$50k for a pro gym

[benz5521]

I've been messing with the idea of building a training facility. I would want to rent a warehouse and outfit it to build a personal training business. What would you buy with $50k to spend on equipment? I really don't know if that's a good price point yet. I'm in the early stages of research and putting together a business plan. I would prefer to do something without taking out any loans so 40-50k is my starting budget.

Rough idea on some stuff I'd want:
power rack
incline/decline/flat barbell benches
smith machine
leg press machine
A couple 0-90 incline benches
decline dumbbell bench
bars
plates
dumbbells
cable crossover
some cardio stuff (maybe a couple bikes, couple treadmills)
some other machines i.e. leg extensions, lat pulldown, pec deck, etc.

I really like Elite FTS' stuff but I don't know much about different brands and quality differences. I know $50k could run out quick with everything I would need so I'm just trying to get a rough idea of what I could get/how much more capital I would need to get together.

[AttyGuy]

Two words: buy used.

[HowardCSCS]

Build a personal training business out of your garage or the bare minimum in equipment/space. 50k in shiny eyecandy is nice, but unless your're a good trainer it won't sustain. Startup costs and overhead is the enemy.

Probably not want you wanted to hear, but your abilities as a trainer will outlast new equipment.

Still not what you wanted to hear? Don't buy new equipment! Gyms/personal training studios go out of business of the time, so find a deal on like-new stuff.

[benz5521]

Build a personal training business out of your garage or the bare minimum in equipment/space. 50k in shiny eyecandy is nice, but unless your're a good trainer it won't sustain. Startup costs and overhead is the enemy.

Probably not want you wanted to hear, but your abilities as a trainer will outlast new equipment.

Still not what you wanted to hear? Don't buy new equipment! Gyms/personal training studios go out of business of the time, so find a deal on like-new stuff.

I'm a partner in a couple of busineses now so I know what goes into it. I'm new to the fitness industry though so I'm learning. Just trying to build a business plan and have my accountants and stuff review it.

[LimitStrength]

I've been messing with the idea of building a training facility. I would want to rent a warehouse and outfit it to build a personal training business. What would you buy with $50k to spend on equipment? I really don't know if that's a good price point yet. I'm in the early stages of research and putting together a business plan. I would prefer to do something without taking out any loans so 40-50k is my starting budget.

Rough idea on some stuff I'd want:
power rack
incline/decline/flat barbell benches
smith machine
leg press machine
A couple 0-90 incline benches
decline dumbbell bench
bars
plates
dumbbells
cable crossover
some cardio stuff (maybe a couple bikes, couple treadmills)
some other machines i.e. leg extensions, lat pulldown, pec deck, etc.

I really like Elite FTS' stuff but I don't know much about different brands and quality differences. I know $50k could run out quick with everything I would need so I'm just trying to get a rough idea of what I could get/how much more capital I would need to get together.

Well, I'm sure you know starting your own training business / gym is really really tough. Ideally you want to invest as little money upfront as possible, because sometimes, gyms go under, and you'll be left with a hefty debt to cover all the equipment. My uncle owned a gym for several years, put all the money upfront and when it went under, he was left with so much debt that he just recently was able to clear all of it.

That being said, you need to decide what kind of training you would be doing. For example, do you plan on training primarily athletes? If so, what age, high school, college? Do you plan on training mostly recreational lifters? The answer to this question will answer a lot of your equipment questions.

For example, if you plan on training high school athletes, a common marketing strategy is to offer discounts to the entire team at local high schools, this means you'll have rather large groups of kids all cycling through stuff.

1 Power rack will most likely hold you up, and you'll be losing time you could be spending training more clients.

If you plan on doing mainly 1 on 1 personal training, then 1 power rack would be enough.

Keep in mind though with the adjustable benches you plan on getting having several power racks instead of several dedicated bench press stations will give you a lot of versatility in what different people can be doing what at different times.

Ideally you want to have a list of potential clients lined up so when you open your doors, you can start making money immediately. Worst thing in the world is when you are paying rent and utilities for a place decked out with equipment but no one knows about it, so you are losing money.

