Need a little input from fellow lifters
 

For the past 3 years I've been wanting to open my own gym and I'm finally in a spot to make that happen. This is more a hobby for me than anything else so making money isn't the main goal here, although it would be a bonus. The idea is pretty simple- a small , affordable, 24 hour gym that members can go to and feel as if it is their own personal gym/family. It will be catered more for the power lifting crowd with just the bare essentials. Below is a list of what I already have, or will have prior to opening...

Multiple power racks
Flat bench
Incline bench
Leg press
Hip abductor/adductor
Leg extension
Seated calf machine
Deadlift platform
Lat pulldown
Multiple dumbbell benches
Texas power bar
Texas deadlift bar
Texas squat bar
Safety squat bar
Olympic curl bar
Pro style dumbbells
Bands
Chains
Lots-o-fucking plates

Now, my questions are

1. Regarding leg presses. Would a press on rollers vs bearing make or break you joining a gym? Would you be opposed to a hack squat/leg press combo unit?

2. I currently have a set of ivanko dumbbells in increments of 2.5 from 5-25, and increments of 5 from 25 to 50. I plan on going in increments of 10 from 50 up to 150. How would you feel about this as a lifter looking into a new gym?

3. Regarding ham machines. What do you guys find to be most effective/prefer? Seated leg curl, lying leg curl, or a glute ham developer?

4. I would like to get a cable crossover machine, standing calf machine, and further down the road a monolift. Aside from that, is there anything else you guys feel is an absolute necessity?

I appreciate the input from everyone. Might be kind of cool to once or twice a month have an AZHT lifting day when everything is done.

You have stated most of the necessary.

I like lying seated hamstring machine

Location wise where would this be?

Ideally between 59th ave and 7th st. South of Happy Valley and North of Cactus. Ideally I want something close to the 101/17 stack

To your last question.
I would make sure you have at least ONE competition bench. An autospotting bench would be cool too but not a deal breaker.

A deadlift jack


A trap bar like this that can fit in a power rack



The ability to add bands to deadlifts. Need anchors by the DL platform.

a TBAR attachment in the corner somewhere.


Can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

I am sure I could get a few people to come out a few times a month.

My fiancees dad has this bench that he'll most likely bring. If he doesn't, then I'll be ordering one.

Agree on the deadlift jack, I have a friend who is going to make one for me as well as a tbar corner piece. The deadlift platform is going to have a metal frame with "handles" to slip the bands on so we're good there as well. I'll add the hex bar to the list. I was considering it, but didn't want to go balls out buying equipment 1 in 500 people will use.

As for hams, I personally hate seated leg curls so I was leaning towards laying anyways. GHD's are relatively cheap so I may just get one of those as well

I honestly don't expect much out of the gym financially. Most people want a fitness club lined with cable machines and 40 tv's(planet fitness has a genius marketing strategy). If I can actually get a decent amount of members to sign up, to the point I'm not paying out of pocket anymore, then I have absolutely no problem forking over money for a monolift, self spotting bench, etc. That's the part I'm struggling with right now;finding a happy medium between necessities of a hobby, and what a profitable gym should supply. Appreciate all the input

If it wasn't so damn far I'd be there every day.

Sounds interesting and pretty close to me. Id be down to join once ur set up.

I'm glad to hear that, you're the type of person I'd like to have. Knowledgeable, helpful to everyone, and most importantly...no ego

Good stuff! I've been slowly buying equipment the past month. Business is slow for me this time of year, so I'm a little hesitant to really let loose. Everything should pick up again come February, and I want to have the rest of the equipment purchased by June. Hopefully I'll have it up and running to the public by August :thumbsup:

Sounds good. Ill have to keep an eye out. Im mot experienced like the others. But sounds like a fun place to work out

When you get it up and running LMK. I will come up with my training partner. Maybe you guys can work something out for like weekly powerlifting coaching sessions if that is something you may be interested in. He is a hell of a coach, and pretty strong... heh

GL mikey!

I will come lift here.......only if me and Spec can have a stare down....scream "come at me bro".....charge each other in a fit of rage..................................only to hug it out

But on a serious note, it sounds like a good idea. If executed and marketed right you could attract a decent following. I would be down to come out and support and lift when I can

Haha I approve. As far as trainers go, I actually would like to work a deal with a couple experienced trainers who just pay a percentage of their monthly earnings. A weekly powerlifting session would actually be a selling point, so I would work a different deal out that way. Bottom line, I'm definitely interested in having quality lifters coach, train, etc. My fiancees dad is actually a state bench record holder with WABDL, and his team will most likely lift there so I'm hoping to have a gym bubbling with knowledge.
Thanks man. Just found out last night there's a mini me brewin' in the old lady's belly so it'll be an interesting year
I LOVE it when big sweaty dudes hug it out in an innocent rage of alpha male dominance! Haha but I'm happy to hear that! I plan on doing minimal marketing. My hope is the gym will speak for, and sell itself solely through word of mouth.

