The Hidden Business Opportunity in Your Home Gym

If you are a personal trainer and you’re shopping around for the best gym to train clients in, you are missing out on a hidden business opportunity right there in your home!  Garage gyms have been a thing for years, but until the growth of social media, most people did not know what went on behind even their neighbor’s big white door-except for random loud music and the sounds of heavy things being dropped.

I feel this is an often overlooked business opportunity for new trainers.

I started my own in-home personal training business out of our basement, and eventually moved to our garage. What started as a curl bar, some bands, a squat rack, a few metal plates and dumbbells in 2007 grew into a full-time business, online movement, and now a strength training app—11 years later.

Behind Closed Doors

For me, my home gym started as a necessity to manage the madness of motherhood, going from one child to three in a year’s time, having two children diagnosed with special needs and services, and living in a rural community with no access to a fitness center. I had a new degree in exercise science and a personal training certification I had only used for a few months.

As I bought more equipment, we moved to a bigger home, and my clientele grew.   Plain and simple, starting a garage gym was matter of need in a rural community and my desire to stay home and work from home as a new mom.  For other trainers, training out of their garage gym, is about creating an authentic, non-salesy but professional environment.

CLEER FITness Training

For Christine Rosi, of CLEER FITness Training, her garage gym happened accidentally due to severe flooding which moved her out of her basement due to damage.  She has progressed more into functional fitness with her clients using suspension trainers, kettlebell, ropes, tires, chains, sandbags, slosh pipes, slam balls, bands and bodyweight exercises since moving outside and outdoors, sometimes even using her outdoor tent.  Her motto is “Fitness Anywhere with Anything.”

She has worked in public gyms before but loves the convenience of training at home, as well as being able to create an environment that suits her clients best, including cranking up the hard core music.  She would describe her programming as unconventional strength training but always geared toward the individual differences of each client.

Quinn Strength and Conditioning

Having worked in a globo gym before, with lots of rules, disorganization, and crowds, Ryan Quinn of Quinn Strength and Conditioning decided to turn his oasis for personal workouts into a business opportunity.

“My garage gym is like its own space, it’s ‘separate’ from the house, if only in my mind.” Quinn said. The moment I step in the garage I’m not in the house anymore, I’m in the gym. It’s where I train, where I work, where I better myself and my clients.”

Quinn relies on referrals for growing his business out of his garage, as well as building relationships through contract work with local sports teams.  Sharing his experience and work with other facilities helps people overcome possible misconceptions of a garage gym holding back fitness gains.

“It’s a gym that I have set up exactly how I want it, where I’ve created the lay out, atmosphere, and chosen the equipment. I have motivating stuff up on the walls, lots of wall storage, and I still have room for my work bench, all my tools and tool boxes, as well as room to still park both cars,” he said.

In addition, Quinn uses software for scheduling, programming, and maintains his garage gym equipment to a high standard to help encourage the professionalism of his business and who he is as a trainer.

“Space is the most valuable feature in a garage gym for me, I need space for functional movement, so there are no big clunky machines. Portability of gear that isn’t attached to the wall is also key.”

  Christine Maynard Fitness

Cost and having to share equipment was the biggest determining factor for why Christine Maynard, left her commercial gym setting as a yoga instructor and personal trainer, and moved her business to mobile.  She currently travels to her client’s homes or garages and works with them there.  Most of her clients struggle with limitations and have limited or no experience with strength training.

She loves the convenience of training people in the comfort of their own homes, but also because she can approach her training more simply.  She feels if she were training her clients in a commercial gym setting, she may be more aggressive with her approach.  But overall, her biggest asset with training how she is now is that all the income goes directly to her and her gym building process.

Before she was making $40 out of a $200 training charge, and now she makes 100% of those profits for her time and expertise.  And she can make her own schedule.  Christine promotes herself through apparel sporting her business name, but also through word of mouth from happy clients.

Bottom Line

Each of these trainers have their own reasons for starting a home garage gym, but they all seem to surround a common theme of convenience and personal touch.

Fears range from marketing and promotions, to not having shiny new equipment, and having to purchase one’s own equipment out of the gate.  But the low monthly overhead costs, personalized environment, and access to one’s own personal workout space daily, was enough for me and others to make the leap.

Want to know more? Contact me at the links below and drop a comment to let me know what you think!