Opening new gym *** need input on equipment/features

Hi all,

I am opening a new gym in the south Florida area. I am looking to create a bodybuilding/powerlifting/olympic lifting mecca. Will have 15 or so platforms with power racks, Eleiko bars and plates throughout, and legend fitness machines. Not looking to have a ton of machines like most commercial gyms but will have the essentials (cable stacks, leg press, etc.) will also have things like belt squat, monolift, combo rack, etc.

I am looking for ideas on what I could add to this facility to make me different. What item/machine/feature is missing at your gym? What would you love to have at your gym? I want people to choose my gym over the significant competition in the area so let me know what you think would do that.

Much appreciated!

-D

Stuff most gyms lack that I always wished they have are mostly little things like change plates, chains, specialty bars. Larger items, I love reverse hyper machines and GHDs, and it's strange how most gyms don't have either.

I'll second the specialty bars, but if it were me I'd one up most gyms and get some of the highly regarded specialty bars. For example, I'd get the Elite SSB or Crep over the generic Amazon knockoff. Or the Edge Slim Football bar instead of the unwieldy ones that virtually no one seems to like using from [whoever].

More importantly though, consider your target market. Bodybuilders tend to use machines, especially plate-loaded machines, pretty heavily. If you're not going to have a lot of them, choose them carefully.

Eleiko makes great stuff but I'd alleviate some startup costs and go cheaper. Rogue or even Troy plates and Rogue bars will work just as well and still be better than a lot of gyms.

A good Hack Squat, the Tru Squat, a Pendulum Squat, and the Squatmax belt squat. Not many gyms have all of those items. A Seal Row would be nice too. Legend/Westside Inverse Curl (hams) & the Legend/Westside Hip Quad Developer (quads) would also be nice pieces to have. Would love it if my gym had these pieces. Oh...and calves. Most gyms in my area have peanuts in terms of calf equipment. Not that it's a necessity, but it is nice to have.

[QUOTE=radrd;1632880363]Eleiko makes great stuff but I'd alleviate some startup costs and go cheaper. Rogue or even Troy plates and Rogue bars will work just as well and still be better than a lot of gyms.[/QUOTE]


Agreed with this ^^^, Eleiko is primarily a weightlifting brand, bearing bars may not be appreciated by the average bodybuilder.

I'd also second the need for speciality bars and specialist machines. From a bodybuilding stand point a few of the rarer units to consider would be the Atlantis Pivot Leg Press or the Panatta Leg Press Bridge, the Rogers Athletic Power Squat is an exceptionally good leg unit, I also like the ability to adjust the strength curve on the Prime leg ext and curl machines.

For chest and back I think Panatta is right up there, the Panatta Deltoid Press is excellent, all of the Panatta Chest Presses are top of the list in the Cost No Object thread and their Lever Lat Pulldown and High Row are world class. The Panatta Incline Flight is also worth considering, it's a very rare and interesting piece, but get's rave reviews from those in the bodybuilding community that have used it.

Two arm machines I've used are the Prime Plate Load bicep and the Panatta Triceps extension, stack version, I really liked both of these and wish I had room for them in my set up.

A good versatile piece would be either the Cybex Bravo or the Prime Functional Trainer, both offer a lot in a relatively small space.

I'll suggest multiples of the most commonly used items. When I went to the globo gym, there was only one set of DBs. Anything under 50lbs required a wait. It would have been great to have a few sets, so everyone isn't constantly waiting.

[QUOTE=userRUSV9VB7VJH;1632860633]I want people to choose my gym over the significant competition in the area so let me know what you think would do that.[/QUOTE]

You need a well thought through, researched, and validated business plan, detailed financial model based on actual financial results (not hypothetical) along with more capital than you think you need.

Once you have detailed out your strategy, your sales and marketing plan, modeled your pro forma against different scenarios, and identified your sources and cost of capital, you will then have a capital equipment budget to work with. At that point you can identify what equipment the business will support. Spoiler alert, it won’t be what you originally envisioned and you’ll need to rework the plan, the strategy, leverage your personal and professional network for help, pull your hair out, lose many nights sleep, and if you are lucky you will achieve the breakthrough that gets you to opening day. At that point, the hard work begins.

Trust me, I’ve done this with a 30,000 sq ft athletic complex (pics in the Crew thread). If equipment is your differentiator and you haven’t REALLY thought through your plan and validated it with hard results, you are just lining up to be the next Craigslist liquidation for local buyers.

Sure doesn't seem like a good time to open any kind of gym.

I would require at least an hour long interview and platform test before any member could touch the Eleiko stuff.

At least half of the platforms would have Rogue non bearing bars.