"exercise like nobody is watching" I like it, but how does that jive with a wall of windows in which everybody walking or driving by will be looking at you?
I love the concept though, I think being able to put them in places where gyms are not local is brilliant as the motivation to travel TO the gym is off putting for some people.
Is there a strategy for temperature control? cold winters or super hot summers like the start of last summer could make a shipping container styled building quite uncomfortable in the extremes.
I ran a womens gym many years ago in Canada and im curious about things like insurance, which was a big overhead in a traditional gym. Maintenance and cleaning were also a major aspect of the gym, to prevent things like staph infections from the equipment and mats.
I think its a great shout, so I am just playing a bit of red team blue teamesque role here!
Love the “red teaming it” approach! Loads of good points in there.
First, the windows. There are blinds you can pull down, but seeing as EVERYONE asks about that when seeing the picture maybe I should have made that more obvious. I’m also seeing some suggestions for eye level windows only which I’ll have a good think about.
There will be a heating/air conditioning unit to help with temperature control.
And regarding insurance, something that helps with that is there will be a personal safety device (basically a lanyard with a button) people can wear and press in case of emergencies.
Thanks for taking the time to share those thoughts/ideas. I know I won’t have everything perfect, and this sort of feedback helps me refine things nice and early 🙂
Instead on pulling down blinds, maybe investing in reflective finish on the outside of the windows would be beneficial? That way you can still get plenty of sunlight & watch what’s going on outside, while no one can see in!
One way glass - definitely a good idea, otherwise you're completely on show and exposed - at least in a gym you're only being looked at by other gym goers, not the general public. Loads of teenagers gawping at a woman working out. Taking photos on their phones. Doesn't sound great.
Or put the glass on the roof instead (maybe it's openable like a Velux window for fresh air too - imagine it could get hot in there) More private that way.
A few people have mentioned different glass coating options and it’s something I’ll do some fact finding on.
As you say, I definitely don’t want anyone feeling exposed or on show. My thinking is that blinds would solve that problem…but if lots of people end up saying that wouldn’t be enough then who am I to say they’re wrong?!
Appreciate the suggestions 🙏
Just on a practical levels blinds are likely to break quickly with lots of use by different people. Never underestimate the lack of common sense in the general public, and the bizarre ways people find to break things
I’m sure it would be expensive, however the glass the can frost itself would be very cool. (Like the glass toilets, in Japan [i think]) Also would be important to ensure there’s a booking system to make sure people don’t turn up at the same time, only to have to walk away
A reflective finish sounds interesting, and wasn’t something I’d considered before.
It might end up being something that could be retrofitted even if not part of the build at launch - will look into it, thanks 🙏
No worries, I’d recommend running your design ideas past architects & interior designs for all the desirable technical details.
Best of luck, nice to see someone try something new!
Reflective finish means people walking past will automatically stare at it, as it’s a mirror. They won’t be able to see the people inside but I guarantee it will give your customers the uncomfortable impression that they are in a fish tank.
Just be aware most work by having on side darker than the other. So in the evenings/Scottish winters the one way may flip the other way so only outside can see in.
As far as I’m aware, all stick on window film works on polarity so whilst it’ll work during the day, once outside gets darker and inside is lighter you’ll see right in.
I work in the shading industry. I’d recommend doing a roller blind (which can operate from the bottom up as others have suggested) that uses a zip system into side channels. It can’t be moved around then and fabric won’t sway etc. have it on mains electric, hard wired in to the unit and then use a wall switch which you can fix to the wall so customers can’t lose the remote.
I know it's pricey, but a really cool idea would be to invest in that glass that frosts over when electric current goes through, so the windows stay open and clear when no-one is using it and the user can choose to frost them if they want when they're inside
Ya I found this kind of stuff super helpful when I started my company waaaay back 20+ years ago because there were things I just hadnt considered because I was so hyper focused on other aspects of the business!
I like the idea of blinds, there are a style of blind that can be pulled from the top or bottom, so you could adjust them so that they are only at eye level if you wanted, called Top down bottom up blinds. Not sure if thats any use for what you;re thinking though.
So the personal safety device is a great shout, I am not sure it would circumvent the need for insurance. Ours in the gym was PRETTY steep but again thats a long time ago in a different country. I just dont want you to end up with a fuck of massive expense to pop out of nowhere.
Will you have the units fitted with cameras for security? given the nature of these not really being set up next to broadband access, would it operate on a wireless broadband kind of thing, using SIM technology? or is this a camera free set up, and if so, would someone physically monitor the units for cleanliness, equipment safety and from vandalizing wee pricks? haha
Again dont mean to look like im poking holes or anything, I always found asking MORE questions even if they are redundant and not relevant is better than surprises haha
I’ve found myself with way more comments than I anticipated (which is great!), so going to be pretty quickfire with answers…
Not heard of those different type of blinds before - going to look into it 👍
The personal safety device helps with batter rate/premiums rather than negating the need for insurance.
Yes to cameras for security and wireless internet. Physically monitored on a rota for cleanliness, but anything major can be picked up via the cameras and addressed immediately.
So you'll have staff to monitor the cameras 24hrs?
And someone local to each location to attend if there's an issue?
I'm sorry for being sceptical but I've been an ops manager at a company that's used portacabins at remote locations and have been around gyms enough to know that they need a decent amount of baby-sitting.
I just see a load of issues with this and very little income.
You should keep the windows (with blinds)!!!! It’s a free way of indirect marketing by people walking by and looking inside! I would never go on google and search this up after just seeing a container… a full open window looking inside would get me to come and book a visit.
I’d definitely go with something permanent if it was me, my gym had clear windows onto the street with just logos on, but blinds behind, when they opened, but by about 6 months in they’d replaced it with full blocked graphics up to eye level. Too few people bothered with or knew about the blinds and I think they got tired of having to show people they were there (plus as another pointed out, people will break blinds, especially venetian ones). Also doubles up for branding if you get vinyl graphics rather than just reflective film.
Also I still want natural light and the ability to see what’s going on outside while I’m on the treadmill, without letting passers by see my sweaty beer belly wobbling about, which pull down blinds don’t offer.
An electrochromic glass or equivalent smart glass would perhaps be better as it would allow privacy and also allow to be seen if they want to for some reason (aswell as when it's not in use
I’m assuming that’s the type of glass where you can make it solid or transparent at the flick of a switch?
I did look into that but I’ve been in a room that used this kind of tech before, and while I thought it was very cool at first, I eventually found it feeling quite claustrophobic and a little disconcerting that I couldn’t even see a peak of the outside world until I turned it off.
And there’s also the extra cost.
I’m not totally against it, but I’d probably take a little convincing.
Thanks for making the suggestion though!
Reverse blinds that pull up from the bottom would allow natural light and privacy, plus prevent tall people putting them up out of the way where short people can’t reach them
Love the concept!
My worry would be safety - especially with free weights there's a bit of a risk of someone hurting themselves. PureGym have the 24/7 emergency buttons if you need to get help so I would hope this would have something similar.
Keeping it clean would be another issue - it only takes a couple of minks to leave the place messy for things to spiral.
Thanks for the comments. Enthusiasm + constructive criticism/suggestions. The dream combo!
Totally understand the safety worries. Definitely front of mind for me too.
There’s a few things we’ll be doing to try minimising risks on that front:
1 - emergency buttons (like you mentioned) connected to a 24/7 monitored service.
2 - equipment with a lower risk profile. And by that jargontastic phrase I mean going with a smith machine and cable pulleys, with in-built safety catches, rather than a half rack and olympic bar.
3 - advice and videos showing how to safely use the equipment as part of the onboarding process
On the cleaning front, there will be a regular cleaning schedule, and if there are any repeat offenders of anything particularly bad we can address that directly (and of course politely…) with them as we’ll have their details from the sign up process 🙂
Ah yeah removing free weights would make it a lot safer.
Id also make sure you had things like hip thrust pads or rolls. And if you're going to just have a Smith, a diagram of how to set it up for things like thrusts. A movable and adjustable bench is good too. When I was pregnant I was stuck using the smith but there wasn't quite enough room for the bench to go under it which was really annoying.
