I built my first gym in 1969 in the basement of my parent’s house, poor illiterate Italian immigrants who lived by a different kind of lifting – manual labour. I built my first gym as to change my dysfunctional obese 12 year-old self. I bought the basics with money earned from part-time jobs. Benches, bars, and plates were cheap. I was the only member. I couldn’t join a gym if I wanted to because there were none where I lived. The basement built the identity of three other gyms I built. The second was built in the basement in 1978, the first house my wife and owned. I coached a number of my fellow...

From the moment you woke up, your heart rate was abnormally accelerated and your mind racing with the TO DO’s for the day.  You just realized 3 very important commitments that were due yesterday.  At this point, you just chuckle and try to shrug it off, after all – you just pulled a 17 hour day.   What else were you supposed to do?! If you’ve ever had any experience similar to this, then what I have to share with you will be life transforming.  I know that sounds like a huge promise, but just hear me out. I’ve had several days like this, and frankly to some degree as I continue...

Toronto, Ontario – Metro Convention Centre – August 12, 2016 – 4:30pm EST During the World Fitness Expo in Toronto, Ontario, on August 12, 2016, at 4:30pm, Barbara Allan, the Program Manager from the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services will be speaking about Ontario’s Consumer Protection rules for fitness clubs. This presentation will inform fitness club owners, operators, and trainers about their rights and obligations under the Consumer Protection Act and explain what to expect if their operations are inspected by the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. Helpful...

Whether you’re operating a club or a small personal training studio purchasing the right fitness equipment is a crucial task. In the case of clubs, the equipment is actually a key point of contact with members and what they use to (hopefully) achieve their fitness goals. The equipment is also the toolkit (at least part of it) that a trainer uses to execute their programs. Given this importance I have been somewhat dismayed to see a tendency over the last few years to treat equipment purchases as a simple commodity purchase. Fitness equipment is a big-ticket item and so it naturally has a huge...

Surviving 15 years from scratch – part 3: Community Lifting When I started working out as a dysfunctional obese 12 year-old in 1969, lifting was a part of a sub-culture. Working out had not hit mainstream. I worked out in my parent’s basement until I joined my first gym in 1975 after I was hired as a police officer at the age of 18 years. The gym environment was uninviting, even nasty. I loved and thrived in that environment but I never modeled my gym X Fitness on that blueprint. Instead, I developed a Community Lifting environment that has been the main reason why we have survived for 15 years...

This summer, IHRSA released the IHRSA Health Club Equipment Report: Spending, Utilization & Programming Trends, sponsored by Precor. The report provides insights on health club equipment practices, including space allocation, spending trends, and utilization in training programs. Based on data gathered from more than 400 health and fitness facilities, the publication contains the most recent and complete equipment data in the club industry. “The IHRSA Health Club Equipment Report provides club owners with vital information needed in order to understand health club equipment practices,"...