How to open a fitness club

Consider a working business model of owning a fitness club from scratch. Effective and recommendations on how to open your own gym from scratch. So, here are tips for opening a fitness club and its proper organization. And now let's move on to the question of how much it costs to open a fitness club from scratch.

We place the necessary equipment for the gym correctly .. We will find out with you whether it is profitable to open a fitness club and how to do it with a minimum of costs ...

Now it has become very fashionable to visit gyms and fitness centers. This can be seen from the results of marketing research and the experience of entrepreneurs that have opened the relevant areas in this business. Entrepreneurial activity in this area is not yet fully saturated, and the forecasts will be promising, at least another 10 years. Unfortunately, not all fitness clubs manage to survive, but only those where the business was correctly and adequately organized, with a comparison of all probable risks and opportunities.

The documents

We look at the list of what documents are needed to open a fitness club from scratch.

Serious problems should not arise with the preparation of documentation for registering a fitness club, here is the set and procedure for obtaining documents are standard:
Select OKVED codes and indicate them: 93.04 Physical culture and recreational activities, 92.62 Other activities in the field of sports, 92.61 activities of sports facilities. If in the future you plan to expand the range of services offered, for example, you will begin to offer services offered by beauty salons, such as a solarium, massage services, manicure and more, then you need to specify all the necessary OKVED codes in advance.
Choose and register a legal form with the tax office. For the first time, it will be a convenient option to register an individual entrepreneur in order to use the simplest taxation system.
Obtain permission from Rospotrebnadzor. There you must present a contract for the maintenance of the air conditioning and ventilation system. As well as an agreement for the maintenance of the housing office, for allowing the disposal of lamps, an agreement for the availability of medical books for employees who need them, a passport for a sports institution and a PPC.

Room selection

The premises for a fitness club is one of the most important stages of the opening, the success of the activity itself will largely depend on it. If you plan to open a club in a mini-format (you need a room for a fitness club with an area that does not exceed 150 sq.m.), then you can use your own room, and not rent it. Because otherwise, the possibility of ruining the enterprise will greatly increase. Even if we assume that your club will be visited by 30 to 50 people every day, who will pay $ 5 each (for a fitness club of this level, the price should not be raised higher). Then after you pay the rent and pay the salary of the hired staff, your profit, if any, will be very small. Gyms in a mini format are most profitable to open in residential areas, and if possible, then in those places where the local population most often travels to transport stops and home.

For large fitness clubs, paying rent will not be so expensive, because they give a fairly high profit. Their large areas allow you to place a significant number of people inside and will allow you to provide many more services and a variety of programs. They look more presentable, equipped with the most modern and expensive equipment, which will allow you to set high prices, since your calculation will be made on a respectable clientele, as a result, you can get much higher profit from this. The best place to open a large fitness center is in the central part of a residential area with a large number of residents. Large shopping centers are also good for large gyms.

When you choose a suitable room for a fitness club, you must take into account the size and term of the rent. The approximate range of prices for renting premises ranges from 30 to 90 USD. for one meter. Naturally, you should look for a room for which the rent will be located at the lower price level. The term of the lease agreement must be concluded for at least five years, considering this period as the latest payback period for invested funds.

Interior

With the usual and simplest layout, the interior of a fitness club should look like this:

reception desk;
a separate room for staff and administration of the club;
men's and women's locker rooms;
gym (with the calculation of 5 sq. m per client);
a hall for aerobics and fitness, also a dance hall (3 sq. m per instructor and another 2 sq. m per person);
latrines;

The area of \u200b\u200bthe fitness club premises must be calculated from the estimated number of clientele. Do not rent an area less than 150 sq.m. otherwise, there is a possibility of loss. If you plan to further expand the range of services, then you should foresee and consider the possibilities for a possible extension, or renting additional space.

For the fitness club to work well, it is necessary to provide air exchange to the premises, as well as to ensure an appropriate level of humidity in order to organize comfortable conditions for visitors. The best temperature in the gym is considered to be 16-18 degrees, and in the locker room - 22-25 degrees. Fresh air must be supplied to the room at least 80 cubic meters. m per hour per person, and the humidity should be about 40 - 60 percent.

All data of this kind are calculated in advance by building codes. It follows that the best option would be to use a supply and exhaust ventilation system, where independent temperature control is possible. The floor in the gym must be covered with a rubber coating.

Necessary equipment

When choosing sports equipment for a gym (fitness club), the needs of customers should be taken into account when training all muscle groups. Naturally, the more desires your gym satisfies, the more clients will come to exercise. The minimum set of professional gym equipment that will suit each client:

2 treadmills;
elliptical trainer;
1 board for bench press
1 board for incline bench press;
squats need a rack (for deadlift);
a machine for doing leg presses;
a simulator with free weights for flexion and extension of the legs (it will be expensive to use block simulators, plus they are large in size);
set press, horizontal bar, bars;
Smith machine;
inclined benches for the press;
short neck;
bench with tilt adjustment (in order to perform various types of bench press);
horizontal bench (it is used to perform sit-ups for biceps and bench press). Its purpose is to prevent overloading on the benches for the bench;
a set of dumbbells;
3 Olympic barbells (two that should be on the bench press racks, and the third on the squat rack);
scott bench;
three sets of pancakes, which will be better used with handles, because they are more comfortable;
4 sets of step platforms;
at least four yoga mats;
two fitballs;
EZ-neck and 1 Z-neck with a landing sleeve;
two weightlifting belts;

This is the whole set of necessary equipment that will suit every average client. This set has everything you need for a good workout.

Interesting tips on what not to buy for a minimum gym set.