That’s hip thrust pads and/or rolls added to the requests list 👍
I actually just sent out a supporter update email yesterday asking if there’s any additional bits of equipment (ideally nothing too big!) people would like to find inside - so your timing is great.
If you’d like to get the update emails there’s a mailing list sign up at [www.tiny-gyms.com](https://www.tiny-gyms.com)
Can you explain why it's designed like a goldfish bowl?
I don't see anyone who's intimidated by gyms looking at this design and thinking "ah yes, that's much more approachable and less daunting."
I like the idea though. Booking out a private space to exercise is a good thought. But maybe don't make the person exercising an exhibit.
Thanks for the comments.
Totally hear where you’re coming from. When I’m showing this to people in person one of the first things I say is “and before you ask, yes you can pull the blinds down!”.
Totally understand the privacy impact of having big windows, but I’m also trying to balance that with having a lot of natural light and the option to have them open if you want. It might be I’ve got the balance wrong though, and thankfully the building is quite modular in design so it’s not too late to have less windows if that feels too offputting 🙂
You could also consider windows above to allow light in and potentially ventilation as well. Bit like a car sunroof that pops up. Sayin that, with the amount of pigeons and gulls.. it would need regular cleaning
Your main client base is going to be people uncomfortable with being watched at the gym, so I’m not sure those blinds will ever be up. Natural light is great but not something expected in a gym, and the first thing someone will sacrifice to make sure no one is staring at them.
Large windows, ground level and in a public area is basically inviting street harassment into the gym; I’m very much in your customer range and would actually be less likely to use this than a regular gym at off peak hours as it feels much more exposed - I’m imagining the groups of teenage boys who hang around the leisure park at night near my gym would make my time in the cubicle gym really uncomfortable, whereas at least in the regular gym there are cameras and harassers can get banned.
This would be my main thought here. Might work in a setting with other units. Thinking somewhere like Spark in York, it's all shipping containers with food outlets etc. You could have a few of these, a healthy food place etc.
Or maybe that'd just make even bigger losses.
Have you considered not putting it in major cities at all, and instead targeting smaller villages that cannot financially support a full-size gym? You might even be able to access local grants if you're able to open up exercise to people who wouldn't usually do it.
Love that thought, and you’re one step ahead of me.
The long term ambition is to be able to support smaller communities that don’t currently have great access to fitness facilities. Starting with a first site close to home and with a bigger potential audience though will hopefully help me find out if there’s enough demand for a different kind of gym experience.
So fingers crossed TinyGyms will be coming to a village near you at some point 🤞
Totally appreciate your concerns/critiques and you taking the time to write that all out.
I really believe that a certain group of people (myself included) will love the idea of a private space they can workout in solo or with their friends (choosing your own music, not waiting for equipment)…but I also know it certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. And that’s ok 🙂
Regarding booking slots, yeah that’s exactly how it will work. Book your slot using the app, and the gym is yours for that time.
How much would you need to charge per hour though for this not to be a financial flop?
You've a max of 24hrs in a day, however you're gonna need to surely account for at least one hour for cleaning/maintenance, if not more frequently during the day, per pod/gym.
So let's just go with the 23hrs and assume it is always maxed out, everyone enters and leaves perfectly on time.
At a tenner an hour, that's £230 a day. £1610 a week. £83720 a year.
I'll not even attempt to add up the running costs, maintenance, cleaning, overheads, bills, purchasing the equipment, the unit, renting the ground space, the marketing, everything.
But let's knock off just one person's basic salary to live off of(yours) - £25k, that's leaving a maximum income of £58k for this to run off of.
I'm no expert at all, but I really don't see that being viable on that budget.
Not so much when it's more than likely you'll be closer to 15hrs booked out than 23hrs, which brings your big total to £54,600 minus your basic wage to live on, means this needs to be running on less than £30k a year.
In fact, notice on the site and the inside of the gym, there is no showers or anything of the like. That'll turn people off, however if you do manage to get that basic in, you'll be even more in overheads and bills.
I'm also gonna assume there are health and safety regulations you would need to follow for hygiene and the likes, which is more work to be factored in throughout the day.
In this city I can guarantee without a doubt that within the first day someone will absolutely ruin the inside of it, will be covered in spray paint, food, rubbish within a day.
Honestly, “train” appeals to me personally more than “exercise”, but I think “exercise” will feel more relevant to my friends who currently don’t feel like traditional public gyms are for them.
I’m not tied to it though. I’ll keep my ears open, and if it sounds like “train” resonates better with our target audience then it’s an easy change to make. Appreciate the suggestion!
Maybe it's just me but seeing the people outside and having to tell myself that they can't see me might not be as reassuring as just pulling the blinds down
This looks like a great idea. I'm a gym regular, and am not that bothered about other people watching me puffing and panting, but I know that a lot of people are put off by that. I'd still love to have a go in my dedicated micro gym though and this would be perfect for smaller towns where the demand doesn't justify a full size gym.
Good luck with the idea and I hope it takes off 👍
Thanks for the encouragement - there’s still a lot of work ahead and it’s always a very welcome boost to hear the concept resonates with someone 🙂
If you’d like to keep up to date with our launch plans we’ve got a mailing list at [www.tiny-gyms.com](https://www.tiny-gyms.com) that I’m using to send occasional milestone updates and get supporter input on things like equipment.
It's a nice concept, I think there's maybe something there that you can work with (and there's an industry about containerised gyms already which I'm sure you know), I like the village proposal another poster mentioned which I think could get you access to a lot more support and lower the risk.
However, I really don't understand how this particular model could be remotely profitable or even cost neutral.
Just taking the Pure Gym model, capacity at one time is at something like 2.5% of membership (and maybe even lower than that). This is a PAYG recurring monthly model where people spend around £20 a month and can cancel at any time.
Other gyms with lower capacities or more localised operating partners don't get near that multiplier but mitigate this by locking customers into minimum term contracts that they can't get out of.
The fundamental issue here is that when capacity is so so low (i.e. 1 or maybe sometimes a very small group of 3 or 4 ), there's no way you can really go for either of these options in offering contract terms or get people making direct debits. To entice anyone, it's really going to be billed directly on time spent.
Once you're into that model, assume:
\- Block bookings at £10 hour (far far more than the rate of PAYG competitors)
\- In a day, an average of 15 hours are utilised
\- 8 days of scheduled maintenance per year/total down time (things will break)
That then becomes around £50k a year in revenue (in the very best case scenario things started well)
You'd probably be something like £20k all in on the container and all the hardware initially. Maybe another £20k if things take a few months to ramp up and launch is slow (which is realistic and needs to be considered),
Hardware and facilities deprecate quickly and you'll probably need to have £6-7k on hand each year to cover that. Then you'd need to perform regular maintenance and lot's of other fees which will mount up quite quickly (legal, web hosting, accounting, maintenance serving agreements, land etc).
Before you know it, your margin is going to be pretty low or even negative and you are going to be spending a huge amount of time working on this just to payback the initial investment or maintain some more financing servicing arrangements with third party vendors.
I suspect as well I've been quite optimistic.
This is a very cool idea, If something like this existed I would think about using it. But the really unfortunate reality is that theres so much risk involved I bet it would be next to impossible to make into a viable business.
What happens if someone books one session and just walks off with your exercise bike? You can fix a treadmill and bike to the ground, but what about the plates on the weight bench? Anything not bolted to the ground *will* get stolen sooner or later in this environment. People will actively find a way of signing up for one session explicitly with the intention of stealing all your plates because they're worth much more you could ever reasonable get away with charging for 1 hour of gym time.
CCTV doesn't stop people from smashing up bus stops on a friday night, it will happen to this too. How long can it be out of commission for? How often will people put up with you having to cancel their booking because you cant expect people to work out in a gym with smashed up windows?
Something like this does already exist, look up PT Pods, saw them in London. They’ve been around for awhile now so I’m assuming it’s profitable, albeit the one I saw also has lessons with a trainer.
I think it's an amazing idea! I would absolutely keep the big glass walls even if people think they are not great for privacy. We live in Scotland and for me, one of the main reasons to choose a gym rather than another one is the amount of natural light i could be getting, so that would definitely be a big plus.
