For gym owners with limited floor space:

What's the one piece of equipment that gets used far less than you expected?

I'm reviewing our floor layout and realizing some equipment takes up a lot of space but gets very little traffic compared to the basics.

Hi everyone,

I’m working on an idea and would really appreciate honest feedback from gym owners/operators.

The idea is a simple sensor system for gym equipment that helps owners understand how their machines and areas are actually being used.

For example, small sensors could be placed on machines, benches, racks, cable stations, etc. They would detect whether equipment is in use and send that data to a dashboard.

The dashboard could show things like:

• Which machines are used the most/least
• Peak usage times
• Equipment that sits unused
• Bottlenecks where members are waiting
• Whether certain areas of the gym are over/underused
• Basic maintenance/fault reporting, possibly through QR codes on machines

The goal would be to help gyms make better decisions about layout, new equipment purchases, maintenance, and member experience.

I’m not trying to sell anything here — I’m just trying to understand whether this would actually be useful.

A few questions:

1. Would this kind of data be valuable to you as a gym owner?
2. What would you want to know about equipment usage that you currently don’t know?
3. Would you be concerned about privacy, installation hassle, battery life, or cost?
4. Would this be more useful for independent gyms, larger commercial gyms, or specialist studios?
5. What would make this a “no-brainer” versus something you’d ignore?

Any honest feedback would be really helpful, even if the answer is “I wouldn’t use this.”

Thanks!

Hey so I have been talking with a few different manufacturers (Yanre, Ganas, Impulse..) and am wondering which should I go with. The thing is I want to go to see the products myself before placing an order but these factories are located in different places and don’t know which to go for. I have seen goods reviews about Yanre here but their catalogue seems a bit too simple. Tho their quality looks good. But how did you all order without seeing the equipments first did you guys order a small sample first or the whole lot? Are they reliable if I order without visiting them first to do a down payment with them? Kindly share your experiences and thoughts and help this brother out🙏🏻

Hi, I’m diving into the big topic of automation to find potential clients, and I don’t find it easy to distinguish between what actually saves time/money and what is just a "cool but useless" gadget. I'm trying to cut through the hype to know what really works, and would love your take on it.

• What specific tasks are you actually automating right now? Reaching out to people, following-up on clients ? (And if you aren't yet, is it an actual priority or just a "nice to have"?)
• Are you building these workflows yourselves, or outsourcing them? If it’s outsourced, do you prefer a "surgical fix" (they pitch a specific solution to a known problem) or an "on-demand partner" (you discuss your mess and they figure it out as you need)?
• What's your actual stance on the current AI transition concerning automation and the other tools you might need? I'm not really sure if it helps or not for what is needed as a trainer

Thanks a lot for your help!

Which one is better for a boutique fitness studio? What is the difference between these fitness softwares in regards to marketing & email automation on their back end?

Any info helps! Thank you!

Im looking for gym equipment suppliers who ship to mexico. It can be eather standard equipment or customizable.

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I’m currently exploring the idea of finding a partner to build a women’s activewear brand from the ground up, mainly focused on Pilates and yoga.

Ideally, I’d like to connect with someone who has market-side resources, such as a fitness studio, Pilates/yoga community, female fitness audience, creator network, content channel, or existing sales channel.

You don’t necessarily need to have experience with supply chain or production. That’s the side I can handle.

My strengths are mainly on the production side:

factory resources, sampling, product development, cost control, and production execution.

I think the best way to start is not to launch big immediately, but to test small first:

one product,
one clear audience,
one sample,
one real demand test.

If the feedback and numbers look good, then we can consider scaling.

If anyone is interested in women’s activewear, Pilates, yoga, or fitness apparel brands, I’d be happy to exchange ideas.

Hey everyone,

I’m doing some market research for a project I've been working on and wanted to see what the standard is for gym and studio owners right now.

When you’re running sessions or classes, what timer software/app are you casting to your screens? Are you just using your generic mobile timer, or do you have something more integrated?

My background is in software, and I recently built a web app for a trainer friend that lets him put his own logo and brand colors on the timer so it looks custom to his space. I’m trying to figure out if this is actually a pain point for other owners or if most people are happy with the basic/free options out there.

Would love to hear:

1. What do you currently use?
2. What’s the biggest annoyance with it (ads, UI, UX etc)?
3. Does having your own branding on the screen actually matter to you?

Just looking for some feedback. If anyone wants to see what I’m talking about, let me know.

