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some good ole power lifting / olympic lifting / strong man / body building , videos projected on the walls. Just wall to walls of strong big ass lifters killin it.

lol, thanks for the ideas...I had tossed around the idea of having a seperate room to kind of hang out and maybe cool down in, but largely to keep kids there to keep them out of trouble, as like I said, I intend to work largely towards youth development, and not just in terms of muscular development. It works.

Doc, feel free to message me, I'll shoot you my info as long as you promise not to be my competition in the near future, lol. I'll give you an old school exrx network discount. ;) You've been around and posting since I first started posting on here several years ago when I was early in my sentence. Definitely have a lot of respect for you, Ironman, Hoose, and a handful of others that have been feeding my appetite for learning how to grow and teach others to grow. I definitely have images of the old school lifters, not just bodybuilders like the obvious arnold, franco, and that kind of thing, but the less glamorized guys who are very worthy of aspriring to reach their levels. Guys like Marshall Johnson who recently did an event to help and entertain kids with disabilities.

Anyway, keep the ideas coming, I'm keeping track and the gears are turning upstairs.

My concern is that 10,000 feet is a lot of space and the rent is probably high. That's going to take a lot of income in order to make it work. a half dozen guys flipping tires isn't going to pay for that much space.

My wish list:
Prowlers, atlas stones, tire to flip and hit with hammers, farmers walk implements, log presses, several squat racks and lifting platforms, benches, but no more than one per lifting area. Lots of plates of all sizes. Kettle bells of all sizes.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Stu, I'm looking to buy the building, not lease it, and I've been working my ass off to make sure I have the money to make it happen, I know what it's going to cost me to operate, including averaged water/electricity bills to compare, as this one is about the same size as i would be operating, what federal taxes I'm going to have to pay for L&I, SSI, etc for my employees, estimated insurance, property taxes, and so on and so forth. i've also done my best to create realistic and conservative income projections based on gyms in areas similar to mine based on demographic, my area, competing gyms in the area, etc. I didn't just wake up this morning and think, "it would be nice to own a gym," lol. I've been planning and saving for this, as well as buying equipment periodically, setting it up at my house for now and training for my competitions that I plan to use to circulate the gym name and lend me some credibility in the lifting community. So as far as the business aspect of it goes, I've got that covered, I'm just looking for as many ideas as I can, as while I have a vision in my head of what I'm looking for, my perspective is limited to what I know, and I'm always looking to grow, and I've found that asking the right questions to the right people help me to develop ideas and do just that.

Sorry, it's the accountant in me coming out. Are you looking at just strength sport stuff, or are you looking using part of the space for general fitness, martial arts, etc? It seems to me that they can generate more cash/square foot and might offset some of your overhead, especially if you have a partner to run them.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

I might have given the wrong impression about my idea.
I didn't mean a "social club", but a place where you can go to sit and relax before they go home.
And by selling all kinds of stuff, your members (and others) will come to you for everything they need regarding weightlifting => more income.

And they'll make publicity for you more easily that way.

don't lie, you wanted somewhere you could sit and drink a frappucino and twirl your ironic moustache

That's a good question stu. The manager at my former gym said they generated more income from people joining for the group exercise classes than for the actual "gym."

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Thanks TimD.

I go to the gym every day and rarely see more than 6 people in it at a time. The cardio studio will be full. A Zumba or yoga class could have 30-50 people all paying $5 a visit, then they're gone after an hour. An MMA club near my home has a couple of rings, each with 2 guys in them. Then they have about 10-20 people on mats doing kick boxing classes for the exercise. The rings are essential for the guys that compete but it's the classes that are paying the bills.

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

For the aerobic section, a hand cycle machine. It addressses both people with disabilities, people with leg/foot temporary injuries, and those - like me - who are tired of the aerobic foot work and look for some variance. My experience shows you can get to high HR with these machines, yet for some reason most gyms don't have them.

whoa, let me stop you there.

Aerobics:

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Yeah, alright
Just no spandex and disco music, or steps that hold 200 lbs only

No machines. It would be soooo cool to walk into a gym and see no machines. Except the coffee maker.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

I hope I didn't stumble on a forum taboo. You guys go to gyms that don't have aerobic section?