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
My opinion is that if you have a job which restricts you to working out in the middle of the night then a 24/7 gym is great, but in all other circumstances your local gym is the better choice.
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 full of cool-looking people and expensive machines, and across the road we have Average Joe’s which can’t compete in terms of riches but its customer experience is off the charts.
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 gym for two years and not a single person there knew my name. 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, but on the inside they’re super frienldy, unjudgmental gyms where the members are like one big group of friends. Also, these facilities tend to be family-run businesses, and from a customer perspective there’s much more satisfaction in knowing that your monthly membership fees are helping a family put food on the table as opposed to just dropping into the offshore account of some faceless corporation who doesn’t even know you exist.
Am I right?
Of course I am!
We need to protect the men and women who own these small gyms at all costs. They are the mavericks of the fitness industry, the ones who went “all in” on their dreams and built their business from the ground up. These are the same individuals who eventually take the fitness industry forward into new and exciting places, because their lower budget means they’re forced to innovate and master the art of customer retention.
Heck, when I think back to the lockdown of 2020, the owner of my small local gym (Powerhouse Gym, South Shields) actually handed out sets of dumbbells and cardio machines for people to stay in shape at home (!!) – meanwhile the folks in the city continued paying their monthly direct debits to a 24/7 gym they couldn’t even fucking use!
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!) that moves like an absolute dream.
Honestly, I wish I’d known this sooner because I feel like an utter cock taboggan having missed out on the chance 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!
You’re great. Learn from you!
Hey Russ! As the proud owner of a small gym, I want to thank you for doing this post. Everything you say here is similar to what I hear from our members, particularly about the more supportive atmosphere. Great work.