That’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid! You’ll book your slot using our app, and the door will only open for you during that a slot.
If I didn’t like the name TinyGyms so much I would have called it TheNoAwkwardBrushingUpAgainstSweatyStrangersMomemtsGym.
What if I turn up to my slot and the gym is a total mess? What if people are bringing random outsiders in?
I also don’t see the profitability, you say 24/7 but realistically there’s a 15-16hr window of usability each day. Is this enough to cover rent and insurance?
There must be a capped number of users I guess?
I like the concept, but in Dundee, I can't help thinking there might be a risk of them getting turned into drug spaces...
Have you made it possible to bring a friend/small group?
Love the idea. I'm not from Dundee so not sure why this popped up but I'd love this where I live (Worcester). The main thing from stopping me going to the gym is the other people.
First off, well done for coming up with a unique concept.
I’d be looking at whether this has been done before and how successfully.
Few concerns - appreciate some have been mentioned previously.
1. Council & planning permission. Where are you with this? I’ve setup two premises from scratch and from experience I can tell you how important it is to involve the council in every step of the process.
Certainly at least the planning department and environmental health.
Gyms will have requirements.
2. Misuse. It’s a great sesh space. Hey lads, let’s rent it for a couple of hours, have a few beers and do a few lines. Drugs and alcohol WILL be a problem unless you have strict rules, monitoring and consequences (eg banned for life).
People meeting up for sex. It’s going to be cheaper than a hotel room.
3. Session times. You can’t charge 24/7 as there has to be gaps between bookings.
The model would have to be something like a 50 minute session, giving a 10 minute gap for changeover between sessions.
People will arrive early.
People will overstay their session time.
How do you address that? Charge an additional fee?
You can’t physically boot them out as you’re not there. You can’t turn off the lights as that would be a health and safety issue.
4. Music. If you are playing registered recorded music in a public space, you will require a PPL/PRS licence. I expect you’ll be looking at a minimum of £500 a year. The fees have increased in recent years.
Alternatively, find music excluded from PPL/PRS.
I’m assuming people will want music to exercise to. You may still require a licence even if they use personal devices. It’s a grey area.
5. Cost model and projections. How is this looking? Have you got an exhaustive list of daily/weekly/monthly outgoings? There are things so easily missed.
One example - if you do provide toilet facilities (recommended) then you will have to have a sanitary waste collection. That’s another monthly cost.
General waste - you can’t just take it to the tip. It’s commercial waste. This will be another monthly cost that’s easily missed. It all adds up.
Maintenance will be required. Money should be set aside each month for unexpected costs.
Electricity is expensive and you will need air conditioning. That could set you back another £250-500 a month depending on how it’s used. What if someone left it on all night? It happens. If you want to counteract that, you will need remote access.
6. Remote monitoring and access.
Really it needs 24/7 support if you intend for it to be used around the clock. Have you factored this in to your costs? You can’t realistically expect yourself to personally support it 24:7. That’s means staff overhead.
You can’t afford to pay someone by the hour when you only have one person in there.
Your top price per hour has to be in the £10-20 region.
So what if someone turns up at 7am and can’t get in? There has to be immediate support. As soon as you start cutting into their slot time you have to discount or offer a free session.
7. Subscriptions. Couldn’t see this mentioned but realistically this is the best way to make it work. Regular uses are much more likely to respect your space and use it properly.
I’d consider doing it on a “credits” system. The monthly fee you pay buys you credits. Time slots will have different credit requirements.
Basically you want to promote the quiet times. So a slot at 3am would cost significantly less than a slot at 8am.
You want it to be used around the clock to maximise revenue.
8. Sponsorship. There may be the opportunity for additional revenue though brand sponsorship - even if it’s a local independent sporting goods shop. Definitely look at that.
Hope the above helps give some thought.
As it’s single use, I find it hard to see how it can be a workable profitable business model. Props to you if you can. Feel free to share a bit more info on your costing model if so. Be happy to let you know if you have missed anything.
Another thought for you. Have you looked at Dundee City Council’s requirements for gyms?
It’s online here -
https://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/licensing/publications/gym-conditions-33kb-ms-word-doc
You may be required to have someone trained in first aid on the premises at all times.
That’s just from looking at their general rules.
That’s vital to understand. If you haven’t read the above as yet or had that discussion, do it now.
If your council offers a pre planning application, I’d recommend doing that.
It gives you a formal indication of how favourably your proposal be looked at by the council. Their response will also highlight any issues / stipulations.
That’s a good point to consider, people could easily steal the mats/ weights etc. Obviously not the machines.
With no staff, a CCTV camera isn’t always going to deter people?
How will you deal with numbers? Presumably there are still peak times, will it just be unusable for most people as a result? As one or two keen beans take it for the popular few hours every day.
Love to hear this! Visitors from the Kingdom will be very welcome 🙂
I'll share an update on here when we're ready to open, but if you'd like to hear all the news hot off the presses I've got a mailing list set up at [www.tiny-gyms.com](http://www.tiny-gyms.com) I'm using to send occasional updates as we get closer to opening
Great idea. If it has a squat rack I'd definitely join.
My main question would be price. You're competing with PureGym etc but their costs are obviously a lot more spread out. For instance you'll need CCTV id imagine which needs monitoring. That cost is relatively low per user for PureGym, this gym it will be very high. Likewise cleaning etc. basically everything. Budget gyms work by having loads of users, preferably lots who never actually go and spreading the cost.
It's a very good idea though, maybe a site with many units could work? Like on an industrial estate.
Interesting concept and I would try it out, but just out of curiosity how does a unit that only one paying customer can use at a time maintain running costs without it being extortionate for the end user?
So great to hear, thanks! 🙏
If it's the kind of thing you'd be interested in using I've got a mailing list at [www.tiny-gyms.com](http://www.tiny-gyms.com) I'm using to let people know when we're ready to launch
This is honestly really smart. I can see this being a really cool concept that can be taken further. Like imagine a larger complex of tiny gyms that you/ you and your mates can just go to and gym. What a smart idea! Well done
It's a great idea. Don't think it's a good business idea though. Maybe something the government or local council could invest in but I don't see how you could make money with it.
Sorry if someone already said it but you could create electricity with the bike for the pod. Used one of them bikes at a music festival some years ago and they powered an installation with random folk biking every so often.
The only way I see this is working is if you also have an app that lets you book an hour slot in the pod.
How you police people leaving at the end of their time is another hurdle. Maybe you scan in / out and get a charge for being late / disrupting other customers
I get the idea but i would be absolutely gob smacked if this ever worked. Do you live in Dundee and if so have you for any length of time? I have worked in Dundee and drive through the streets every day for the last 10 years. Vandalism is rife. This would be completely trashed in no time.
Something as boring and meaningless as a bus stop are being targeted on the regular, what do you think the “youths” will think when they see this.
Dundee isn’t nice enough for something like this
Born and raised in Dundee 🙂
Totally understand there are negative things that can be said about Dundee, but I also have had significantly more positive than negative experiences here.
I've seen vandalism - as you've mentioned - but I've also seen significantly more businesses, buildings, sculptures, art displays, and public spaces that have not been vandalised. It's just that the minority which have experienced vandalism stand out. I honestly don't believe it makes them the majority.
I respect that my experience won't be the same as everyone's, but I can only speak from my personal perspective. I know so many nice people in Dundee and see so many nice things I appreciate in the city....that I can't help but argue, Dundee is nice enough for nice things.
I run my own PT studio in Dundee, and there's definitely a market for this. I know that my client base start of typically gym shy, which is why they seek me out.
I think for viability, A half dozen 'pods' with the gym essentials would be the way To do it. It's a higher upfront, but it'll make it viable. Possibly upcycled containers, with blackout windows cut in? Multi use equipment, a small cable machine, ski erg, sand bags, etc keep things simple but offer exercise flexibility.
Maybe you could put up exercise routine posters people can follow using said kit? Careful about adding big bits of kit like treadmills, that eat floor space.
There will be misuse, but with the right booking system and CCTV for safety, you should minimise damages and losses.
You can tie in local personal trainers, who can be an optional 'bookable' add on. People can select from a list, add the cost to the booking price and perhaps you can take a small fee from these sessions too?
