Recession? What Recession? Let’s Open a Gym!
Written by By Rob Jordan
April 2009
Hard times and fitness centers seem to go together
In late 1929, world markets were crashing and the American economy was in ruins. But a young
Italian immigrant who had recently changed his name from Angelo Siciliano to Charles Atlas
saw opportunity. He offered customers “the path to perfect manhood” through his mail-order
fitness program. Thus was born Charles Atlas Ltd., the fitness industry phenomenon that to this
day sells workout routines to young men tired of getting sand kicked in their face.
Before the Great Depression finally lifted around 1941, muscle entrepreneurs like Joe Weider
and Jack LaLanne would also get in on the act. This was the dawn of the modern fitness
industry. Atlas, Weider, and LaLanne weren’t necessarily prescient contrarians, but they were
shrewd businessmen who grasped the situation at hand. After all, the era in which they
launched their brands saw a blossoming of recreational pursuits that coincided with massive
public works projects such as sports stadiums, gymnasiums, swimming pools, tennis courts,
and golf courses. Hunger for escapism, a key ingredient in Hollywood’s unprecedented
popularity at the time, may have helped too.
Is something similar afoot now? Despite swirling dark economic clouds, at least ten gyms and
fitness centers of various stripes have opened along the Biscayne Corridor during the past two
years. Their numbers include everything from tiny boutique spots that train only one customer at
a time to sprawling complexes with hundreds of members. They join what would appear to be
an already crowded constellation of fitness businesses in this body-obsessed town.
The number of frequent health-clubgoers is up over previous decades, according to the
International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. And in 2008 the number of fitness
businesses nationally increased slightly, according to the association. But as far as Miami’s gym
boom goes, appearances may be deceiving, says Brian Biagioli, director of FIU’s graduate
exercise and sport science program. “This is probably the worst time to open a gym,” he says
bluntly. The fitness industry as a whole is down about 30 percent since the current recession set
in, Biagioli says.
Biagioli suggests that fitness entrepreneurs stand a chance if they offer something new and
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Recession? What Recession? Let’s Open a Gym!
Written by By Rob Jordan
April 2009
challenging that avoids the repetitive boredom of machine-based training. But, he cautions, it’s
a tough business no matter what: “Gyms go out of business at a rate similar to restaurants.”
Several new fitness center owners are relying on Biagioli’s suggestion, expressing hope that the
unique nature of what they offer, combined with average people’s desire to better themselves,
will bring success. “We believe that it is recession-free,” Simi Aboutboul says of her business,
Studio FitVibe. The Midtown Miami studio, open since September, offers “whole body vibration,”
a super-efficient muscle-contraction workout technique supposedly developed by the Russian
space agency. Although she admits she was “naïve” about opening in a down economy and is
“struggling like anyone else,” Aboutboul thinks the recession will push people to redirect their
expenses toward more health-conscious pursuits: “When times are hard, that’s when people are
looking into themselves more.”
Similarly, Dan Martin of Crossfit 305, a bare-bones fitness center that opened in a former
Lemon City auto garage this past April, sees potential in the downturn. People are looking for
relief from the bad news, and a good workout can do that. “It’s the same reason people go to
bars during bad times,” Martin says. Referring to the routines he puts clients through with free
weights, gymnastics rings, climbing ropes, and unorthodox equipment such as sledgehammers,
Martin says, “We call it the opposite of drugs. It’s a high that lasts for days.”
Economic concerns are different for fitness centers in Miami, points out Shuichi Take, owner of
the three-month-old Shuichi Take Fitness Club, also in Midtown Miami. “In Miami, a gym is a
community setting,” Take says, adding, “More so in Miami than other cities, there’s such a high
demand placed on looking good.” Combine that with the added need for a boost of self-esteem
and a place to escape during tough times, and there would seem ample reason for people to
sign up for gym memberships, Take speculates.
While Take says his feng shui-designed club is drawing customers away from higher-cost gyms,
he admits he “could definitely use some more members.” On the other hand, he sees positive
indicators, such as one member who recently lost much of his wealth but insisted on keeping
his membership at Take’s club. “At least I have my health,” the man told Take.
Manning Sumner of the just-opened Legacy Fit “training facility” in Wynwood, doesn’t speculate
much on the economy, but he’s confident more people would sign up for his services if they
knew what was best for them in hard times. Says Sumner: “To be able to have a place to go to,
to let go, to not have a care in the world except for sweating, letting all the stress go.” It’s a
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Recession? What Recession? Let’s Open a Gym!
Written by By Rob Jordan
April 2009
simple equation, Sumner says: “Money doesn’t bring happiness. I think that health can bring
happiness, make you comfortable in your own skin.”
Sumner is keeping busy, but he’d like to drum up more clients for his indoor and outdoor facility
that focuses on free weights, cardio machines, and old-school equipment such as tractor tires,
ropes, and sleds. He sees hopeful signs in clients similar to the individual cited by Shuichi Take.
This man also recently lost a significant amount of his income, but still comes regularly for
training sessions. “If he didn’t have this,” Sumner says, “he’d go crazy.”
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