Open a hardcore gym? info needed

[supertech69]

Has anyone ever opened a hardcore gym catering to primarily lifters/bodybuilders? Since recent events in my gym & their catering to the lazy & out of shape members who never go. I have given serious thought on opening a gym dedicated to people like myself, where it is o.k. to make a bit of noise or to change the radio station & listen to some motivating music instead of j-lo & nsync. My gym can't stand us, they use the excuse that we intimidate the other members & cause them to not workout so I suppose their theory is, work out here untill you begin to take it serious & better yourself then please go away.

I guess my main concern is cost. I've been doing a lot of price searching & there are so many companies that make so many different types & styles that it's nearly impossible to get a hard number on basic equipment. So, I'm hoping to find someone that has taken this venture before & can give me an idea on what to expect as far as cost. I'm looking to start with all your basic equipment and hopefully find it used for less overhead. A couple treadmills, bikes & maybe an eliptical trainer. I've got quite a few people that have taken an interest into joining one since there is no gym of this type in our area. So, I don't think getting members would be a problem but, then again I don't know how many members it would take to cover costs.

Supertech

 

[droid]

I don't know where you are but in my city which is a medium sized suburb of detroit the amount of hardcore people alone would not be able to support and commercial gym. Yea the powerhouse I go to is disproving of the power lifters doig farmer walks around the gym with stones and all their dam rubber bands and stuff as that is intimidating to the rest of the fucking pussy slacker members.


DROID

 

[Zyglamail]

Thats the problem with gyms who cater to the hardcore crowd, horcore members are few and far between so membership is usually low....unfortunatly.

 

[Delinquent]

Unless you're already financially set and could afford to lose some money, then yea but if not, it's just not an economical thing to do. There may seem like there are a lot of us b/c of the boards but we're really spread thin in comparison to the rest of the population.

 

[supertech69]

Yeah, you are all probably right & I really haven't went into major planning stages for it, it's just a thought at this point & I am gathering info. I'm sure mst reg gym make their money by members who never show up & use the equipment. That's why they don;t like us, we actually put miles on it.

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

A small hardcore gym shouldn't cost TOO much to open. Look at westside barbell, a hole in the wall. I wouldnt go into it thinking you'll make much money but it would be cool to own your own hardcore place. If you do it drop me an email and I'll come up with a t-shirt design for you

 

[supertech69]

I'm not looking to make money, I'm looking more for a good place to workout wihtout all the bullshit. If I could make enough money to just pay the bills that'd be fine with me.

 

[hayesjones]

ihave been to a few gyms that actually had two seperate weight rooms which allowed the pussies to keep their distance from people who actually wanted to workout.

 

[supertech69]

well they are moving us back into a hidden corner so maybe they'll actually leave us alone now. Put the lepers in the back away from the others.

 

[NoLimits]

Unfortunately, the "lazy & out of shape members pay the bills...
think about it... you own a business that someone pays you every month but very seldom use the facility... you want to keep them as long as you can!

 

[Cliff]

I had a $15 000 budget to start up a gym in my university. They said they wanted a well balanced gym(whatever the fuck that means!!!) we bought 1 treadmill, one bike, one stepmachine and a multy station for the pencilnecks and we were only left with $1500. I had to put $700 from my own pocket so we could get a squat cage and an olympic bench and some dumbles!

If you wanna start a gym that has members you gotta buy a shitload of cardio shit thats gonna cost you a shitload and the shit you buy gotta have guarantee cause in a normal gym electronic shit breaks down frequently. its an investment that might never give anything back!

you ll need about $100 000 just to buy equipment if you want to have members paying plus the legal shit and the rent and shitty bills. plus you gotta be there all the time!they other factor is that in US the big franchisis have left no room for small businesses to manouver so basically you'll get fucked at the end even if you have good income cause it only takes the Goldgym 2 days to open a franchisee next door to you and steal all the moneymaking customers!


good luck bro!