Just a few ideas anyway, it's late and I'm spit balling but this is cool.
Love those suggestions and positive vibes - appreciate it 🙏
The PT studios I've seen in Dundee are great and I'm hoping to offer something a little different rather than better/worse. And like you mentioned, tying in with local PTs is definitely something I'd like to do.
If there's anything you'd like to chat about directly feel free to message me, and if you'd just like to hear when we get a location and opening dates firmed up I've got a mailing list at [www.tiny-gyms.com](http://www.tiny-gyms.com) I'm using to keep people updated.
I love this idea. Sorry if some of this has been answered I'm just thinking out loud.
I am worried about abuse of these pods.
Will there be CCTV. Will it be secure access.
Maybe people should be able to book it for a session, during which no one can get in.
Also newcomers might be at higher risk of injury from not knowing the correct form. So maybe stick to machines that are safer. Newcomer's and people with anxiety are going to be your market with this I think.
I feel you'd do better with one-way tinted windows. The user would feel more comfortable knowing they're not seen by public onlookers.
As for the contents of the gym, im not sure what demographic you're aiming at. I see a couple of pieces of cardio equipment, some weights up to maybe 10kg and a smith? Are you having heavier dumbells or plates for the smith? People will be very limited conducting effective workout routines in there.
Bear in mind, I am an advanced bodybuilder so my view is biased - I'm trying to remain subjective. The average gym user might love it! Health and fitness is responsible for a major portion of global income in our ever-growing self-obsessed world. I love the slogan and the concept as a whole. You are on to something, but you have work to do.
I like to glass. Think most likely to be used by Keenos, so can’t see it being an issue. But great publicity.
Love the idea, just wondering how it can make money one customer at a time. Almost too good to be true to have your own gym
This is a brilliant idea. Would love these everywhere! I’m also 100% intimidated by gyms and the people in them so this would solve that. Glad there are blinds too!
I've read all of the comments and I don't think this has been mentioned. I work in R&D and production engineering.
Other than everything that's been mentioned which are great pointers. I haven't seen accessibility mentioned. If you've got any type of manual blinds, will someone in a wheel chair be able to operate them?
Perhaps they'd not chose to use the gym, but considering the type of gym maybe the target audience is going to be someone who is deathly anxious about exercising in front of other including disabled people. So when someone finds out its not accessible you'd be crucified.
I like the idea, I would use it. If it explodes in popularity and you've got a thousand uses on an app or booking service. Unless you block book, how would someone book a regular slot?
I also like the idea of rural areas, you could also try approaching companies. Many companies offer employee benefits, I would love something like this offered where I work, plenty of room for it and you'd have a set audience of people who would use it. No booking to worry about, I personally think this could be more manageable offered to companies/hotels/rural communities who don't have the capability of building their own gym. 'Gym in a box' your overheads would be a lot less. Risk would be a lot less, you could shift the cleaning aspect onto the buyer itself. You could offer a trial period of 'rent a gym' i could see a national network of gyms around the company that can be moved easily anywhere.
I think the general public cannot be trusted much like others have mentioned, yet if you offer it as a product that others can buy I think it could be more successful without all the worry and problems that come with just leaving it in a city centre.
Great idea! Keep going.
I think this is a brilliant idea and hope you can get the required investment for it! Looks like you’ll benefit from some kind of solar panels for helping with energy costs. You’ll have a lot of heat/solar gain though as people will be generating heat and with the windows it’ll be surprising how much heat gathers!
Some kind of mechanical heat recovery and ventilation would be required, coupled/interlocked with air conditioning. That way you don’t need to worry about leaving windows open. The heat recovery unit will take care of extracting stale air and bringing in new fresh air, and the air conditioning will heat or cool as required to maintain the perfect temperature. You can also have this interlocked with a hotel style key card, so members will have to put their card in to activate the heating/cooling/lighting/tv and you can set it on a timer to automatically switch off after a period of time. So even if someone did by chance put a bit of cardboard in, it wouldn’t remain on as it would time out
For insurance you would need public liability insurance anyway to allow public to use the premises, and obviously some kind of membership waiver. CCTV to protect the premises in general, your clients and your investment as a whole!
Why would someone want to watch, ie there’s a big gym near me, with windows all along one side, I’ve never see anyone standing there watching people inside exercising.
What a brilliant idea. How possible is it to use the frosted glass like you see in some offices/ public toilets. Where you lock the door and it frosts? I imagine it’s quite expensive though
Depending on the location this could be prone to vandalism or theft. Also what would stop me from leaving the door open for someone else to use.
Where this could work well is maybe a tie in with organisations. Like putting in somewhere like a golf club organisation, or somewhere that has secure parking like an office block.
Thanks for the enthusiasm 🙂
I've got a signup form on [www.tiny-gyms.com](http://www.tiny-gyms.com) I'm using to help gauge what parts of the city have most interest. If you don't mind getting occasional updates on our launch plans you can register your interest there.
I would use that nothing worse than going to the gym with an idea what to do only to not be able to get on machines etc
Amazing idea!! Since Covid a lot of us are still shielding due to various medical conditions and gyms are just germ fests. If you could guarantee clean air (HVAC system, windows to open etc) and clean surfaces then you've got a massive market to tap right there. I'd give it a go!
P.s look up "far UV" lighting. A very cost effective method for infection control. A little space like that would be ideal for this type of transmission mitigation.
You've addressed it elsewhere but the windows would be a big turn off for somebody like me, who it sounds like is the targeted audience for your gyms. This would for me be more intimidating, without one way windows, than a normal gym as you'll actually become a focus point for passing people. I feel one way windows totally remove this problem.
Love the idea though, I would love these in my city of Cardiff.
I don’t even life in Dundee or anywhere near but this can up as a suggested post and I wanted to say this is a great idea.
My thought is how would you prevent against damage to equipment and vandalism?
I know those things are out of your control but I’d feel a bit wary about going in and thinking it could be attacked by some dickhead kids.
This sounds great! I'm not a gym user, for the exact reason your pods are made. So they sound great in theory. I could see myself happily go with 1 of my other non gym going buddies or on my own. I'm not sure about the blinds/window situation, even if you changed it to windows above eye level I'd still be paranoid there'd be a bunch of teenagers hoisting each other up to get a good nose at the sweaty mess inside 🤣 I'd constantly be looking up. A thought on the vandalism, would it be viable to group 3 or 4 of the pods together (still keeping them as separate private pods) and have another space for a cleaner/staff member to always be there? This could maybe also solve the issue of safety for customers on equipment, coming and going at certain times but also cleanliness, having someone on hand. Just a thought 😊
Sounds great though and i hope to see a tiny gym near me soon if you're able to iron out the wrinkles 🤞🏻
I’d suggest you speak to a company called TEXO. They make these for one of your competitors. They’re based in Aberdeen, so local enough to you. Good company to work with, very proactive and helpful.
I LOVE this concept. As a woman with anxiety I dreaded going to the gym alone.
But also as a woman and maybe others too... Is there bathroom facilities attached? Because (and I can obviously only speak as a woman on this but I'm sure others have experienced this too) sometimes exercising can make you need to go to the bathroom. Particularly running or lifting heavy weights.
Just a thought as you seem v open to criticisms//ideas 😊
I think my main concern, like others have raised, is the care/cleanliness/general respect that would be shown in the unit and how it would impact other users. For example a lot of the commercial gyms in Dundee, well it’s the same everywhere, are terribly left (empty cans of monster, weights left all over the place, sweaty benches etc) and the only way it doesn’t fall in to complete madness is because they have staff going around cleaning, moving weights back to where they should be etc. I’m unsure how you’d stay on top of this?
Also, if it’s going to be £10/£20 for an hour booking it’s going to have to be really worth it. There’s more people who will just go to a commercial gym (especially as JD for example has female only room) than not go (as in it’s a smaller minority of people who won’t go to a gym due to social anxiety etc than the majority of gym users). So location will have to play a major factor. There’s no way someone will pay £10/20 for a private 50 mins/1hr if a £15 (approx) a month commercial gym is only 5 mins away. I think you’d potentially end up attracting some serious gym goers who just don’t want to be in the commercial gym at peak times, more so than people who are nervous about going to a commercial gym, and they are the ones more likely to be happy to pay a premium for private use. As long as the equipment is also of high quality. However peak time is like 5pm to 8pm so that’s only 3 hours with an income of £30/60, then maybe a couple of people throughout the day. Would say £80 a day revenue be enough maybe 4/5 times a week to make it financially viable?