Congrats man!
luvu

im willing to pay a decent admission occasionally to come lift with all the big boys. i think this would be an AWESOME way to get my (and anyone else who has trouble) form in check with non douchebag second opinions and expert advice.

i always am looking for pointers or tips, but never know who you can trust or who is handing out good versus bad information at the local gym

Thanks man. Still hasnt set in lol
I agree man. At the commercial gyms you get a bunch of inexperienced idiots who buy some low grade test, let their egos blow up and give horrible advice. That or they stand around with their clique of friends mean mugging the rest of the gym

Good luck, my step dad and i where looking into opening a anytime fitness and for there franchise its a automatic 85,000 cash down, LA Fitness was 250,000 down. We where going to open a anytime fitness but he got called in to go back to iraq :(

Thanks man. I'm not looking to compete with places like that. If I was, I'd open something with the intentions on growing as fast as possible only to sell out to a big commercial gym like LA. The cost of equipment to open a commercial gym like that is unreal, not to mention the cost of the franchise itself. Any plans on opening something when he comes back?

A buddy opened a gym and couldn't keep the doors open. It was even right where you want to open it. It was Oasis Gym. Be smart with your money's sir.

Yea probley a anytime fitness in the fountain hills area. The owner of the anytime fitness in my area (chandler) opened up about 6 months ago and she said its a little slow right now and will not start to profit for another 6 months with how slow it is, but theres also 4 other gyms within a 5car mile radius lol

5 mile radius

I'm not stressing too bad. This is more of a place for serious lifters to go and escape the headache/lack of equipment of normal gyms. That in itself is an extremely small demographic. I'm way too busy with pest control anyways to worry about profits. If I have enough members to break even every month I'm happy.
Right on man. Theres a gym in fountain hills I bought some equipment from right behind the fountain. Other than that one, there aren't many other gyms/fitness clubs out there. Cool thing about that area is the people that live their;it's all about status. If you charge $60 a month, they'll pay it just so they can say they are a member to your high class fitness center. Only downside is it'll be a hefty amount of money down if you don't finance equipment(gotta have "pretty" shit). If I had more money, I'd open a womens only gym(imagine if curves and planet bitchness had a baby). I'd special order all the equipment in pink, cardio equipment and tvs out the ass, and low monthly payments. I'd even go as far as having a small cafe at the front for them to hang out. 9/10 people will only go a few times before giving up.

1. Regarding leg presses. Would a press on rollers vs bearing make or break you joining a gym? Would you be opposed to a hack squat/leg press combo unit?

wouldnt matter in my opinion, there are not a lot of gym members who would even know the difference. I personally like the hack squat machine just because it has given me the ability to increase my squat weight as well as confidence with squatting.

2. I currently have a set of ivanko dumbbells in increments of 2.5 from 5-25, and increments of 5 from 25 to 50. I plan on going in increments of 10 from 50 up to 150. How would you feel about this as a lifter looking into a new gym?

the more dumbbells the better one of the biggest reasons I go to the gym I go to is the amount of dumbbells where I live it is the only gym that goes over 120lbs

3. Regarding ham machines. What do you guys find to be most effective/prefer? Seated leg curl, lying leg curl, or a glute ham developer?

Personally like the seated leg curl but it wouldn't make a difference

aside from all your questions there is one very important question you need to ask yourself. as I know the gym owners and talk with them on a regular basis on business and how they operate. one of the biggest hurdles was:

How are you going to afford the insurance for this place?
a gym is a very pricey thing to insure because the risk of injury is so great my gym owner told me without joining a corporation he would not have been able to afford the insurance. the group rate discount he got is what made it worth his while to be a anytime fitness

Appreciate the input man. Once I have all the equipment, I'm going to sit down and look at that aspect. I own a pest control company right, so the building I lease will be write off. The plan is to lease the building, use a room as an office for the pest company, and lease the rest of the space to the gym for a very small monthly fee. By doing this my fiancee or I will be there from 8-5 to run the pest side and/or show the gym. I plan on keeping it very small and low key, with members consisting of friends, friends of friends etc. who sign a waiver. By doing this I can get away with just general liability since I know who will be using it (and hope no one cleans me out lol). Since it will be open 24 hours, I won't have to pay anyone to be there from open to close and any trainers will be independently contracted and responsible for their own insurance.

Off topic, but you live in Prescott right?

That could actually work, the only thing I would do if I was you is have a lawyer write your waiver. Yea I live in Prescott.

Thats exactly the plan. Which gym do you go to? I went to, what used to be, Freedom Fitness about 5 years ago. Then a few years later I joined Victory until I moved back down to Phoenix

I toured freedom fitness and worked out at victory now I work out at anytime fitness.

Do you know why victory closed? I wanted to eventually move back up there solely because of that gym, then I drove by and the sign was gone:thumbsdown:

I wasn't a fan of that gym, they didn't have much to work with. They did not have enough members

This is perfect! My friend and I have talked about finding a gym just like this and I live your ideal location. When you open, I will bring several people to your gym.

1. If possible 5lbs increments would be desirable up to 100

2. I prefer the lying leg curls