I have been a gym owner since October 2012, it has been hard work, a lot harder than expected and cost me more than I earned for the first three or four years and closing crossed my mind many times however I am glad i persevered, I now have over 80 members. Just celebrating my 12th year.
@@Kushgroove234 it's only a 1200 square foot building so that's a big attendance number for me and I'm earning well from it. Thanks for the overwhelming encouragement. 👍
You probably won't see this but you've been an incredible asset in changing my life for the better. A month ago I could barely do 10 bodyweight squats without being gassed out. Now I am doing over 100 with my 25lb dumbells every 3 days and have to stop myself from doing more to avoid overdoing things. I'm grossly overweight but I discovered your channel and I watch your videos while I lift and it's perfect. Thanks Allan!
I’m a CrossFitter from Virginia. I’ve come to Untamed Strength the past two years for a couple of weeks to work on my strength. Alan has been so accommodating, and I love the atmosphere at his gym. I’m so glad Untamed Strength exists the way it does.
Thanks for sharing. Not to be too "nitpicky" but those credit cards you used early on to live on are a loan. Maybe not in the name of the business, but if you own the business 100% it's the same thing. You just used the loan to pay "rent and buy food" instead of "pay your lease and buy gym equipment". Not saying this to be negative, I started my own business 30 years ago, almost the exact same way you started Untamed Strength, and it was the best thing I ever did. Just want folks to know that, unless you come from money or have wealthy backers, it's not unreasonable to take out a loan to start a business. Most small business owners really struggle for the first few years and living off credit cards, or taking out a loan is often the only way to make it happen. Thanks again, great info.
Just happy to see a honest and hard-working man gets a good life out of what he loves to do! Alan you have been an inspiration for me for years. Thank you!
My wife and I have owned a 3,600 square foot gym for going on 5 years now and our best profit margin was $10k total for a year after expenses like rent, utilities, etc. That was our BEST year. Most gym owners are doing it for the love of the business, members, culture. It is not how most are going to make a living.
Man i remember the oooold Alan Thrall videos where you showed how to dead lift (still using that setup) and where you told us of the time you drove some high school footballers to your gym to train for free or something (not sure of the details). Lots of time has passed, glad all the hard work you put in paid off.
i remember first seeing your videos right before you opened the gym (I was 19 at the time) and you taught me a lot about fitness. I'm so glad to hear that your business is so successful, especially after all that covid nonsense. Keep up the great work brother
I really liked the story about you helping those guys with their plan and then they paid you more than you asked for instead of taking advantage of your ignorance.
Hello Alan, from what I see/seen/saw RU-vid has become saturated with people doing excercise content. I liked your DeadLift content because you did a Step by Step tutorial.
Most surprising thing is how cheap everything is. I train at an oly gym and it's 4-5 sessions a week for $145/mo, which I already thought was a great price. But damn, $80 for 24 access to all-rounder strength training gym is wild. Best deal I've seen
100% agree on the part about gyms never going away. Heck the Romans had gyms(the weights weren't the focus but they were in there) so yeah gyms have stood the test of time so far and I don't see why that would change
I’m sure those 2 clowns are happy to pay 140 bucks for ozempic for their diabetes than educating themselves to look after their health and exercise 😂 most people will always look for shortcuts pills and not wanting to put an effort and time to get better health. Just ask any of these fackers but willing to pay stupid price iPhone or ultra watch 😂
I came close to opening a Tap Out Fitness in like 2018. Corona wouldve crushed me but i learned a lot and if i do it, Crossfit might be the way to go bas3d on lower equipment costs
What drive you to do more high intensity exercises? If I'm not mistaken in the past you did mentioned Starting Strength and you had their certification.
I m opening my small "powerbuilding oriented" gym in a few weeks, I dont think I m ready to watch this video, there might be some truths I dont wanna face.
I’m surprised you don’t have a podcast yet? Untamed Talks? Untamed Conversations? The Untamed Podcast? I think it would be dope! Only Dave Tate’s & The PowerCast are the only BEST fitness related pods right now. I think you would kill the game Thrall!!
I respect you but I do not respect violating COVID protocol. I went to my CrossFit gym wearing a mask, staying in a taped box for each station, and wiping down all gear, and it worked just fine. I understand you can use outdoor ventilation year-round but still.
My favorite part about Untamed Strength is I can lift heavy, with other people who lift heavy, who arent roided out their asses like at the Golds Gym by the freeway
lol! He's ultimately saying he got in during a time in culture where you could be discriminate about who you want to appeal to and he's been able to maintain that. As I pointed out in another comment, that world is pretty much dead and buried. Social media played a critical role in that and now it's a dead platform for being a break out new social media icon and luring people to your goods and services. A new gym owner in 2024 has no choice but to compete with the franchises.
I think there's actually a significant amount of success dependent on unskilled and ignorant members watching the skillful and learning a lot of what they need to know just from that exposure. *I had a desire to open a gym about 13 years ago but also knew it was completely beyond my resources and capabilities due to my health.* The motivation was ultimately once I was thin and muscular, my health was finally working in my favor for the first time in my life and maintaining that felt like the most critical factor in my life. *Well, it's 13 years, many injuries later, physique changes and I was right, but I just wasn't able to maintain that physique on my own.* Owning a gym in itself would have prevented my lapse. *I think a prospective gym owner should be prepared to be there 24/7 and more or less perform as an eye in the sky personal trainer for clients constantly teaching for free to really establish your reputation and personal value other gyms don't have.*
@@njerseydavid no, I said teach for free, not train for free. *Again, your mistake and not mine.* I also specified as in an eye in the sky meaning you're giving each and every single member your attention and interactions in teaching is a drop in the bucket to the totality of their journey. Gyms are packed with people who will never hire a personal trainer so the small touches can go a very long way. I'm in a small town with big commerce and people come to these areas because they want a hometown touch without being drowned from your presence. I am aware that many owners don't open that way, but you're competing with the franchises and that means tolerating a lot of people who train stupidly and will never hire a personal trainer. Everyone is so temperamental these days I would be more concerned with figuring out the nature of the demographics rather than earning myself a reputation as an amazing P.T. and gym owner. In this current era, I wouldn't want the burden of also being a P.T. that some oafs blamed for their failure lol. If you're the P.T. and the owner, no thanks. *We're already in a totally different culture after Covid and tens of millions of illegals showing up.*