It is not recommended to buy butterflies, as it is not very useful, because most often it is used only out of curiosity. This machine is completely useless for the gym, especially when there is little space and the budget is not very large. It is also not recommended to buy a crossover, despite the fact that it is good in its functions, but still it is too expensive and it will also take up too much space. If you complete the minimum set, you can safely not buy it, because it is also not popular among visitors to gyms. The absence of this simulator is unlikely to be noticed by anyone.

If there's room left in the room...

In this case, you can buy a machine to perform hack squats. You can also buy a rack in order to perform bench presses. Because the bench press is one of the most popular exercises in the gym community, and it will be a better choice than any fantastic block machine. You can also buy one power rack and one squat rack.

Additional equipment in the gyms

You should describe what professional and sports equipment you need to make your gym look more attractive and more diverse. Of course, it should not have a high price and large dimensions. If you purchase such equipment, then your club will be considered one of the most highly professional clubs.

Rubber loops. Today it is considered very fashionable equipment for strength and functional training. They gained great popularity due to the Louis Simons technique. Rubber loops are indispensable attributes when performing ballistic training and for training aimed at restoring the body. They also increase the load level when doing the bench press and deadlift. If you have a kit in your club (its cost is about 20 thousand rubles), then you will become a real professional in the eyes of customers, even if they do not know what they are used for. It is worth considering that in order to attach these rubber bands, special pins are needed on the load frame and on the rack.
Chains. The load from their use, as well as when using rubber bands, is aimed at strengthening it in the upper part of the amplitude. They have been used for a long time, since the days of the USSR. Their price is not too high, but the effect will be good for all visitors to your gym. The presence of such chains will definitely increase consumer demand, creating the effect - "in this room they know exactly how to pump up properly."
Platform. One of his appearance already he looks very impressive. On the platform it is convenient to do deadlift exercises, kettlebells, snatches and squats. In addition to the appearance, it will also help not to destroy the floors when performing deadlifts. Since you rarely see such a simulator in the gyms, it will make your gym plus where it is present, there is an effect that this is a professional gym and almost the Olympic Games are held here. For comfort, you can order welding of a horn with a lever to hook a barbell onto it. This will help relieve discomfort from the barbell with pancakes.
Plinths. These are stands that are used to perform exercises called "deadlift on plinths." This small little thing can help entice any powerlifter.
Diamond neck. Its purpose is to perform deadlift. The diamond-shaped neck has a natural grip that makes it very comfortable to use.
Squat box. It's hard to think of something simpler than this device. At first glance, this is the most common box on which you need to sit down, and then get up. But it is designed to exit from the lower amplitude. It is considered a very delicate detail in gyms.
The board used to perform the bench press. It looks like an ordinary thick bar and is designed to work on the upper amplitude. It will be very inconvenient to carry such a board in your bag, so if it is in your gym, it will make them very happy. Moreover, this is the cheapest subtlety of the equipment in the gym.
Neck trainer. Now it is a very popular device. Many people want to pump up their neck, and this device can work it out perfectly. It is extremely rare nowadays.
Gymnastic rings. They are designed to perform gymnastic exercises and they are also effective in performing functional training exercises. With the help of gymnastic rings, you can do a large number of exercises. The most popular is push-ups on the rings. This exercise is good for developing chest muscles. In comparison with the bars, it does not contribute to eversion of the wrist joints (it is natural for building the human skeleton).
Weighting belt. It is used when performing pull-ups to increase weight, as well as push-ups on bars and rings. Today it is in great demand.
Armwrestling table and armlifting bar. The fashion for strong male hands will never go away, which is why armwrestling and armlifting are very popular now. There are very few places where potential clients have the opportunity to train their grip strength, so if you have such a table in your gym, you will be able to compete at a high level with the rest of the gyms. Many more people want to pump up their forearms;
Finger;
Pinch grip trainer;
Finger ball;
Expanders Captain crash 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4;

If you have an arm wrestling table, it will attract visitors who like to measure their strength. It will also give a competitive edge to your gym. Such wrestling is now popular, but not all gyms have such tables. Additional equipment for working out the hands and an arm wrestling table will be able to attract new customers to your gym. If funds allow, you can open a spa salon nearby.

How to arrange equipment

In order to approximately calculate the location of the fitness club equipment in the room you have chosen, you can use the services of an online service. It is fully described in English and it should be noted that all marked distances are in feet.

It would also be good to study planning samples in foreign fitness clubs with an example of the use of legend-fintes equipment, which is considered professional: http://www.legendfitness.com/clientele_showcase.aspx, there is nothing useless on the pages of the site. Both the equipment itself and the layout scheme itself are worthy of respect. Here are a few examples: Gym n, which is located in Houston "CESPerformanceHuston". Be sure to pay attention to the number of power frames. At the same time, each power frame stands with a platform (we have one frame that costs about 300 thousand rubles). You will also notice the presence of ribbons and chains, as well as diamond-shaped necks according to the plan. You will see that pancakes are located nearby on suitable carts.

In order to perform bench press exercises in this room there are three horizontal and one more vertical bench. Behind the racks are two leg press machines and one more hack machine. Next to the dumbbells is a multi-block system in order to perform traction and crossover. Along the walls are rows of dumbbells. It can be seen that this gym has everything you need, and at the same time there is enough free space. This diagram is one of the most successful, it shows the location of the equipment that is used for the most professional gyms.

How much does it cost to open a club

Naturally, the most common question when you want to open your own business is the question: “How much does it cost to open a fitness club?”. The amount can be about tens and reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, but of course, it all depends on the initial goal. For example, a typical fitness club, with standard equipment and an economical design plan, will cost about $100,000. But the profit from them is higher, according to statistics, they can bring an income of about 15 thousand USD. e per month, which is not bad, given that investments will only be needed to open an institution.