One of my social media followers asked me this interesting question yesterday:

“Hey Russ, I’ve moved house and I’m looking for a new gym. Do you prefer small local gyms or the big franchises?

– Anthony

Here’s my opinion:

• A 24/7 franchise gym is great if you have a job which restricts you to late night workouts.
• Your local gym is a better choice in all other circumstances.

Have You Ever Seen “Dodgeball”?

Go watch it.

It tells the story of two rival gyms; Glogo Gym vs Average Joe’s.

The high tech Globo Gym is choc-full of cool-looking people and expensive machines, and it sits adjacent to the considerably more modest Average Joe’s,which makes up for it’s lack of financial power by pushing the customer experience through the roof.

Let’s face it, we ALL want to go to Average Joe’s!

But here’s the weird thing…

People often get this the wrong way round, mistakenly believing that big franchise gyms are like Average Joe’s and small local gyms are like Globo Gym.

Check out this email from Alethea:

“I used to go to a big franchise gym (I won’t name them, because I don’t want to give them publicity on your website!) and recently switched to a smaller local gym up the road.

It was the best decision ever!

I went to my old franchise gym for two years felt like a complete stranger there.. The reason I left is because it just felt unfriendly. One day I had a nightmare on a treadmill where I couldn’t figure out the buttons and some ladies started sniggering and pulling out their phones, it just ruined my day, so I never went back.

I’d seen this local gym many times but never thought about going in until now. I always assumed it would be full of athletes and bodybuilders, not “normal people” like me. This was so wrong! It’s such a friendly place, and by the end of the first week the manager had remembered my name and would come and say “Hello!” every day when I was training. It made such a huge difference to be noticed. I love it.”

– Alethea

You see, your small local gym is Average Joe’s.

These places may look scarier from the outside, and you might look at them and think “Oh, that looks like it’s for big bodybuilders and experts, not for people like me!”, but on the inside they’re super frienldy and non-judgmental places where there’s a real sense of community.

They also tend to be family-run businesses, and from a customer standpoint I believe there’s more satisfaction in knowing that your monthly membership is going towards helping a real family put food on their table versus dropping into the offshore bank account of a faceless business who don’t know you exist, am I right?

So here’s the thing…

I believe we must protect the men and women who own these local gyms at all costs, for these people have had the balls to go “all in” on their dreams. I believe they are the mavericks who eventually take the fitness industry forward as a whole because it’s these same folks who develop new and exciting training styles, and working under such financial restrictions puhes them to learn how to master customer retention in a way big gym chains never could.

For example, when I think back to the lockdown of 2020, the owner of my small local gym (Powerhouse Gym, South Shields) actually gifted dumbbells and cardio equipment to his members to help them stay in shape at home (!!)… meanwhile the folks up the road continued to pay their expensive monthly membership to a 24/7 gym which they couldn’t even attend.

So don’t support Glogo Gym, support Average Joe’s.

Local Gyms Usually Have Better Personal Trainers And Better Equipment

Maybe I’ll upset some people here, but that’s not my intent.

The reason I believe that you’ll generally find more knowledgeable personal trainers in your local gym is because these guys and girls were the standout coaches in franchise gyms who then left to open their own facilities.

You see, big franchise gyms deliberately aim their recruitment strategy towards newbie trainers who are straight off their course, offering them “instant riches” in exchange or extortionate monthly rent. Over 80% of them fail to make it work, so the gym becomes a revolving door of new faces, but the small percentage who excel eventually realize they’d be financially better off on their own.

And then there’s the gym equipment…

Don’t get me wrong, big franchise gyms look sleek and sexy.

This can appeal to newbie gym members because it looks cool as fuck, but seasoned weightlifters will know that you’ll generally find higher quality equipment in small local gyms.

There are two reasons for this.

The first is because they need to buy equipment that lasts forever, as they can’t afford to constantly fix it. For example, my current gym still has may of the same machines they had when I first joined in 2013.

And the second reason is that they need to be more niche in order to survive, so you’ll always find better bodybuilding equipment in a dedicated old-school bodybuilding gym, and better CrossFit equipment in a proper CrossFit box gym, and better powerlifting equipment in a proper powerlifting gym, and so on, versus what you’ll find in a generic big franchise gym.

It might not look as pretty, but holy fuck it works!

For example, my very first gym used to have a leg extension which I wrote off as “dusty and busted”, which I now know to be a world class Nautilus machine from the mid-70s (worth a fucking fortune!) which moves like an absolute dream.

Honestly, I wish I’d known this sooner because I feel like an utter cock taboggan for having missed out on the opportunity to use some truly amazing equipment.

Learn from that.

Further Reading:

If you enjoyed this blog, then you’ll probably also like reading these.

>> Russ’ Holiday Training Guide
>> The Rules To Ripped
>> Stallone Was Right: Circuit Training Is Awesome!