One of the biggest misconceptions most personal trainers have about opening their own gym is that it will be very expensive to get all of the equipment needed for training clients.
Fortunately, all you really need is some space with a bathroom - everything else is just a bonus.
When you first lease your gym, it will likely have nothing but concrete floors and brick walls.
There's no reason to buy carpet or gym flooring to cover the entire floor.
All you need to do is buy a few large pieces of cheap commercial carpet and arrange them to suit your training style.
Most gym exercises (squats, kettlebell swings, jumping rope, medicine ball movements) are actually better done on bare concrete, the carpet is just there to provide a bit of extra padding under exercise mats for floor exercises.
Once you have some flooring, the next thing you will need is a multi-functional training tool - something that can be used for many different exercises.
A selection of medicine balls (weighted rubber balls) will give you the option of:
When you are ready to start purchasing more training tools, remember to focus on the number of exercises you can get from the equipment: A chest press machine is good for only one exercise, while a suspension trainer (TRX, gymnastic rings) has a thousand different exercises at a fraction of the cost.
Kettlebells are a hot training tool, everyone has seen celebrities and athletes using kettlebells.
When you look at outfitting your gym, the slightly higher cost of a kettlebell compared to a dumbbell may scare you off initially...
but don't let it! A kettlebell can double as a dumbbell for basic strength training exercises, where a dumbbell can't be used as a kettlebell.
Your client's leg muscles won't know the difference between 30 pounds of kettlebell or 30 pounds of dumbbell, so a full set of kettlebells essentially gives you a full set of dumbbells as well.
The last piece of gym equipment you need is a selection of jump ropes.
Jump ropes are cheap, easily stored, and will give your clients a better workout than riding a stationary bike.
That's it! A few large pieces of carpet, a couple medicine balls, a row of kettlebells, and some jump ropes will allow you to train large groups of people in your gym...
and you can get everything for less than the cost of a treadmill!
Fortunately, all you really need is some space with a bathroom - everything else is just a bonus.
When you first lease your gym, it will likely have nothing but concrete floors and brick walls.
There's no reason to buy carpet or gym flooring to cover the entire floor.
All you need to do is buy a few large pieces of cheap commercial carpet and arrange them to suit your training style.
Most gym exercises (squats, kettlebell swings, jumping rope, medicine ball movements) are actually better done on bare concrete, the carpet is just there to provide a bit of extra padding under exercise mats for floor exercises.
Once you have some flooring, the next thing you will need is a multi-functional training tool - something that can be used for many different exercises.
A selection of medicine balls (weighted rubber balls) will give you the option of:
- holding the ball as a weight
- throwing the ball
- using the ball for balance exercises
- partner "sport specific" exercises
When you are ready to start purchasing more training tools, remember to focus on the number of exercises you can get from the equipment: A chest press machine is good for only one exercise, while a suspension trainer (TRX, gymnastic rings) has a thousand different exercises at a fraction of the cost.
Kettlebells are a hot training tool, everyone has seen celebrities and athletes using kettlebells.
When you look at outfitting your gym, the slightly higher cost of a kettlebell compared to a dumbbell may scare you off initially...
but don't let it! A kettlebell can double as a dumbbell for basic strength training exercises, where a dumbbell can't be used as a kettlebell.
Your client's leg muscles won't know the difference between 30 pounds of kettlebell or 30 pounds of dumbbell, so a full set of kettlebells essentially gives you a full set of dumbbells as well.
The last piece of gym equipment you need is a selection of jump ropes.
Jump ropes are cheap, easily stored, and will give your clients a better workout than riding a stationary bike.
That's it! A few large pieces of carpet, a couple medicine balls, a row of kettlebells, and some jump ropes will allow you to train large groups of people in your gym...
and you can get everything for less than the cost of a treadmill!