Things you look for when choosing a gym

[vince]

Well i'm planning on opening a gym in the near future and i need some ideas.
Which brings us to the question
What are some things you look for when choosing a gym?(space, new equipment, wide variety of free weights, ect.)
What are some things that will deter you from going to a certain gym?

[SoCal-Nutrition]

first 5 things I look at:

hours - I have a schedule that requires some flexibility
DB's - most of my training is done with DB's...I need a min of 125's
rack availability - my gym has 3 racks :2 squat racks and one power rack
cardio equipment - this is one of the few areas I feel justifies high end equipment.
real lifters - I'm not motivated to workout when I'm the only one there moving weight...I need competition

[vince]

real lifters - I'm not motivated to workout when I'm the only one there moving weight...I need competition


I have been thinking about ways to attract real lifters. Things like offering discounts to members in the 1000lb club(bench+squat+deadlift) and college athletes. It's motivation and i think it will attract a good crowd

[milehighguy]

SoCal hit it above:

1) plenty of racks & stations to dead
2) dumbells
3) plenty of bench press stations (yea, that is probably just me)

I never touch the cardio stuff so no input there

[WesleyInman]

Dumbells is the first thing I check. If the weights don't go to at least 130 I'm walking out of there no matter what.

Squat racks for me is next. If they dont have at least 2 or more squat racks, i'm not joining.

I personally find the newer plates with handles in them, or holes in them an attractive feature for a gym because I can do all kinds of odds and ends holding them.

Deadlift platform is also a very nice necessity if you are going to have true lifters there.

Chains and Bands would bring in some respectable lifters also.

A few of my strongman friends when they built there gyms, I was there and watched them outfit them. Poundstone from WSM and Mastell a LW pro used SORINEX equipment to outfit there gyms. Very practical and less expensive but super well made. Mills another LW pro in my area used alot of "ROGUE" equipment. They have beautiful and amazing equipment but Expensive. I also like Watson equpiment and Dumbells they are based out of the UK but they have AMAZING equipment. Most beautiful dumbells I have ever seen are made by them. So those are some options for serious equipment.


Here's a link to Derek's site where he tells what equipment he has, this might help give you some ideas:
Equipment - Poundstone Performance (http://www.poundstoneperformance.com/equipment.html)

(the dumbells below are WATSON brand, they say 'evolve' but that is simply the name of the gym and endcaps that Watson made these for)

http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u579/StrongmanAlbum/dumbellwatson_zps6b8b8ec0.jpg (http://s1322.photobucket.com/user/StrongmanAlbum/media/dumbellwatson_zps6b8b8ec0.jpg.html)

[vince]

Dumbells is the first thing I check. If the weights don't go to at least 130 I'm walking out of there no matter what.

Squat racks for me is next. If they dont have at least 2 or more squat racks, i'm not joining.

I personally find the newer plates with handles in them, or holes in them an attractive feature for a gym because I can do all kinds of odds and ends holding them.

Deadlift platform is also a very nice necessity if you are going to have true lifters there.

Chains and Bands would bring in some respectable lifters also.

A few of my strongman friends when they built there gyms, I was there and watched them outfit them. Poundstone from WSM and Mastell a LW pro used SORINEX equipment to outfit there gyms. Very practical and less expensive but super well made. Mills another LW pro in my area used alot of "ROGUE" equipment. They have beautiful and amazing equipment but Expensive. I also like Watson equpiment and Dumbells they are based out of the UK but they have AMAZING equipment. Most beautiful dumbells I have ever seen are made by them. So those are some options for serious equipment.


Here's a link to Derek's site where he tells what equipment he has, this might help give you some ideas:
Equipment - Poundstone Performance (http://www.poundstoneperformance.com/equipment.html)

(the dumbells below are WATSON brand, they say 'evolve' but that is simply the name of the gym and endcaps that Watson made these for)




SoCal hit it above:

1) plenty of racks & stations to dead
2) dumbells
3) plenty of bench press stations (yea, that is probably just me)

I never touch the cardio stuff so no input there

Great feedback, thank you guys

[weekend]

Platforms. Like squat rack deadlift combo platforms.

I also want a reverse hyper machine, along with all the other machine and cable basics. A real tbar would be sweet. Better let me use chalk too!

[Grape Ape]

# of squat racks and benches is important to me.
How heavy the dumbbells go up to is important too.
Gym hours would be the biggest factor in choosing my next gym. My current one closes at 7pm on Saturday, and 5pm on Sunday. Terrible for my current schedule.
Size; the bigger the better.
Cleanliness is important.
Extra perks like shake bars, saunas etc are nice even if I do.t use em.
Lifting belts, weighted belts, bosu balls, medicine balls, kettlebells etc..

[xxiv]

I don't lift at a gym and I don't feel like I'm missing all that much as far as equipment goes, I get by with the basics and the money I don't spend on a membership I use to get the gear I want.
If I was going to join a gym it wouldn't be for the complementary towels, it's be to get in with a crew. If I could find a knowledgable crew I'd join a gym in a hearbeat.

[Lugnuts]

I've never had a gym membership in my life, I had equipment at home but at work we have a decent size gym and its free, but if I was looking...
I do shift work and I mostly work out at odd times, so a 24HR gym or close to it would be my first choice.
All i hear is tools that load up all the gym equipment and hog that shit for hours on end, I'm strap for time on a daily basis. maybe a put your damn weights away policy?
Decent privacy in the showers, not that I really give a shit but I'm not cool with homo's taking the shower head next to mine, this isnt prison.
I like heavy free weights, squat rack, bench, open areas for deadlifts etc, few ab machines & normal cardio equipment.
and on top of it all, I'm married but who doesn't like some nice tail in there so strippers get a free membership lol

[LBC-83]

You have to have a Lunk alarm, I don't want the big guys to scare me.