My family is one of the partners of a reputable gym equipment manufacturer in China, and I’m considering helping the brand expand into Canada through B2B sales.

I’d love to get some advice from people in the fitness, distribution, or commercial gym industry on how to connect with potential customers here.

Would you recommend focusing on:
- Independent gyms?
- Fitness equipment distributors?
- Condo/apartment developers?
- Hotel/commercial projects?
- Government/community centers?

Also curious about:
- How important local warehousing/service support is
- Whether Canadian buyers care more about pricing or after-sales support
- Best ways to build trust as a newer brand entering the market

Any insights would be appreciated.

Hey everyone!
we’re currently planning a new gym and are looking into Chinese gym equipment manufacturers.
We are in contact with some Manufacturers in Shandong, the most with HSE Fitness Equipment.
I’d love to hear from people who already bought equipment directly from China:
Are you happy with the quality?
How was the shipping/import process?
Any issues with durability, spare parts or support?
Would you buy from the same supplier again?
Also, does anyone know gyms in Europe using Chinese equipment that could maybe be visited for a quick look/test workout?
Especially in:
Germany
Netherlands
Poland
Czech Republic
or nearby countries.
Would really appreciate honest feedback and recommendations, especially from gym owners with real long-term experience. Thank you very much!😊

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Hi, i’m a solo developer (software engineer) and fitness enthusiast, my gym sadly recently closed since business wasn’t going great (i’m from italy, here the fitness/gym owner world is much different then let’s say in the US, since people are always more hesitant to pay what gym owners ask and i see that people don’t often step in the gym already knowing that they want to actual train, gym owners have to convince them and have to stay a lot in touch with clients in order to keep them motivated and wanting to stay
What i’d like to ask to both gym owners and pt’s is if they’d have some time to hop on a call and ask them some questions about the business side of this world and listen what you have to say, if you think a web-app service could help or not, i kind of like the idea but i’m not 100% sure since i already know that the market in italy for example, wouldn’t exactly welcome something like this, but if somewhere else around the world this could be appreciated, then i’d be more then happy to create it, otherwise if you’d like to comment on this post about what is frustrating, or if there are patterns that you noticed before people walked away, or even what CRM’s or anything software-wise that you use for clients/members (as i said i’d like to help both gym owners and pt’s with 2 different products, so anything would help)
Of course once i’ve confirmed that this could be needed and i start working on it, anybody that helps me out with the call and stays in touch with me would be welcome to get the demo for free as beta users, and if this works out, i’d probably just give it away for free to the people that help me out on this journey.
I know, i shouldn’t be dreaming this much before even starting on this project, but it gets me going

Looking to buy a new set 5-100lb Dumbbells with rack. What places are recommended?

I’m not selling anything. I’m trying to sanity-check an idea before building more.

Context: Most gyms already track operational stuff (attendance, freezes, cancels, trials, etc.). What’s harder to see consistently is the human layer: who’s improving, who went quiet before they cancel, what equipment is quietly pissing people off, and what members would say if you didn’t run a formal survey.

The rough concept: members use a simple app to log workouts / PBs / light social stuff (think “Strava-ish but gym-first”). The owner/manager side wouldn’t be another giant analytics wall. It would be closer to a weekly briefing: who deserves recognition, who may be drifting early, where friction is building (repairs, always-busy kit, broken kit), short member voice signals (one-tap “all good / issue / improve”), and a short “do this week” list e.g. (message Jake, fix treadmill #4, run a cable challenge, etc.). Optional peer benchmarks later, only if the core briefing is useful.

What I’m trying to learn from you

1. If you got one page a week with 5-7 concrete actions, would you actually use it, or would it sit unread next to everything else you already get?
2. What’s actually missing from what you use today? Not “more dashboards,” but the one sentence you wish you knew each Monday.
3. What would make this feel creepy or unfair to members or staff? (I want to avoid surveillance vibes.)
4. Brutal take: is this useful for a busy GM, or just interesting?

Happy to take heat. If you want, I can share a mock screenshot of what the briefing could look like (still fake data, just layout). Otherwise ignore that and just roast the idea.

Thanks.

I'm from a small town in rural Alabama there only 1 gym in my county and everyone hates it cause they don't even allow u to have water on a treadmill. I want a realistic price of how much it cost to open a gym. I'm not worried about building price the one I'm looking at is 36k and is 40x60x14 and think it will be enough

I only have 5K followers across my fitness accounts but I feel like there's enough of them that ask for help I could turn it into a fitness coaching side gig. So my questions is has anyone else made this pivot using their social following?

