- The space required for a commercial gym with little to no equipment is 850 to 1,000 square feet.
- The space required for a commercial gym with a large membership and lots of equipment is 3,000 to 8,000 square feet.
There are many reasons to open a gym: The opportunity to flex your entrepreneurial muscles. The opportunity to help others maximize their fitness potential and reach their goals. The opportunity to be your own boss. But before you jump headlong into this dream of being a fitness professional, you should first make sure that you have an adequate space to conduct your business.
So how much space is required for a commercial gym? How many square feet do you need for a gym? What is the average area of a commercial gym space? To answer these questions properly for your specific context, you should consider the following: What is the function of your commercial gym space and how do your want the traffic to flow within that space.
Regardless of the size of your gym, an easy way to simplify your daily operations is to use fitness business management software.
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The Space Required for a Commercial Gym Depends on Its Function
The minimum space required for a commercial gym is 2,000 square feet.
According to the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), the size of an average high school weight room and locker room is a combined 1,650 square feet. So, unless you want to lose clients to your local high school, 2,000 square feet is a good starting point for the area for your gym.
It’s important to consider what is the purpose or function of your space. If you operate a yoga studio, a Pilates studio, or an aerobics fitness studio with no free weights and minimal equipment, then you can get away with an 850-1,000-square-foot space. If you are live-streaming classes online through your custom-branded, fitness trainer app, then you too can get away with a smaller commercial space.
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The America College of Sports Medicine recommends 36 square feet per member (and up to 225 square feet per member in the age of social distancing and Covid-19) for a commercial gym space and 45 to 75 square feet per piece of equipment. Thus, if you’re operating a full-service gym with hundreds of members, free weight stations, and elliptical machines and stationary bikes, you’re looking at 3,000 to 8,000 square foot space.
The Square Feet Area of a Gym Is Affected by the Flow of the Space
The next consideration for the area needed for your gym is the operational and creative flow you want to create in your space. You want to position and design your workspace in such away that optimizes both the productivity and aesthetics of the environment.
Will you have a reception desk and lobby? You should allocate five to ten percent of your space to that area. Will you have a weight room or a locker room? How closely will either of them be positioned to the main workout room? Is your furniture and exercise equipment located in areas that increase or impede the flow of the foot traffic in your facility? How you answer these questions will help inform you whether or not your commercial gym space is too large, too small, or just right.
And if you need a little help managing your business in your commercial space, reach to us at Exercise.com. Book a demo today.