You want to do the ground work, get phone numbers of potential clients, tell them your plan, what you'll be offering, what you fees will be when you open, specials you'll do for them for being early adopters. Talk to coaches if you plan on doing athletes, work out school / team discounts, you gotta create some incentive for people to come to YOU as opposed to working on their own, or with someone else.

Also keep in mind you're going to have to have liability insurance of some kind in case anyone gets hurt, also to be certified with whatever organization as well as cert in CPR as well as having a defib kit at your facility. Add onto that budget for advertising and marketing etc. These are all costs people don't think about.

Past that decide on the atmosphere you want to market. Are you marketing a clean health club atmosphere with 1 on 1 personal care, or are you marketing a gritty, get it done athletic performance center?

Sometimes choosing 1 might lose you clients who would choose the other. A soccer mom of 2 usually won't want to train in a dim dark rusty warehouse when she can go to an equinox and get served smoothies and ****. Just as a serious athlete would prefer something free of distractions.

If you make it just another generic personal training facility, it's hard to give people a reason why they should train at YOUR place. Unless you have some sort of claim to fame like former strength coach for a pro football team etc.

Also check out the average income of the area you plan on opening in. If you are in a less wealthy community, a lot of people don't have the money for the time for personal training.

If you are in a wealthier area, or near a wealthy area, those people have the disposable income to spend on luxury items for them or their children such as personal training etc.

I'm kind of rambling but just trying to give you some food for thought. I think it's smart like you said to not take out loans, but make sure you make some realistic business projections to give you an idea of how long it would take you to break even.

IMO elitefts stuff is great if you are working off an unlimited budget. But from an economy standpoint I prefer something like the Rogue Racks or Custom Edge racks etc. They are affordable, well built, good hole spacing for a variety of lifters, and you can save on shipping if you order a lot of your stuff from the same place.

Also you will need some sort of flooring to protect your weights and equipment, and stall mats aren't all that cheap.

Best of Luck

*Edit* Keep your eye out on craiglist and various liquidation / auction sites. Usually there are people on their who are liquidating their gyms, and you can get a lot of commercial grade stuff for a good price. For the average garage lifter it's too much stuff, but you might be able to find a bundle for a great price.

Also, ask local gym owners where they get their stuff. My uncle got all of his cardio and weight training stuff from a fitness equipment refurbisher where everything was 1/2 to 3/4 price of new equipment. They powder coated everything and replaced the vinyl etc, good as new, but for a cheaper price. This is another option.

[Squats49]

I've been messing with the idea of building a training facility. I would want to rent a warehouse and outfit it to build a personal training business. What would you buy with $50k to spend on equipment? I really don't know if that's a good price point yet. I'm in the early stages of research and putting together a business plan. I would prefer to do something without taking out any loans so 40-50k is my starting budget. .

I happen to know a little bit about warehouse space in NY (NYC more specifically) and I am curious if you have a space or at least a general area picked out? In order to allow this type of business to be legally operated out of a lot of spaces in NYC you might exhaust a decent amount of your budget on that alone. If you don't have a specific space in mind I'd stress really focusing on this. If you do well there you could leave yourself some flexibility on the equipment which as AttyGuy suggested you definitely want to buy used. EliteFTS stuff would be harder to find used than cybex, icarian, hammer strength etc....Perhaps I'm approaching the question too seriously, that requires more specific information.

[Detrus]

Even if buying new you shouldn't spend that much at first. I was wondering what it would cost to start a small gym

bars $300 * 5 = $1500
racks $700 * 3 = $2100
benches $600 adjustables * 2 + $200 flat * 2 = $1600
leg press = $800
for dumbbells use Ironmasters or adjustable spinlocks for standard plates or Ivanko 14" handles or shermworks 20"+ handles. Or even olympic dumbbell handles. A full dumbbell rack is crazy expensive new. A couple of adjustable pairs are good enough.
so dumbells = $1000
iron olympic plates = $1000 for 1000 lbs
flooring = $500? Don't floor a huge area at first, use cheap stallmats in strategic places
cardio = tires, hammer, sleds, prowlers, jump ropes, those big thick ropes you swing with your arms, kettlebells = $1500

Comes out to $10,000 and can handle like 10 people working out. And you can get it down to $5000 buying used. Of course if you cater to the typical gym audience that doesn't know what to do with racks, needs a lot of machines, curl stations, smiths, treadmills, lat pulldowns it makes the ordeal more complicated. Then you really have to buy used. And you need more space. And if you dream of having classes then it's hard to find the space.