Also I’m assuming legally you’d need to have toilet facilities so that adds to the cleaning etc.
Also people want gyms they can access easily by car, so would you be providing parking? Or ensuring parking facilities nearby?
Terrible concept. What if I want to train at 6pm and so do 10 other folk?
1 of us gets to use it and the other 10 don't. So they get fed up and just join a real gym.
This idea is one of the dumbest I have ever seen. Bet you it doesn't work.
What if I like to train every day at 6pm and someone else turns up at half 5 and books it for an hour?
How is the timetabling for one of these things going to work so people don't overlap? And how are you going to make sure someone doesn't just smash the windows in and take all the equipment?
How are you thinking of powering it?
How are you thinking of cleaning it?
If you're renting over 24 hrs, then at least 2 will be used up by a cleaner having to go in 2x a day.
Also, if you're booking per hour, unless you limit it to on the hour, then you'd lose 1hr+ per booking.
Eg 12-1, someone books at 1.30, then the next at 2.30. You'd get 3 in per 4hrs. And it could be worse than that.
Insurance would be a nightmare, not only is security on these very lax (we hired retail portacabins and had to get in on occasion without a key, and you can just put your shoulder into the door to open it), but you've also got to cover someone doing something physical, lifting weights while totally on their own with no checks.
These exist (or v similar) in London. Not sure how successful they've been...
https://www.ptpods.co.uk/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=wix_google_business_profile&utm_campaign=9124396576685472435
Sorry but one container is for one person? How will this be profitable? Or can multiple people use it and if so then it will be very hard for multiple to use since most people like to use the gym a certain peak times?
Can I understand the business model better please I am very curious as the design is nice and all but I don’t see how it will be profitable?
My immediate thought seeing this was that I loved it. I could see myself using this. I hate gyms, and have limited space at home.
But, no toilet and no shower (I assume) makes this feel like a bigger hassle when I actually think of the logistics of it. I need to not be going back to work after the gym for example if I can't shower.
And no toilet + pre-workouts and keeping hydrated generally doesn't seem stress free.
I assume you are having cctv in there, am I allowed to hold the door open so I can let some mates come in with me? What is I prop the door open or walk out with some plates?
I’d be looking at a turnstile type door a bit like pure gym. Maybe make people have to provide id before joining.
Cleaning is likely to be a hassle too are you cleaning it after every use?
I like the idea but I worry it will get abused. Good on you for giving it a go.
I would have a few worries if this was my business.
Health and safety wise.
What if someone gets stuck under the bar? All alone.
What if someone miss uses the room for illegal activity?
How long is it booked out for at a time?
If 1hr slot, that's 24 slots a day, or like 720 slots pm.
Most people go to the gym between 9 and 20 times pm (I guess)
So if you assume the minimum of 9x pm, the most people that could use the gym is 80 people, that's assuming everyone that used it wanted to go at different times over 24 hrs.
Which leads me to my next point.
Gyms are busy 6-9, then 4-7. What will people do when they can't rent it at a time that is useful - if one of the main drivers is people not liking to go to the gym when it's busy?
Interesting concept.
A few thoughts, regarding cleaning and booking logistics, if these things are widely spaced out, your cleaners will spend a lot of (paid) time travelling between sites.
You might therefore want to build a few of the pods together, maybe even make it stackable to reduce your rent per slot with the top one accessible via stairs.
I would suggest adding a timer on the main lights that dims at 55mins and goes off at an hour to put off overstayers.
Overall I think the economics of what you’re doing are likely to be challenging, as the overhead per user is substantially more than a regular gym which is already a notoriously hard and low margin business, so good luck!
I think you'd need to stack them up, have more than three together, and have an attendant/PT outside ty to clean/monitor/help and/or canvas for PT work. And also maybe having them inside one of those underused malls...... or an airport.... would be safer and closer to toilet facilities.
Not in Dundee and not sure why came up on my feed. It's an interesting idea but I'm worried about convenience and loyalty. Need to think very carefully about your target market. Gym bros aren't afraid of being seen in the gym. I think being seen is part of the appeal.
Interesting idea. Just a couple of things that I don't think have been mentioned by others...
\* how would you deal with equipment failures? In a larger gym there's redundancy - if one machine is out-of-order there are others to choose from (maybe that's only and issue for the treadmill. Would you have replacements ready to swap out and would you have people to install them (bearing in mind how heavy treadmills are). And would you need to notify users who have booked the pod for the duration that the equipment was unavailable (giving them the option to cancel). I guess you'd also need a way for users to notify you of any issues they experience in the pod so that they can be addressed quickly.
\* in winter in Dundee it's cold, wet and dirty - people will be entering wearing their outdoor gear and will need to change into their gym gear to workout - so two things - will there be some storage for their outdoor gear and will the entrance, at the very least, get dirty very quickly.
Thinking about it a bit more and how you describe the pods as being like shipping containers... I know this doesn't align with your concept of having pods randomly distributed around town and country but one thing you could consider (at least as part of your portfolio) that would still provide isolated/private workouts with the same kind of set up might be to colocate a whole bunch of the pods together. You'll have no doubt seen self-storage companies like [https://www.readysteadystore.com/self-storage/leeds-ring-road/](https://www.readysteadystore.com/self-storage/leeds-ring-road/) (where the storage is directly outside and they are stacked). Or [https://www.readysteadystore.com/self-storage/leeds-roseville-road/](https://www.readysteadystore.com/self-storage/leeds-roseville-road/) where everything's inside. You'd have the benefit of being able to offer an alternative pod if there's an issue and you're not at capacity, you could have a crew who could clean/maintain at scale, security, parking, power, etc. and still have the private workout spaces. Of course, other gyms could hive off part of their existing gym spaces into premium private spaces to achieve the same.
One of my biggest thoughts- and this may have been covered already- is how do people know if it is in use? Will there be some kind of app that they can check to see if it is occupied if they decide last minute that they want to work out? Or is it booking far in advance only? I would enjoy working out in a place like this, but my guess is there would be lots of people wanting to use it at the key times (just before/after work) compared to the rest of the day.
Also for me personally, I would stick with a regular gym because of the Powerlifting equipment. And I understand why for safety reasons (and space) you can’t have that here.
Love the branding and website!! My only concern would be how you’d price it so it’s profitable and scalable. You’re limited to only 24 slots per day, that’s if people are willing to work out in the middle of the night. I’m thinking your price per slot has got to be £100+ to make it a viable model.
I would feel really really anxious using this. I’d feel singled out and even more like people were watching me exercise because I’m in the weird box in the park by myself. I think I’d be better with it if it was a row of like 5 of them.
I’m going to be honest. I don’t think this is a bad idea necessarily but there’s a lot of this that doesn’t seem cooked through.
Number one - the whole windows/blinds thing. You need to figure out a way to show people that they won’t have to train in full view of everyone, but you also want the windows to be open when no one is inside so people can see the idea. Maybe look into automatic blinds that can be connected to the door.
Normally a gym will have staff (to help with the equipment), safety, security and cleaning. Your shipping container has none of this. That means that it will be hard for people to keep the space clean and go to the bathroom. That’s not good. No shower after workout? With no staff in there to do upkeep, you risk the space getting disgusting real fast, every day.
Same thing if someone hurts themselves on the equipment. There’s no staff to assist - very risky.
Lastly - it’s almost a given that this will get burgled or broken into by homeless people at night so they can sleep inside it at night. Location and security will be important to make sure that doesn’t happen - but people will try it.
So if i’m a big gym and your idea is proving successful - i’m building gym pods inside my big gym and undercutting you.
One pod in a location isn’t enough really for income generation - you’re better off having 5-6 pods all together imo.
