Every gym is struggling to stay in business. Same goes for Koloseum and even Golds, Venice. Owners are always trying to attract more members. We have a chain of gyms in Australia called Fitness First. They have installed Hammer equipment and also heavy dumbbells. So they are trying to get everyone to join. That makes sense.
Almost no gym prefers to have muscleheads. We have a good layout where the free weights, most of them, are in a separate room. The bodybuilders seem to gravitate there for most of their training which leaves the main equipment room coed.
One day I hope to dump the free weights into the Pacific Ocean! I so dislike all that clanging and the mentality that accompanies such training.
Golds Venice doesn't have a lying triceps extension machine. How can you effectively train tris without one? We have 3 of those machines.
I also built better machines than Joe made. It took me a while. Equipment has evolved. Yes, They should make one of Joe's Gyms for historical purposes but the gym business has evolved way past what he began.
I like having the weight room right out in the open on the main floor. The Bally I mentioned earlier (the one at which I stopped training) had its weight room so far back, you had to cut through the pool, jacuzzi, and sauna area AND past the aerobic room, just to get to it.
Long-term members may not be as profitable in certain gyms. My intial Bally contract was $36 a month for three years. I got that membership as a Christmas present, back in 1991. My parents paid it, with the provision that I actually use it and I keep my grades up (I was in college, at the time).
Once they paid off the contract completely, the renewal fee was just $69 per year. Two years later, that fee went up to $99.
My membership will expire in a month, as I renewed my membership for $198 for two years. If Bally keeps that price, I will sign on for another two years, which will cover my gym needs until June 2009.