I think crossfit gyms run a good racket with equipment that doesn't take up a lot of space but can handle 30 people dancing around. If you have classes you can teach people what to do with a rack.

For a personal training studio for 1-2 people at a time the costs should be much lower. It's a home gym.

$300 bar
$700 rack
$600 bench
$400 dumbbells
$500 plates
$100 floor
$300 cardio prowler or something

$2000

Add reverse hyper for $800

Maybe $3000 and and that's buying new

[rthawker]

Just FYI and for your own research purposes Elite has equipment leasing and financing. http://articles.elitefts.net/about/equipment-leasing/

[GarageIron]

Equipment costs will likely be a minor concern. I went through this plan a few years back. It's the money lost paying overhead while you build membership that kills you.

This is loosely based on the plan I put together and then abandoned (for now)...

Lets assume equipment was free, (which it is not of course)You find a spot for $2K/month. You get cheap insurance and need to renovate so you get a small loan. The loan repayment and insurance is $300/month. Not bad as you are starting small. Good thing your floor was already completely matted with virgin rubber mats.

You need to pay yourself something, say $40K/year for working 16 hours a day 7 days a week ($10/hr... an extreme example). You have utilities and need to pay for to cover your payment system (easily) and website. Lets say $6000/month out the door.

On day one you open up and 15 people sign up for $50/month. You get 5 more for the remainder of the month. Income month 1 from 20 people - about $1000 (less actually). You lose $5000 in month one.

Month 2 you get 10 more members and only lose $4500. This pace roughly matches the size of gym you are describing if you are very aggressive in seeking membership.

Month 3, 10 more. Lose $4000
Month 4, 10 more, Lose $3500
Month 5, 10 more, Lose $3000
Month 6, 10 more. 70 members. Need more stuff? Likely. Good thing it's free. Lose $2500.
Month 7, 10 more. Lose $2000
Month 8, 10 more. Lose $1500
Month 9, 10 more. Lose $1000
Month 10, 10 more. Lose $500. It's getting busy in here with over 100 members and 2 power racks.
Month 11, 10 more. Break Even!!!!

$30K lost in under 1 year while waiting to build membership. Your $2000 space is too small for your membership, your equipment needs maintenance, and you probably living in the power rack and calling one of the benches the 'guest room'

[OutKlast]

Equipment costs will likely be a minor concern. I went through this plan a few years back. It's the money lost paying overhead while you build membership that kills you.

This is loosely based on the plan I put together and then abandoned (for now)...

Lets assume equipment was free, (which it is not of course)You find a spot for $2000k/month. You get cheap insurance and need to renovate so you get a small loan. The loan repayment and insurance is $300/month. Not bad as you are starting small. Good thing your floor was already completely matted with virgin rubber mats.

2k/month sounds crazy cheap for NY. Even in FL where we have pretty cheap rates and plentiful space a gym space would be more in the 3-5k range maybe more. If he needs a place with retail frontage that gets real expensive real quick the busier the road is that the place is located at.

[jackbravo]

man, everybody is such a downer.

You need something like this, OP




build it, and they will come

[one.lifter]

Equipment costs will likely be a minor concern. I went through this plan a few years back. It's the money lost paying overhead while you build membership that kills you.

This is loosely based on the plan I put together and then abandoned (for now)...

Lets assume equipment was free, (which it is not of course)You find a spot for $2000k/month. You get cheap insurance and need to renovate so you get a small loan. The loan repayment and insurance is $300/month. Not bad as you are starting small. Good thing your floor was already completely matted with virgin rubber mats.

