Why Your Gym's Equipment is Stopping Your Gym From Being Great

Gym Equipment is the cornerstone of a gym, whether you’re a small studio gym or a larger weight room this is 100% true and can’t be avoided. If your equipment is crap, then I’m going to be brutally honest, so is your gym. 

In my own anecdotal experience, it’s the gyms that you walk out into the parking lot and say “that was the best [insert body part here] workout”, or “that row machine was the best I’ve ever used!” That last quote is an exact quote from me in the parking lot of the World Gym in Rochester after I used their Prime Row machine for the first time. And for the next two years every time I was in Rochester, I used that gym. This showed me without a shadow of a doubt that good, updated, equipment makes members want to come back, pay the gym fee, and use your equipment. So, be competitive with your equipment.

Competitive equipment makes your gym easier to market. It attracts members who are willing to pay extra for good equipment. It attracts younger people, who see their favorite influencer, or bodybuilder, using these machines and now they want to use it as well, they want to look like their favorite fitness celebrity! You get bonus points for going the extra mile. For example, it pays being a gym in a small, youthful location if you invest in your equipment.

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My favorite gym in New York State is called Hercules in Syracuse. This gym is in a garage, next to a U-Haul store, there is nothing special about its location. However, when you go to the gym’s website they showcase their large amount of diverse, and modern, gym equipment via drone. Their community reflects that, serious gym goers who treat the gym and equipment well, and keep coming back for their membership fees. That gym has invested in their equipment and they are reaping the rewards of consistent membership. Every time I go there I happily drive forty-five minutes and pay the guest fee to use their equipment.

If you don’t think this is true, ask yourself, would you showcase your gym’s equipment on your social media or website? If the answer is no, you should begin investing in your gym’s equipment - not just to attract new members, but for your gym’s longevity.

To quote Brent Darden in a healthandfitness.org article:

“Member demands shift with the times, Reinvestment in equipment and facilities is an absolute necessity in the health and fitness business. The exercise environment we live in continues to be so dynamic and fluid that productive changes have to be taking place constantly.”

The fact of the matter is that we in the fitness industry are at the mercy of change and reinvention. Every year there’s a new fad diet, or some influencer exercise, that takes the world by storm. It’s true, we need to adapt. But, what will never change is that a press movement will work the chest and delts. 

However, we can give your members better ways of hitting the muscle. We can load the muscle in different ways like an incline prime press, or change the angle the quads go over the knees a la pendulum squat. If we’re not giving our members new, and more efficient ways to hit their goals, then they’ll find someone else who will. If you take anything away from this, please think about how you invest in your gym. Are you giving your members the best possible chance to achieve their goals, or did you just go on Facebook Marketplace and click buy?

Luckily, at Iron Workshop, we have you covered. We offer a wide variety of gym equipment at competitive prices and financing is available. If you’ve read this, shoot me an email at Ironworkshop.business@gmail.com to get a quote on equipment and marketing needs.