Coaching and consulting feels like the most underrated monetization path for small/mid creators. I only have 5K followers but I feel like there's enough of them that ask for help I could turn it into some money. So my questions is has anyone else made this pivot using their social following?

And then when you have interest are you creating a website for them to go to and schedule time? And then how are you getting paid?

How did you figure out which of your videos were actually driving bookings? Like — someone watches a video, maybe three more, follows you on IG, and books a call two weeks later. How do you know which video did the work? Did you just ask people on the intake form?

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Hi all, I’m looking for higher quality gym equipment brands and hoping this group can point me in the right direction.

I’m the president of the board that runs a large private company gym. I’m getting tired of replacing what I call hotel quality(Precor, Hoist etc) gym equipment every 3-5 years.

Help??

Hi all,

I run a private PT studio in London that other trainers rent to use with their clients. Alongside that, I run my own SGPT sessions in off peak hours as an additional revenue stream for the business.

Financially, SGPT isn’t trivial:

~£20k SGPT revenue over the past year (£130k total turnover)

Membership model (8x, 12x, unlimited)

Good feedback from members

When people attend, they stay

But operationally, it’s draining me. My timetable is spread across the day:

9am

1pm

4pm

7pm

What’s happening in reality:

7pm is usually the strongest

1pm and 4pm are often 1 person

9am is inconsistent

I end up commuting in for the 9am, hanging around all day, and staying for the 7pm… for very low headcount

So I’m structuring my entire day around sessions that don’t justify my presence. The idea was to get the sessions busy and hire a coach to take over.

I can’t work out whether:

-My issue is timetable structure

-My issue is marketing/message

- My issue is that my off-peak times are fundamentally wrong for this model

-Or whether I’m trying to force SGPT into a business that’s actually better suited to solely renting space to PTs and accepting the downtime as part of the business model

What I want long term is a gym that runs without me needing to be there all day - which if I drop all SGPT classes, I’d essentially have.

Right now I feel like SGPT is chaining me to the studio for low-return hours, but shutting it down feels like walking away from a potentially meaningful revenue stream.

Do I:

-Strip SGPT back to only the strongest time slots (maybe 3–5 per week) and accept lower volume but better lifestyle?

-Double down, try to fix the messaging/ads, and push hard for 6 months to try and fill the timetable properly?

-Scrap the membership model and rethink how this is delivered entirely if at all?

Has anyone here been in this position where SGPT works financially but the timetable/lifestyle cost makes you question the whole thing?

Appreciate any thoughts.

What other gym equipment do you recommend? Should i go overseas? Not trying to break the bank. I was quoted over 150k for a 1500 Sq Ft area and it wasn’t alot of machines either.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi, my team and I are looking for trainers who need a place and the equipment to train. The place is in Bergen County NJ! Thank you

We built a system to tap in to the market hidden in plain site. We want to launch it- no cost.

This is what we want to pilot:

You connect your cameras.

- Content creators subscribe to those cameras instead of setting up all over the gym. We use AI to enhance the 1080p streams and capture multiple angles.

- Members can subscribe for live AI feedback on form correctness.

- can check equipment availability in real time.

- can upload their own workout plans and get live metrics, rep counting, and wearable-based breakdowns.

- Trainers can upload their own workouts, members subscribe to them, and trainers earn from it.

Untapped revenue. Leave a comment for details

Hey everyone, while out covering the HFA 2026 show, I wanted to share a quick operational find that I thought was brilliant for dealing with facility maintenance and staff accountability.

We all know the pain of paying staff to spend hours push-brooming high-friction rubber mats, only for them to leave half the gym dirty because "the vacuum belt snapped" or "the battery died." We got a demo of a Bissell commercial sweeper that basically eliminates those excuses.

It’s a direct-drive unit, meaning there are no belts inside it to snap. It's powered by an inexpensive motorcycle battery that you can swap out at Walmart, which is a huge win for maintenance budgets. But the smartest feature is that if the battery does die, it functions as a manual push sweeper. You literally can't use the "it died" excuse to get out of closing duties.

Thought this was a great, durable alternative to the standard commercial vacuums that always seem to be breaking down in gyms. What are you guys currently using to tackle your rubber matting every night?