You need to pay yourself something, say $40K/year for working 16 hours a day 7 days a week ($10/hr... an extreme example). You have utilities and need to pay for to cover your payment system (easily) and website. Lets say $6000/month out the door.

On day one you open up and 15 people sign up for $50/month. You get 5 more for the remainder of the month. Income month 1 from 20 people - about $1000 (less actually). You lose $5000 in month one.

Month 2 you get 10 more members and only lose $4500. This pace roughly matches the size of gym you are describing if you are very aggressive in seeking membership.

Month 3, 10 more. Lose $4000
Month 4, 10 more, Lose $3500
Month 5, 10 more, Lose $3000
Month 6, 10 more. 70 members. Need more stuff? Likely. Good thing it's free. Lose $2500.
Month 7, 10 more. Lose $2000
Month 8, 10 more. Lose $1500
Month 9, 10 more. Lose $1000
Month 10, 10 more. Lose $500. It's getting busy in here with over 100 members and 2 power racks.
Month 11, 10 more. Break Even!!!!

$30K lost in under 1 year while waiting to build membership. Your $2000 space is too small for your membership, your equipment needs maintenance, and you probably living in the power rack and calling one of the benches the 'guest room'

Op, look how much money you will lose and its based on $50 a month for a single membership! Around me we have cardinal fitness, anytime fitness etc with $10 a month memberships and all the freewieghts, machines and cardio you could ever want. What happens to your place when one of these low cost fitness centers moves in a block away from you? Happened to a golds gym by me....closed within six months

[f0rbidden]

In the OPs defense, he is talking about starting a personal training facility, not a public gym. I only know one personal trainer who runs his own studio, but he is a competitive powerlifter and focuses on strength training (none of the hipster bosu ball lateral lunge garbage) and has been very successful.

He charges $75 per session and has a steady stable of clients. He is based in a city with a population of only about 80,000 and still manages to stay busy despite bucking all the current fitness trends. His client base is mostly seniors and older adults, which is really the only market where people have money to spend and time to come out and train during the weekday business hours he wants to operate in.

Figure 8 sessions per day (which is definitely low, I'm pretty sure the sessions are 30 minutes), that's $600/day, $3000/week, about $12,500 per month if you assume the guy takes 2 weeks holidays per year. Once you factor in all of the overhead I'm sure he's not taking home $100,000/year but I'm sure he's making a good living.

So the personal training studio approach is a much different angle than just opening a public gym. Your target market is likely not going to be what you originally have in mind though.

[GarageIron]

Op, look how much money you will lose and its based on $50 a month for a single membership! Around me we have cardinal fitness, anytime fitness etc with $10 a month memberships and all the freewieghts, machines and cardio you could ever want. What happens to your place when one of these low cost fitness centers moves in a block away from you? Happened to a golds gym by me....closed within six months

It could still be a viable business, but you need to be prepared with the cash flow in year 1 to keep your head above water. After the break even point you start to make money with every member.

The CrossFit model works (right now) because they charge $150/month, use low cost industrial space, they can grow the equipment along with their membership and they offer a few to several classes a day based on membership size. It's not a bad gig at all if you only have $30-50K for start up and have another income to hold you over until it makes money.

Start up

Annual Affiliate Fee - $3000
CrossFit Level 1 Cert - $1000
Equipment - $10K
2000sq/ft Industrial unit - $1500
Building Improvements - $5K
Advertisting/Open House Promo's $1K
Misc (Utility set up, office supplies, etc) - $2K
Building Security Deposit - $1500

Total $25,000

Monthly

Insurance and Utilities - $300
Payment Processing and Bank Charges - $300 (roughly 3% of income)
2000sq/ft Industrial Unit - $1500
Equipment Maintenance - $1500 (assuming you add items as you gain members)
Advertising Promotion and Misc - $1000
Save for next years crossfit Fee - $250

Monthly Costs - $4850

You would hit the break even at about 30 members and start to earn some money back. At this point you would likely need to be open often. What I see a lot of crossfit gyms do is offer free memberships to their clients and make them "coaches" that run classes... that's a whole other mess. Especially for a new gym.

