From trendy boutique style fitness studios to the big box fitness clubs, there is a common challenge that all fitness facilities face. These facilities are constantly looking at innovative and creative ways to offer more varieties of fitness to their members. One of the hottest fitness trends of 2023 involves a gym space conversion. The days of cramming as much equipment into a facility are long gone. In today’s day and age, fitness goers are much more educated and creative in the ways they want to train. They are looking for the ability to train freely while having open space for their functional fitness training, core training and stretching.

Whether you’re considering converting a space or maximizing an existing space, follow these 5 tips to ensure your space conversion is a success!

1. Survey your members

It seems so simple, but this step is often overlooked. Every 6 months to a year, you should take the time to get feedback from your members on the experience you are providing. This step can be a valuable tool in gauging whether you should make changes to your facility based on the pulse of your existing member base. This task doesn’t have to be a chore for you or your members. Try entering members that complete the survey into a draw for a prize as incentive.

2. Decide what this space will be used for

Now it’s commitment time. Decide if your gym space conversion will be used as a multipurpose space, serving diverse groups or will it be designated to one user group. If your goal is to offer a wide variety of fitness to your members in this space, you will need to plan on how to best equip that space to serve all of those goals.

3. Create an experience

The experience is everything! This is the take away that is going to create a buzz about your new offering. When you have a clear picture in mind of what you want to deliver to your members, the decision on equipment, design and layout will become much clearer.

4. Choose space saving and versatile equipment

Tips #3 and 4 will go hand in hand. You will want to look for fitness equipment that will go to work for you! These equipment solutions should be either portable, versatile or both. If you plan on having a multipurpose space, then choose equipment that is portable, and can easily be moved and stored away between uses.

5. Think outside the box

This is your opportunity to be creative and differentiate your new space from the rest of your facility. Whether you’re creating a stretching zone for yoga, relaxation and recovery or a circuit training zone that will be loud and energetic, you have the ability to match the design of your space with the experience that you want to deliver. In addition to the equipment selection, there are 4 important details to consider when designing your gym space conversion. They are the paint, graphics, lighting and flooring.

Author Bio

Sean Solon is the Northern Alberta Account Manager for Stak Fitness/ Matrix Canada.