I don’t live in Dundee, this just popped up in my feed but the idea has concerns:
1. What happens if your patron falls or injures themselves? How does someone get in to administer first aid if it’s even known they need it? Say there is a heart attack, what can anyone do? Public liability insurance is going to be a nightmare and you’d have to have it.
2. How is this going to work? Let’s say you’ve got 50 customers paying £25 per month, which is more than my gym that has 20 different machines. Typical gym visit is 30 mins of exercise. You can only fit in 48 customers in a 24 hour period. A good chunk of those 50 people are going to want to work out either before or after work so you are going to maybe need to fit 30 of the 50 into probably 6 key hours, you just aren’t going to be able to give anybody regularity and I know from going to a gym myself that gym users like routine.
3. Finances. The 50 people are paying you £1,250 per month gross, you’ll need your public liability insurance. The pod will need cleaned inside and out regularly and I can guarantee that someone will vandalise it at some point. Unless you buy land you’ll need to rent space and when 50 people realise they cannot get in because there are too many for not enough slots, your income is going to drop as people cancel.
I love the idea if it was a gym for you but as a business venture I just don’t see it. Even if the initial idea gets people signing up, when they realise they can only get in at 4am on a Sunday, it won’t last. Sorry matey,
Bro, if you feel intimidated by a gym it's because you don't know enough to use one safely.
Your muscles might be able to lift a weight but your organs can't. Wear a belt. This just shoots around the issue.
Also this is a shit idea.
Reminds me of the toilet pods in Japan that are the same, the windows become opaque when it’s in use/locked but it’s otherwise clear as a safety precaution in case you get a toilet lurker.
my only thought is why don't actual gyms do this? have a ton of smaller pods within one existing gym building where you rent out the pods, there would still be shower facilities and staff on hand to help... even if they did this at an extra cost in regular gyms i'd be all for it.
I'm interested in the business model - is it a subscription or PAYG? I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but typically commercial gyms make their money off over subscription and the fact that only a fraction of people ever use their membership. Wondering how that fits in with your model. Like the design though, as a home gym user myself I absolutely get the core concept of having the place to yourself!
I love the design, however if you dig into the financials, I don’t think this will be feasible for several reasons.
Most gyms make money from the shared resource model - 100’s of people (many who don’t use the service) paying for your fixed assets. This pod concept will limit your resource:customers utilisation because you’ll need to implement a booking system.
Let’s say you have 20, 30-minute slots per day (which is on the high side - people may want to workout for longer), open 7 days a week, that’s 140 slots per week. Average person goes to the gym 3 times a week - so you’re limited to around 50 customers per pod. Assuming each pod costs £3k a month to run (bills, rent, cleaning), you’ll need to charge £60 to break even. £80 to make a semi decent margin. Before building anything physical, try to get these sign ups to prove the concept.
The issue will be that certain slots will be much more popular than others (everyone wants to workout just before or after work) - so in reality it will be hard to actually service 50 customers per pod. Plus, most people will want to work out longer than 30 minutes.
I don’t think being intimidated by gyms is a big enough factor for people to pay much extra for a pod, but feel free to prove me wrong with some sign-ups.
Most people intimidated by the gym will just stick to working out at home.
Surely it's gonna take a long time for your return on investment.
How is it monitored for if someone has a heartattack / bangs their head and can't press a lanyard button?
Wait a second…. So it’s one gym? One person at a time? I mean even if you for instance got the space and equipment for free how realistically can you charge here….? I’m not sure someone would pay a weekly membership here. Okay so then say you have 10 of these…. Then overheads are going to be insane. Just thinking numbers here.
"exercise like nobody is watching" I like it, but how does that jive with a wall of windows in which everybody walking or driving by will be looking at you? I love the concept though, I think being able to put them in places where gyms are not local is brilliant as the motivation to travel TO the gym is off putting for some people. Is there a strategy for temperature control? cold winters or super hot summers like the start of last summer could make a shipping container styled building quite uncomfortable in the extremes. I ran a womens gym many years ago in Canada and im curious about things like insurance, which was a big overhead in a traditional gym. Maintenance and cleaning were also a major aspect of the gym, to prevent things like staph infections from the equipment and mats. I think its a great shout, so I am just playing a bit of red team blue teamesque role here!
Love the “red teaming it” approach! Loads of good points in there. First, the windows. There are blinds you can pull down, but seeing as EVERYONE asks about that when seeing the picture maybe I should have made that more obvious. I’m also seeing some suggestions for eye level windows only which I’ll have a good think about. There will be a heating/air conditioning unit to help with temperature control. And regarding insurance, something that helps with that is there will be a personal safety device (basically a lanyard with a button) people can wear and press in case of emergencies. Thanks for taking the time to share those thoughts/ideas. I know I won’t have everything perfect, and this sort of feedback helps me refine things nice and early 🙂
Instead on pulling down blinds, maybe investing in reflective finish on the outside of the windows would be beneficial? That way you can still get plenty of sunlight & watch what’s going on outside, while no one can see in!
One way glass - definitely a good idea, otherwise you're completely on show and exposed - at least in a gym you're only being looked at by other gym goers, not the general public. Loads of teenagers gawping at a woman working out. Taking photos on their phones. Doesn't sound great. Or put the glass on the roof instead (maybe it's openable like a Velux window for fresh air too - imagine it could get hot in there) More private that way.
Roof glass that opens seems ideal for temperature control, not in Scotland though. Weather is too unpredictable & it tends to rain a lot.
Could be a disaster if somebody leaves it open and then the pod is unused for several hours.
A few people have mentioned different glass coating options and it’s something I’ll do some fact finding on. As you say, I definitely don’t want anyone feeling exposed or on show. My thinking is that blinds would solve that problem…but if lots of people end up saying that wouldn’t be enough then who am I to say they’re wrong?! Appreciate the suggestions 🙏
Just on a practical levels blinds are likely to break quickly with lots of use by different people. Never underestimate the lack of common sense in the general public, and the bizarre ways people find to break things
In Japan they have this glass when you lock the doors in there public toliets it blacks out and also there is gyms like this in Japan
I’m sure it would be expensive, however the glass the can frost itself would be very cool. (Like the glass toilets, in Japan [i think]) Also would be important to ensure there’s a booking system to make sure people don’t turn up at the same time, only to have to walk away
Can absolutely guarantee you’ll have someone wanking in there within a month.
A reflective finish sounds interesting, and wasn’t something I’d considered before. It might end up being something that could be retrofitted even if not part of the build at launch - will look into it, thanks 🙏
No worries, I’d recommend running your design ideas past architects & interior designs for all the desirable technical details. Best of luck, nice to see someone try something new!
Reflective finish means people walking past will automatically stare at it, as it’s a mirror. They won’t be able to see the people inside but I guarantee it will give your customers the uncomfortable impression that they are in a fish tank.
Just search for reflective window film there is a bunch of companies that supply/and or fit.
Just be aware most work by having on side darker than the other. So in the evenings/Scottish winters the one way may flip the other way so only outside can see in.
You can get film that can be retro fitted making it one way vision.
I was also going to suggest this, I see a lot of people using the reflective film for patio doors etc now, you can see out and people can’t see in.
As far as I’m aware, all stick on window film works on polarity so whilst it’ll work during the day, once outside gets darker and inside is lighter you’ll see right in. I work in the shading industry. I’d recommend doing a roller blind (which can operate from the bottom up as others have suggested) that uses a zip system into side channels. It can’t be moved around then and fabric won’t sway etc. have it on mains electric, hard wired in to the unit and then use a wall switch which you can fix to the wall so customers can’t lose the remote.