But... there is also the chance that something new comes along and CrossFit becomes Curves. You end up selling your Airdyne's, neon shoes, and "Call Fran" shirts on CL.

Some ideas to kick around are to run an equipment sales business out of the gym. Become a dealer for a few products that you can sell to your clients or locally. This will save you 20-30% in your new equipment costs and also give you a second revenue stream. There is also supplement sales, etc. You could also rent out your space to personal trainers by the hour during times that you are not open.

Sorry this did not answer your original question OP. It just became a rant of sorts.

[GarageIron]

In the OPs defense, he is talking about starting a personal training facility, not a public gym. I only know one personal trainer who runs his own studio, but he is a competitive powerlifter and focuses on strength training (none of the hipster bosu ball lateral lunge garbage) and has been very successful.

He charges $75 per session and has a steady stable of clients. He is based in a city with a population of only about 80,000 and still manages to stay busy despite bucking all the current fitness trends. His client base is mostly seniors and older adults, which is really the only market where people have money to spend and time to come out and train during the weekday business hours he wants to operate in.

Figure 8 sessions per day (which is definitely low, I'm pretty sure the sessions are 30 minutes), that's $600/day, $3000/week, about $12,500 per month if you assume the guy takes 2 weeks holidays per year. Once you factor in all of the overhead I'm sure he's not taking home $100,000/year but I'm sure he's making a good living.

So the personal training studio approach is a much different angle than just opening a public gym. Your target market is likely not going to be what you originally have in mind though.

There is still the problem of losing money while you build clients regardless of the type of gym or facility. Nobody is going to put a place together and spin the sign on the door to "Open" and have people lined up to pay $150/hour. This business would need to be earned over time. While you do that you need to have the cash available to pay the loses. It is entirely possible, but not easy.

The main point I was trying to make was that with a $50K budget, you need to be prepared to lose a good chunk of that building your business. The OP may be well aware of that and included it in his business plan, and have 30 clients already waiting for the doors to open.

[wanaBsedated]

what in the...

Just get a couple olympic sets,a good power rack that has a pull up bar, adjustable bench... maybe a squat bar, saftey squat bar

Maybe a good bench press, reverse hyper, some kettlebells, dumbells, bands, chains

Get an actual bike and do cardio outside man

LOL at taking out a loan... if you cant afford something as needless as a home gym dont buy one

[f0rbidden]

There is still the problem of losing money while you build clients. Nobody is going to put a place together and spin the sign on the door to "Open" and have people lined up to pay $150/hour. This business would need to be earned over time. While you do that you need to have the cash available to pay the loses.

Yeah absolutely, it's not a business I would ever want to get into that's for sure. If you did want to open a personal training studio, I feel like the smarter approach (depending on your target market) would be to either start working as a personal trainer out of other facilities and let them have their cut while you build a strong enough client base to support your own small studio, or start out of your garage where there's no extra overhead beyond insurance. It's definitely not the sort of business you can just start because you have the money to start it and expect to start churning a profit.

[benz5521]

Lots of good points. 50k isn't my startup budget, just my equipment budget. I'm aware that most businesses fail because of under capitalization. I wouldn't start a business without a year's worth of money in the bank to keep the overhead paid. I'm not expecting to get rich. My income comes from another business. That woukd eliminate a lot of the risk because I'll have an income while pursuing this.

[benz5521]

man, everybody is such a downer.

You need something like this, OP




build it, and they will come

Wow what is that?

[Stasher1]

Lots of good points. 50k isn't my startup budget, just my equipment budget. I'm aware that most businesses fail because of under capitalization. I wouldn't start a business without a year's worth of money in the bank to keep the overhead paid. I'm not expecting to get rich. My income comes from another business. That woukd eliminate a lot of the risk because I'll have an income while pursuing this.

If have a rough idea what you're looking for and the total square footage of your location, contact some of the various used equipment dealer and have them work up some complete packages for you to compare.

