YOUR DOORS WILL NOT STAY OPENED LONG. If you are in a metro area, I would agree with DADAWG. If you are in a smaller city that probably couldn't support a "Gold's" type gym, then i would stick to the basics. Something that I have found to be very attractive is a full set of preloaded (set weights) barbells (like for curling and presses) ranging from 20 - 160 lbs or so. Of course, you should have plenty of steel and a full range of bumbells (up to 150). Adequate cardio equipment such as treadmills, stationary bikes, stairmasters, elipticals. Also, it is a must that you remember the "older" population. Have smaller weights and adequate machines for them. Make sure you have enough benches, squat racks, power racks, dip stations, pull-up stations etc. I would definitley suggest aerobics classes throughout the day taught be certified instructors. Having a few certified personal trainers on staff would also be beneficial, espacially for the women and older crowd. Remember, base all your decisions on your market demographics. DO your research or you'll be sorry. Opening a gym can be a substantail investment. I have seen too many GREAT gyms go under because the proper research wasn't done before opening them. Good luck Bro.

 

[atherjen]

hey...bbs, if you ever need some PT's....lemme know..

love your idea of the new gym!!!! defintly in need of a real good one around here!!

 

[Intelligent Muscle]

Bro. You sound like a very determined and educated young man. You are on the right track. A gym is a business and you are in it to make money and be of service to your community. You are approaching it from the right perspective. Continue to develop a strong business plan and use other big name gyms such as Gold's and World's as business models. You aer right on the money when you say you must differentiate your gym from the existing gyms in your area. You must create value for your potential clients. Which is a good ratio between costs and benefits. Building relationships is a very effective method for establishing a good market. Promote yourself as a person in your community and this will develop a "following" so-to-speak which will draw people to you. People will be more inclined to support you. I sound like a psychologist, but I am trying to offer you an inside track on how to establish yourself and build a market that will support your investment. There are not too many things you can do to differentiate yourself in a metro environment where competition is so heavy because the big boys already incorporate those methosd into their business plan. YOU might be the differentiating characteristic that makes or breaks your success as a gym owner. Once again, good luck young brother. Might I also suggest that you pray, asking God for guidance and direction. He'll never let you down.