 

[iamcdn]

i know it cost more money but, why not buy into part of a franchise. and with you being the owner you won't have to descriminate against the hardcores, and can cater towards them

shit is expensive,you will most likely have to look towards capital from other sources than your pocket, and unless you have a very sound business you aren't going to get anything becaue the market is already very saturated

on the other hand, if you just want to have hardcores, get a couple people together, get them to pitch in and try and just have a hole in the wall gym

 

[Metal Gear]

I'm in the process of opening up my own Powerhouse in the L.A area right now bro and it's no fucken joke. You need some serious cash and credit backing you up. My boy's a millionair and he's putting up all the money for it, he even owns te 18,000 square foot building and we are still havng problems with th ecity, parking space blah blah blah... You fix one problem antoher comes up. This project has been on hold for 6 months now. I even have paid the annaul $16,000 for using powerhouses name. City is fucking with us big time. You need to lease all your equipment, because cardio alone cost close to 100,000. Our gym has estimate cost of 500,000 min equipment cost. That doesn't include tanning room, construction of offices, bathrooms and lockers, sona, steam room, aerobics room, child care, etc. By the time you are done, you are looking at 1-1.5million dollars for a good gym if yo uwant to survive.

 

[TinyTim]

I'm in the process of opening up my own Powerhouse in the L.A area right now bro and it's no fucken joke. You need some serious cash and credit backing you up. My boy's a millionair and he's putting up all the money for it, he even owns te 18,000 square foot building and we are still havng problems with th ecity, parking space blah blah blah... You fix one problem antoher comes up. This project has been on hold for 6 months now. I even have paid the annaul $16,000 for using powerhouses name. City is fucking with us big time. You need to lease all your equipment, because cardio alone cost close to 100,000. Our gym has estimate cost of 500,000 min equipment cost. That doesn't include tanning room, construction of offices, bathrooms and lockers, sona, steam room, aerobics room, child care, etc. By the time you are done, you are looking at 1-1.5million dollars for a good gym if yo uwant to survive.

Kinda puts a damper on things but he's 100% correct. It takes big pockets to survive in most business today, and gyms even more so.

 

[genarr3]

On the plus side a hardcore gym doesn't have to be pretty. You don't need a dozen treadmills, or a neat and clean environment.

As a previous post mentioned Westside gym is a hole in the wall and people are lined up to get in.

 

[supertech69]

I've taken all the above into concideration that's why I say it's only an idea & wanted to gather info on it. Especially from those who have tried it. The fuct up thing about my gym is that they brag abou having one of the biggest free weight areas in the tri-state area. What the hell, did they expect to not get people like us joining? Thanx for the input.

 

[liftsiron]

There is a big difference in being hardcore and trying to be a hardass. You can train like an animal but do not have to act like one. We have five gyms in our immediate area two "hardcore gyms" who can barely keep their light bill paid because they cater to a few assholes who like to slam weights and crank up the music. Our gym may not be "hardcore" yet 99% of all the areas competive bodybuilders, figure, and fitness competitors train at our facility, as well as many of the college athletes.

 

[easy]

I can't deal with all the bs that goes on at the local healthclubs so I built my own gym in my garage. Treadmill, squat rack, bench, 2 olympic barbells, full compliment of dumbells, lat machine, peck deck, 700 lbs of plates and I'm under 2500$. My freinds drive to my house to work out now. I do wtf I want. My house...my rules...

easy

 

[nuh_mizer]

I had a $15 000 budget to start up a gym in my university. They said they wanted a well balanced gym(whatever the fuck that means!!!) we bought 1 treadmill, one bike, one stepmachine and a multy station for the pencilnecks and we were only left with $1500. I had to put $700 from my own pocket so we could get a squat cage and an olympic bench and some dumbles!

If you wanna start a gym that has members you gotta buy a shitload of cardio shit thats gonna cost you a shitload and the shit you buy gotta have guarantee cause in a normal gym electronic shit breaks down frequently. its an investment that might never give anything back!

you ll need about $100 000 just to buy equipment if you want to have members paying plus the legal shit and the rent and shitty bills. plus you gotta be there all the time!they other factor is that in US the big franchisis have left no room for small businesses to manouver so basically you'll get fucked at the end even if you have good income cause it only takes the Goldgym 2 days to open a franchisee next door to you and steal all the moneymaking customers!


good luck bro!

I agree. I got info from a few equipment companies. With Flex equipment, the cost was over 100k not including the cardio equipment. I was looking to open a large scale gym though to compete with 24hr and bally's in my area. If you could find someone to go in on it with you, you would probably be better off.