There are lots of place out there that specialize in this kind of thing, like CSM: http://www.csmfitness.com

[817boy]

I had some downtime so went to EFS website and put what i thought you needed into a shopping cart

For $50k
3 power rack w/ monkey chin bars, dip bars, and flat benches
3 0-90 incline benches
1 pro series decline bench
2 selectorized Econo series lat pulldown (weight stack included)
2 Pro series 45 degree back raise
2 Old school Glute Ham Raises
3 Econo series flat bench press station (w/ weight storage racks)
2 Econo series Chest supported Row a.k.a t bar row
1 Prowler 3 pack (3 prowlers included)
2 5 station chain pack (basically a crap load of chains)
2 Pro series long band pack
2 leg press machines (not the real nice ones the cheaper ones)
2 Monster hack squat machines
2 Texas DeadLift bars
6 Texas power bars
2 multi grip swiss bars
2 rackable cambered squat bars
2 Econo series farmer walk handles
2 trap bars
2 fat bars (hollow ones)
2 Safety squat bars
3 HD 6 barbell holders
1 Bumper plate rack w/ chalk bowl combo (for your 2 DL stations, that you can make yourself cheap)
1 Belt/Band/Chain holder (to hold all your bands and chains)
2 Squat boxes

And you dont have any dumbbells, olympic weights, cable crossover machine, smith machine, or any cardio machine.

So basically increase your equipment budget to $75k or buy more stuff from Econo series or buy used

i would try to buy some professional equipment used if it was me. EFS makes top quality stuff but to outfit a entire gym would be expensive. I do believe the make the best power racks and olympic benches.

I REALLY SUGGEST YOU READ THIS THREAD: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...ing+studio+gym He started buying used equipment and slowly but surely built his studio gym and showed us his progress. Might be the idea/motivation you need.

[thedickus]

I've been messing with the idea of building a training facility. I would want to rent a warehouse and outfit it to build a personal training business. What would you buy with $50k to spend on equipment? I really don't know if that's a good price point yet. I'm in the early stages of research and putting together a business plan. I would prefer to do something without taking out any loans so 40-50k is my starting budget.

Rough idea on some stuff I'd want:
power rack
incline/decline/flat barbell benches
smith machine
leg press machine
A couple 0-90 incline benches
decline dumbbell bench
bars
plates
dumbbells
cable crossover
some cardio stuff (maybe a couple bikes, couple treadmills)
some other machines i.e. leg extensions, lat pulldown, pec deck, etc.

I really like Elite FTS' stuff but I don't know much about different brands and quality differences. I know $50k could run out quick with everything I would need so I'm just trying to get a rough idea of what I could get/how much more capital I would need to get together.

Do you plan on being the lone trainer at the facility or do you plan on letting other trainers bring in clients for a fee? What type of demographics do you think you're looking at? More middle aged professionals and house wives or would you be looking at younger clientele, or possibly a mixture?
I'm guessing based on your wanting to get multiple of each cardio machines you're going to have more than one trainer at a time using the facility. If that's the case you may want to look at more than one set of dumbbells especially in the lower poundages.
I'd look more towards a commercial half rack than a power rack. A full power rack gets a little cramped if you're trying to spot or correct form inside of one, especially with larger clients. Functional trainers are big these days, possibly instead of a cable crossover.

[kelt_22]

I have several friends with really successful gyms. I sell equipment for a living and I see these go both ways.

Like any business have a market. At this point it looks like you are going strongman/PL bodybuilder focus. This is dangerous if not done right. Mix a good Athletic focus ( get HS teams, l etc) and have a good cardio area.

don't forget you will be getting deals on the large purchases too.

[dumb.bell]

It will obviously vary by location, but in my area the main consumers would be housewives.

[Stasher1]

It will obviously vary by location, but in my area the main consumers would be housewives.

Yup, same here. That's the why the majority of fitness centers in this area have nothing but rows and rows of ellipticals, treadmills, and steppers.


Relevant commentary from Rip (and others) on gym ownership and clientele...