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Anonymous
Hello /fit/

I'm thinking about opening a gym. Just a small, maybe 5000 sq. foot operation.

I want the place to look nice, and I've noticed that probably the nicest looking machines are the Nautilus One machines(pic related). Any nicer looking ones?
What machines are the must haves for a small gym?

Also, small town, so no big (Gold's Gym, Bally, etc.) competition.
>> Anonymous
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you probably DON'T want to get business advice from 4chan.
>> Anonymous
>>20187
Not really asking for business advice, just want to know what are the most used machines in a gym.
>> Anonymous
I was considering doing some research into
human->electricity conversions, then creating a business around it. I figure, if I can feed enough energy into the power grid via the local power distributer, theres a whole bunch of tax write offs that could be passed through congress, plus the notion of combating coal usage around my area.

Theres a bunch of ways you can convert kinetic energy into electricity, its just a matter of applying it to a gym. Instead of artificial resistance, the resistance comes from spinning turbines and such.
>> Anonymous
>>20206
I got this idea from the superbowl btw, they had like 30 bikers provide enough power for the first 30 minutes of the show.
>> Anonymous
if i were to open a gym, it would have zero machines...just free weights.
>> Anonymous
>>20210
Yeah, I saw that.
Thing is, if word got out that this small local gym was running part of the power grid for xx hours of the day, my gym would be flooded with hippies and tree huggers and liberals and all sorts of rubbish I don't want in my establishment.
>> Anonymous
>>20193
PROTIP: The whole trick to making money off of a gym is getting people to sign contracts and then NOT come. Customers who come in and use all your shiny machines put expensive wear on them.

Whether the machines are useful or used is irrelevant. You want attractive machines that SEEM useful.
>> Anonymous
>>20216
lol, instead of a treadmill, there would be huge wheels to run on.
>> Anonymous
>>20218
No, to attract customers I would have a 2 tier system. Tier 1 is contracted clients, who pay less per month and have towel service included and tier 2 is month-by-month system and would have to pay extra for towels.

Also, those machines seem pretty friggin badass.

>>20215
Would only attract hard-core fitness types, I'd be losing the whole demographic of the casual gym goer.
>> Anonymous
>>20237
Crossfit has an entire business plan centered around catering only to hardcore fitness types. Their gyms, usually small operations, do pretty well by promoting themselves to the law enforcement community.
>> Anonymous
Hot trainers.
>> Anonymous
>>20272
That's an obvious must.
Also easy to come by.
>> Anonymous
>>20128
two quality squat racks.

one power rack with one inch drillings for the pins.

as many benches as you can afford. at least 3.

lots of plates.

two multi-purpose cable stations. you know, two stacks of wieghts with cables for crossovers and shit, lateral pull down station and cable row station.

sundry odd cable stations.

couple of row machines, couple of treadmills for the faggots.

leg press station.

that's already a lot of fucking money. that power rack will fuck with your bank balance.
>> Anonymous
>>20293
lol at bias towards rowing machine.

Sucks my gym doesn't have one, they have something similar to a rower, but its definitely not a rower, so I choose the treadmill.
>> Anonymous
>>20299
well,they're okay. i meant more that treadmills were for faggots. non-functuinal running for the win.
>> Anonymous
forget nice looking machines.

parts fall off of them. most new gyms have crappy equipment.

you should go for classic simple white steel equipment that won't fall apart. it'll last for years.

i hate going to a gym that has shit equipment because they wanted the gym to look like a SPACESHIP.
>> Anonymous
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>>20320

Agreed.
And make sure you're trainers are there to motivate, not just stand there and tell you you're doing alright. That's a fucking easy way to lose customers.

One day I'm going to open up my own gym, it's pretty much going to have everything you need in order to work on explosive strength.
Like a boxing gym without the boxing ring.

