updates

It's been awhile since I posted anything about our progress at the gym. Things are still coming along. This has been a grueling process, physically, mentally, and financially. The amount of time that it takes to physically work on the gym is unbelievable and without all of the help from our students and friends, we would be so far behind. The time that I spend working on behind the scenes "stuff" is even more unbelievable (i.e. insurance, flyers, contracts, waivers, meta tags, space planning, budget crunching, ordering things for the gym, writing blogs posts, interviewing and hiring instructors, pricing anything and everything to get the best deal, making sure our map marker is in the right spot so the GPS leads to the correct place, etc). I feel like three hours pass and I have nothing tangible to show the fruits of my labor, except an extremely messy house and a wilted garden.

Here's the floor in the main room:

The boys had to re-enforce the cage with bars and wood on the wall...I was NOT happy about this!  Now that the wood is painted (see pictures on next post), it looks really nice, and they double as really tall pull-up bars. 

 It was two days before we had to start training at the new gym and our new mats weren't here yet.  So we had a last minute demolition to open up the basement and move our old mats in the space in order to train!

 

The baby after a LONG day of running around the gym while we worked:

  The first class in the "dungeon" at the new gym:

I can't wait for our grand opening next month!

it's really not a scary place

I was teaching a boot-camp in Forest Park and working full-time as a realtor when I got an offer to be an instructor at a Boxing Gym.  I accepted the position but honestly, I was terrified.  I put off my first class for a couple of weeks until I couldn't escape it.  I went to the Boxing Gym (for the very first time...I was hired blindly by the nephew of my then real estate partner), I was scared.  My first class went well and from there on out I swore to myself that I'd never work out at a "regular" gym again*.  I loved the grit, the sweat and the rawness of the gym.  People weren't there to talk, they weren't there to look cute...they were all there for the same reason....to get in a great workout.

Red Nose MMA (or Berger MMA) is a great place...if you're a fighter.  Unfortunately the space we are in can really only be that...an intimidating "fighter's" gym.  That's great, unless you are like most of the people that come in and are immediately faced with 20 guy's wrestling on the mat and another five guys beating each other up in the ring.  This is not a gym that people just happen upon.  It is not publicly friendly. I have seen many people walk in the front door and right back out. 

Our goal for the new gym is to create a place that is welcoming to everyone of all ages, shapes and sizes.  Our MMA program will continue to be a driving force for Steve, but our other programs will allow us to grow into a full fledged gym.  We want people to come to our gym because we offer what no other gyms offer* and we don't want anyone to be scared to just walk in and join a class.

If you are reading this and you have ideas or something that you think your "ideal" gym should have, please leave a comment so that we can take everything into consideration.

*Most MMA, boxing and kickboxing gyms don't offer childcare services, I was forced to join Gold's.  This was number one on my wish list when we were planning our new space.  Most of our students have family and we don't want MMA training to get in the way of that.  This will also allow me to begin teaching again...watch out guys!  I've been on the bench too long!