Can a hard core gym be self supporting?

[tiramisu]

I'm awfully tempted to rent a small space, buy some serious equipment and give this a shot.

I'm just not sure whether I can attract enough guys to break even on the rent and cover purchasing equipment.

There are no gyms here with a platform, ghr, reverse hyper, proper benches and racks, bumpers, plates and dumbbells to support anyone who is actually strong.

It would be nice to attract 20 or so guys to cover the rent and equipment and start a small dungeon where we could go to work out.

The globo gyms suck.

Has anyone here tried this or know someone who has successfully put one together?

[Memo]

where do you live?

[warlock]

I'm awfully tempted to rent a small space, buy some serious equipment and give this a shot.

I'm just not sure whether I can attract enough guys to break even on the rent and cover purchasing equipment.

There are no gyms here with a platform, ghr, reverse hyper, proper benches and racks, bumpers, plates and dumbbells to support anyone who is actually strong.

It would be nice to attract 20 or so guys to cover the rent and equipment and start a small dungeon where we could go to work out.

The globo gyms suck.

Has anyone here tried this or know someone who has successfully put one together?

depends on 2 things:
Demographics how many people need it?
Psycographics: out of the people that need it how many want it?

[O-Train]

You would probably need a base of guys. Like here we have a big powerlifting club but then you'd still need to get them to switch from a large commerical gym to a smaller setup. Also you need to think about how you'd get the word out. It's likely a very small target group among a much larger population, even within the fitness world strength is very much a niche.

[tiramisu]

Getting the word out isn't too tough. The wonders of the internet. I don't care about profitability just sustainability.

[steve_d]

the other thing to think about is people won't drive way out of their way to get to this place - if someone around here wanted to do what you were doing, I'd consider it, but it would need to be similar distance from my home / work as my current gym to make the switch.

[cog]

With all the semi serious gyms around now it is a problem,I move between 3 to 4 locations of World's to use what I want.If you build it...

[tiramisu]

There is not a single semi serious gym in winnipeg. That said I'm not really interested in drawing a large pool of people. A small place with decent rent, with good access where I could put down 3 or 4 power racks, a couple of lifting platforms and a bunch of free weights weights. Rig up a couple of shower stalls and a bathroom and provide 24/7 access to a small group of members.

Cover the rent and enough to buy/build more equipment.

A for profit gym would almost certainly fail but a pay the rent - cover the cost of more plates/bars gym doesn't require a lot of guys. I pay 50 a month for my ymca membership. 20 guys could cover a small space rental and 3-4k in equipment purchases a year.

[Mr.Meat]

I would say its near impossible...

You're better off renting a garage and setting a small scale version of what you are talking about. You sound like you're serious but how many people are as serious as you?

I found that poeple may sound serious but when its time to pay the bills they dont walk the walk or hell even show up to train to begin with...

Setup a gym you presonally can afford to sustain and then maybe find some folks to help you pay the bills...

[Talo]

I think being in Win you would be able to do this. We thought about doing something like this , but being in a place with less than 10,000 people nobody wanted to take that big step .

Like you said you don't want to make $ off this ( but I'm sure that would be nice ) . How much is rent ?
Make it a 24/7 cardlock system and people will pay to use a good place.

[Ice Age]

There is not a single semi serious gym in winnipeg. That said I'm not really interested in drawing a large pool of people. A small place with decent rent, with good access where I could put down 3 or 4 power racks, a couple of lifting platforms and a bunch of free weights weights. Rig up a couple of shower stalls and a bathroom and provide 24/7 access to a small group of members.

Cover the rent and enough to buy/build more equipment.

A for profit gym would almost certainly fail but a pay the rent - cover the cost of more plates/bars gym doesn't require a lot of guys. I pay 50 a month for my ymca membership. 20 guys could cover a small space rental and 3-4k in equipment purchases a year.

Funny enough I am trying to put this idea together right now in Calgary, and it's not easy. However; it has been done, and done VERY successfully. One of the best powerlifting gyms in Canada located in Moosejaw, Sask,(check them out here http://www.unparalleled.ca/ ) was started in August of 2007 by a group of about 10 friends and dedicated lifters who were sick of globo gyms, so decided to start their own gym. They rented a DIRT cheap space in the basement of a Moosejaw strip mall, with little access to those who didn't know it was there (you had to go down a flight of stairs, down a back hall way, around a few corners and then you got to the gym).

The gym caters to powerlifters, olympic lifters and strongmen and is completely member owned and operated. As part of being a member you MUST compete, this can also generate funds from various lifting bodies to be given to your gym, as well as equipment (I know of a weightlifting gym in Calgary that gets funding from the AWA, as well as a few sets of high quality bumpers and bars).

The gym is still going strong today and has multiple national record holders, and a laundry list of club achievements. I recently got in touch with one of the founding member to pick his brain about how he did it. According to him they essentially had a "perfect storm" of a hardcore gym. 10 dedicated members and close knit friends that were dependable, extremely cheap rent, and through the various members, most of the equipment they needed to start the gym up.

I will keep you posted on my progress out here in Calgary, if you do decide to run with it I own an equipment company (bellsofsteel.com), I can get you very cheap stuff to get started with, and for equipment I don't carry I have a lot of friends in the equipment industry and could track down whatever you need for you.

I also got a drag line the other day that some UofM alumni were toying with the idea of starting a Defranco style gym in Winnipeg, I will look into it further and PM you.

[Sean Summers]

Check out the Anvil Garage Powerlifting Gym in Toronto. They seem to do ok.
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