Punching bags, chin up bars, free weights falling out your pockets, treadmills, and it's going to encourage a lot of free-weight training with added resistance i.e Weighted Vests (For pull ups, push ups), Ankle and Wrist weights for skipping, Weighted belts for dip machines, hell you can even use all of the above for trainign on the treadmill.
>> Anonymous
5 benches, 2 squat racks, 1 seated scott curl thing, cable machine with multiple purposes (i.e. chins), dips handles, reverse crunch aperatus, lots of dumbbells, LOTS of plates, 4 treadmills, cable rowing machines, leg press machine
>> Van !!+Cz9q2JiXIs
No anti-grunting rules. You keep the little pansies out of my gym and I'll be happy
>> Anonymous
>>20395
Exactly. For the love of god, do not make up the bulk of your gym with fucking nautilus machines (or any other machines for that matter). The people who come there to actually workout out will appreciate it.
>> Anonymous
>>20397
Erm... anti-grunting rules? Damn man were you screaming at passing children or something? Seriously, roid rage only goes so far as an excuse for acting like a dipshit.
>> Norw
>>20541
you have obviously not lifted hard in your life... and there are mcgyms with a no tolerance for grunting...
>> Anonymous
>>20555
grunting is one thing...yelling is another.

no rules tho. Their humiliation should be enough
>> Anonymous
>>20600
ditto. humiliation is enough.
>> Anonymous
>>20541


Some shitty gyms that cater to bitches and fags have ridiculous rules regarding grunting. One of my friends was seriously making barely audible grunts the time I went with him to the gym he used to go to, and we got kicked out.
>> Anonymous
Just cover the anti-grunting thing with a "be polite and act like human beings" rule. The only time I've ever seen anyone actually be a problem grunter was one dude who came in for a day on a pass from a nearby hotel, who would yell "FUUUUCK" with every single bench press. Fine when you're at home, but at a family gym, probably not so ok. He wound up getting the boot 'cause he wouldn't stop.
>> Anonymous
Also, on the rules tip, please, please, please ban cell phones from the weight floor and cardio area. Nothing bothers me so much at the gym as listening to some bitch yapping on a cell phone for an hour while doing 5lb curls. Not to mention endless musical ring tones.
>> Anonymous
The only rule at the gym I go to is no chalk. It's not even enforced though because a few guys come in with their cups of chalk and never get talked to about it. I've been guilty of it a few times as well too though when I need a little extra grip. I hate using gloves and wrist-straps are awkward to use sometimes. The no grunting thing sounds retarded. As long as a persons not yelling it should be cool.

Essentially the gym I go to is fairly big and has a lot of stuff. Compressed air machines, regular machines, hammer strength free weight machines, all your usual racks and a lot of pulley weight apparatus's. The place makes a fucking tonne of money. Their Cardio room has like 20 treadmills, 10 bikes, and 20 elliptical machines too. It's just a local gym too and it's not a chain.
>> Sabby !!J9oxJsHtaZJ
>>20616
Ugh, don't remind me about that shit. Some dude's cellphone kept going off "CUT MY LIFE INTO PIECES, THIS IS MY LAST RESORT!" He was avoiding the call, but the person kept calling. PUT THE FUCKER ON SILENT
Also, I love the YMCA but I hate how old people just SIT at the machines (not that I use them anymore) Sometimes, younger people do it too; like dudes who are watching their friends bench/do free weights will take up the benches. They need to enforce a "no resting on the benches rule."
>> Anonymous
I work at Sears, Nordic Track is a pretty damn good for Treadmills and Ellipticals and stuff, if you're looking for that, not extremely high priced either
>> Anonymous
>>20628

If you put a consumer grade cardio machine like a nordic track in a gym, it would last maybe a week.
>> Anonymous
>>20626

Also the guys who somehow manage to use three flat benches at a time to do some weird ass home-made triangle-shaped dip exercise. Used to have a whole frat of kids at my old college gym who did that. They thought they were the hottest shit under the sun. Everyone else was laughing at them and pissed off.
>> Anonymous
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>>20609
Ah, wow, I have never experienced such faggotry with gym management. Yeah so long as they aren't being disruptive (read: pic related) then let'em make a little lifting noise. Now, the second people start screaming "YEAH BITCH" after a set is the second they should get the boot, but some hard breathing/lung control should be fine.