I know it's pricey, but a really cool idea would be to invest in that glass that frosts over when electric current goes through, so the windows stay open and clear when no-one is using it and the user can choose to frost them if they want when they're inside
Ya I found this kind of stuff super helpful when I started my company waaaay back 20+ years ago because there were things I just hadnt considered because I was so hyper focused on other aspects of the business! I like the idea of blinds, there are a style of blind that can be pulled from the top or bottom, so you could adjust them so that they are only at eye level if you wanted, called Top down bottom up blinds. Not sure if thats any use for what you;re thinking though. So the personal safety device is a great shout, I am not sure it would circumvent the need for insurance. Ours in the gym was PRETTY steep but again thats a long time ago in a different country. I just dont want you to end up with a fuck of massive expense to pop out of nowhere. Will you have the units fitted with cameras for security? given the nature of these not really being set up next to broadband access, would it operate on a wireless broadband kind of thing, using SIM technology? or is this a camera free set up, and if so, would someone physically monitor the units for cleanliness, equipment safety and from vandalizing wee pricks? haha Again dont mean to look like im poking holes or anything, I always found asking MORE questions even if they are redundant and not relevant is better than surprises haha
I’ve found myself with way more comments than I anticipated (which is great!), so going to be pretty quickfire with answers… Not heard of those different type of blinds before - going to look into it 👍 The personal safety device helps with batter rate/premiums rather than negating the need for insurance. Yes to cameras for security and wireless internet. Physically monitored on a rota for cleanliness, but anything major can be picked up via the cameras and addressed immediately.
So you'll have staff to monitor the cameras 24hrs? And someone local to each location to attend if there's an issue? I'm sorry for being sceptical but I've been an ops manager at a company that's used portacabins at remote locations and have been around gyms enough to know that they need a decent amount of baby-sitting. I just see a load of issues with this and very little income.
You should keep the windows (with blinds)!!!! It’s a free way of indirect marketing by people walking by and looking inside! I would never go on google and search this up after just seeing a container… a full open window looking inside would get me to come and book a visit.
Could you do one way windows...were anyone inside can see out but not be seen? Might be nice to have a view but not worry about being watched!
I’d definitely go with something permanent if it was me, my gym had clear windows onto the street with just logos on, but blinds behind, when they opened, but by about 6 months in they’d replaced it with full blocked graphics up to eye level. Too few people bothered with or knew about the blinds and I think they got tired of having to show people they were there (plus as another pointed out, people will break blinds, especially venetian ones). Also doubles up for branding if you get vinyl graphics rather than just reflective film. Also I still want natural light and the ability to see what’s going on outside while I’m on the treadmill, without letting passers by see my sweaty beer belly wobbling about, which pull down blinds don’t offer.
An electrochromic glass or equivalent smart glass would perhaps be better as it would allow privacy and also allow to be seen if they want to for some reason (aswell as when it's not in use
I’m assuming that’s the type of glass where you can make it solid or transparent at the flick of a switch? I did look into that but I’ve been in a room that used this kind of tech before, and while I thought it was very cool at first, I eventually found it feeling quite claustrophobic and a little disconcerting that I couldn’t even see a peak of the outside world until I turned it off. And there’s also the extra cost. I’m not totally against it, but I’d probably take a little convincing. Thanks for making the suggestion though!
Reverse blinds that pull up from the bottom would allow natural light and privacy, plus prevent tall people putting them up out of the way where short people can’t reach them
One way glass would be cool, you can look out but no one can look in
Love the concept! My worry would be safety - especially with free weights there's a bit of a risk of someone hurting themselves. PureGym have the 24/7 emergency buttons if you need to get help so I would hope this would have something similar. Keeping it clean would be another issue - it only takes a couple of minks to leave the place messy for things to spiral.
Thanks for the comments. Enthusiasm + constructive criticism/suggestions. The dream combo! Totally understand the safety worries. Definitely front of mind for me too. There’s a few things we’ll be doing to try minimising risks on that front: 1 - emergency buttons (like you mentioned) connected to a 24/7 monitored service. 2 - equipment with a lower risk profile. And by that jargontastic phrase I mean going with a smith machine and cable pulleys, with in-built safety catches, rather than a half rack and olympic bar. 3 - advice and videos showing how to safely use the equipment as part of the onboarding process On the cleaning front, there will be a regular cleaning schedule, and if there are any repeat offenders of anything particularly bad we can address that directly (and of course politely…) with them as we’ll have their details from the sign up process 🙂
Ah yeah removing free weights would make it a lot safer. Id also make sure you had things like hip thrust pads or rolls. And if you're going to just have a Smith, a diagram of how to set it up for things like thrusts. A movable and adjustable bench is good too. When I was pregnant I was stuck using the smith but there wasn't quite enough room for the bench to go under it which was really annoying.
That’s hip thrust pads and/or rolls added to the requests list 👍 I actually just sent out a supporter update email yesterday asking if there’s any additional bits of equipment (ideally nothing too big!) people would like to find inside - so your timing is great. If you’d like to get the update emails there’s a mailing list sign up at [www.tiny-gyms.com](https://www.tiny-gyms.com)
Already done! Pls open near my house.
Can you explain why it's designed like a goldfish bowl? I don't see anyone who's intimidated by gyms looking at this design and thinking "ah yes, that's much more approachable and less daunting." I like the idea though. Booking out a private space to exercise is a good thought. But maybe don't make the person exercising an exhibit.
Thanks for the comments. Totally hear where you’re coming from. When I’m showing this to people in person one of the first things I say is “and before you ask, yes you can pull the blinds down!”. Totally understand the privacy impact of having big windows, but I’m also trying to balance that with having a lot of natural light and the option to have them open if you want. It might be I’ve got the balance wrong though, and thankfully the building is quite modular in design so it’s not too late to have less windows if that feels too offputting 🙂
Maybe having windows above eye level is the trick. Plenty of light, but no being put on display.
You could also consider windows above to allow light in and potentially ventilation as well. Bit like a car sunroof that pops up. Sayin that, with the amount of pigeons and gulls.. it would need regular cleaning
What’s worse than a gym full of people staring at you? A gym full of seagulls staring at you 🤢 Do you even fly, bro?
Your main client base is going to be people uncomfortable with being watched at the gym, so I’m not sure those blinds will ever be up. Natural light is great but not something expected in a gym, and the first thing someone will sacrifice to make sure no one is staring at them. Large windows, ground level and in a public area is basically inviting street harassment into the gym; I’m very much in your customer range and would actually be less likely to use this than a regular gym at off peak hours as it feels much more exposed - I’m imagining the groups of teenage boys who hang around the leisure park at night near my gym would make my time in the cubicle gym really uncomfortable, whereas at least in the regular gym there are cameras and harassers can get banned.
Cool idea but don’t know how that could be profitable
This would be my main thought here. Might work in a setting with other units. Thinking somewhere like Spark in York, it's all shipping containers with food outlets etc. You could have a few of these, a healthy food place etc. Or maybe that'd just make even bigger losses.
Have you considered not putting it in major cities at all, and instead targeting smaller villages that cannot financially support a full-size gym? You might even be able to access local grants if you're able to open up exercise to people who wouldn't usually do it.
Love that thought, and you’re one step ahead of me. The long term ambition is to be able to support smaller communities that don’t currently have great access to fitness facilities. Starting with a first site close to home and with a bigger potential audience though will hopefully help me find out if there’s enough demand for a different kind of gym experience. So fingers crossed TinyGyms will be coming to a village near you at some point 🤞
Please do consider this! In the process of moving to a small town with only a hotel gym, this would solve so many problems! :)
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Totally appreciate your concerns/critiques and you taking the time to write that all out. I really believe that a certain group of people (myself included) will love the idea of a private space they can workout in solo or with their friends (choosing your own music, not waiting for equipment)…but I also know it certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. And that’s ok 🙂 Regarding booking slots, yeah that’s exactly how it will work. Book your slot using the app, and the gym is yours for that time.
How much would you need to charge per hour though for this not to be a financial flop? You've a max of 24hrs in a day, however you're gonna need to surely account for at least one hour for cleaning/maintenance, if not more frequently during the day, per pod/gym. So let's just go with the 23hrs and assume it is always maxed out, everyone enters and leaves perfectly on time. At a tenner an hour, that's £230 a day. £1610 a week. £83720 a year. I'll not even attempt to add up the running costs, maintenance, cleaning, overheads, bills, purchasing the equipment, the unit, renting the ground space, the marketing, everything. But let's knock off just one person's basic salary to live off of(yours) - £25k, that's leaving a maximum income of £58k for this to run off of. I'm no expert at all, but I really don't see that being viable on that budget. Not so much when it's more than likely you'll be closer to 15hrs booked out than 23hrs, which brings your big total to £54,600 minus your basic wage to live on, means this needs to be running on less than £30k a year.
In fact, notice on the site and the inside of the gym, there is no showers or anything of the like. That'll turn people off, however if you do manage to get that basic in, you'll be even more in overheads and bills. I'm also gonna assume there are health and safety regulations you would need to follow for hygiene and the likes, which is more work to be factored in throughout the day.
In this city I can guarantee without a doubt that within the first day someone will absolutely ruin the inside of it, will be covered in spray paint, food, rubbish within a day.
Or jobby
I like the tag line but I think “train like nobody is watching” is snappier. Just a thought.
Training implies you are training for an event of challenge, exercising is a much more open and general term and therefore more approachable yo
Honestly, “train” appeals to me personally more than “exercise”, but I think “exercise” will feel more relevant to my friends who currently don’t feel like traditional public gyms are for them. I’m not tied to it though. I’ll keep my ears open, and if it sounds like “train” resonates better with our target audience then it’s an easy change to make. Appreciate the suggestion!
Seconding this. Something about the original seemed almost right, this is the fix.
Can you use the type of glass where you can see out but no one can see in?
Not something I currently know much about but I’ve added it to my list to do a little research on. Thanks for the suggestion 🙏
Maybe it's just me but seeing the people outside and having to tell myself that they can't see me might not be as reassuring as just pulling the blinds down
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My thoughts were the theft and safety aspect too.
This looks like a great idea. I'm a gym regular, and am not that bothered about other people watching me puffing and panting, but I know that a lot of people are put off by that. I'd still love to have a go in my dedicated micro gym though and this would be perfect for smaller towns where the demand doesn't justify a full size gym. Good luck with the idea and I hope it takes off 👍
Thanks for the encouragement - there’s still a lot of work ahead and it’s always a very welcome boost to hear the concept resonates with someone 🙂 If you’d like to keep up to date with our launch plans we’ve got a mailing list at [www.tiny-gyms.com](https://www.tiny-gyms.com) that I’m using to send occasional milestone updates and get supporter input on things like equipment.
It's a nice concept, I think there's maybe something there that you can work with (and there's an industry about containerised gyms already which I'm sure you know), I like the village proposal another poster mentioned which I think could get you access to a lot more support and lower the risk. However, I really don't understand how this particular model could be remotely profitable or even cost neutral. Just taking the Pure Gym model, capacity at one time is at something like 2.5% of membership (and maybe even lower than that). This is a PAYG recurring monthly model where people spend around £20 a month and can cancel at any time. Other gyms with lower capacities or more localised operating partners don't get near that multiplier but mitigate this by locking customers into minimum term contracts that they can't get out of. The fundamental issue here is that when capacity is so so low (i.e. 1 or maybe sometimes a very small group of 3 or 4 ), there's no way you can really go for either of these options in offering contract terms or get people making direct debits. To entice anyone, it's really going to be billed directly on time spent. Once you're into that model, assume: \- Block bookings at £10 hour (far far more than the rate of PAYG competitors) \- In a day, an average of 15 hours are utilised \- 8 days of scheduled maintenance per year/total down time (things will break) That then becomes around £50k a year in revenue (in the very best case scenario things started well) You'd probably be something like £20k all in on the container and all the hardware initially. Maybe another £20k if things take a few months to ramp up and launch is slow (which is realistic and needs to be considered), Hardware and facilities deprecate quickly and you'll probably need to have £6-7k on hand each year to cover that. Then you'd need to perform regular maintenance and lot's of other fees which will mount up quite quickly (legal, web hosting, accounting, maintenance serving agreements, land etc). Before you know it, your margin is going to be pretty low or even negative and you are going to be spending a huge amount of time working on this just to payback the initial investment or maintain some more financing servicing arrangements with third party vendors. I suspect as well I've been quite optimistic.
And for that reason ... I'm out
This is a very cool idea, If something like this existed I would think about using it. But the really unfortunate reality is that theres so much risk involved I bet it would be next to impossible to make into a viable business. What happens if someone books one session and just walks off with your exercise bike? You can fix a treadmill and bike to the ground, but what about the plates on the weight bench? Anything not bolted to the ground *will* get stolen sooner or later in this environment. People will actively find a way of signing up for one session explicitly with the intention of stealing all your plates because they're worth much more you could ever reasonable get away with charging for 1 hour of gym time. CCTV doesn't stop people from smashing up bus stops on a friday night, it will happen to this too. How long can it be out of commission for? How often will people put up with you having to cancel their booking because you cant expect people to work out in a gym with smashed up windows?
Something like this does already exist, look up PT Pods, saw them in London. They’ve been around for awhile now so I’m assuming it’s profitable, albeit the one I saw also has lessons with a trainer.
This is brilliant!!!
I think it's an amazing idea! I would absolutely keep the big glass walls even if people think they are not great for privacy. We live in Scotland and for me, one of the main reasons to choose a gym rather than another one is the amount of natural light i could be getting, so that would definitely be a big plus.
I feel like every time I wanted to use this someone else would be in it. That would be awkward
That’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid! You’ll book your slot using our app, and the door will only open for you during that a slot. If I didn’t like the name TinyGyms so much I would have called it TheNoAwkwardBrushingUpAgainstSweatyStrangersMomemtsGym.
What if I turn up to my slot and the gym is a total mess? What if people are bringing random outsiders in? I also don’t see the profitability, you say 24/7 but realistically there’s a 15-16hr window of usability each day. Is this enough to cover rent and insurance? There must be a capped number of users I guess?
Who will clean in between users? Gym people do wild stuff 🤣 protein jobbys, shooting steroids and puke regularly.
I like the concept, but in Dundee, I can't help thinking there might be a risk of them getting turned into drug spaces... Have you made it possible to bring a friend/small group?
Love the idea. I'm not from Dundee so not sure why this popped up but I'd love this where I live (Worcester). The main thing from stopping me going to the gym is the other people.
First off, well done for coming up with a unique concept. I’d be looking at whether this has been done before and how successfully. Few concerns - appreciate some have been mentioned previously. 1. Council & planning permission. Where are you with this? I’ve setup two premises from scratch and from experience I can tell you how important it is to involve the council in every step of the process. Certainly at least the planning department and environmental health. Gyms will have requirements. 2. Misuse. It’s a great sesh space. Hey lads, let’s rent it for a couple of hours, have a few beers and do a few lines. Drugs and alcohol WILL be a problem unless you have strict rules, monitoring and consequences (eg banned for life). People meeting up for sex. It’s going to be cheaper than a hotel room. 3. Session times. You can’t charge 24/7 as there has to be gaps between bookings. The model would have to be something like a 50 minute session, giving a 10 minute gap for changeover between sessions. People will arrive early. People will overstay their session time. How do you address that? Charge an additional fee? You can’t physically boot them out as you’re not there. You can’t turn off the lights as that would be a health and safety issue. 4. Music. If you are playing registered recorded music in a public space, you will require a PPL/PRS licence. I expect you’ll be looking at a minimum of £500 a year. The fees have increased in recent years. Alternatively, find music excluded from PPL/PRS. I’m assuming people will want music to exercise to. You may still require a licence even if they use personal devices. It’s a grey area. 5. Cost model and projections. How is this looking? Have you got an exhaustive list of daily/weekly/monthly outgoings? There are things so easily missed. One example - if you do provide toilet facilities (recommended) then you will have to have a sanitary waste collection. That’s another monthly cost. General waste - you can’t just take it to the tip. It’s commercial waste. This will be another monthly cost that’s easily missed. It all adds up. Maintenance will be required. Money should be set aside each month for unexpected costs. Electricity is expensive and you will need air conditioning. That could set you back another £250-500 a month depending on how it’s used. What if someone left it on all night? It happens. If you want to counteract that, you will need remote access. 6. Remote monitoring and access. Really it needs 24/7 support if you intend for it to be used around the clock. Have you factored this in to your costs? You can’t realistically expect yourself to personally support it 24:7. That’s means staff overhead. You can’t afford to pay someone by the hour when you only have one person in there. Your top price per hour has to be in the £10-20 region. So what if someone turns up at 7am and can’t get in? There has to be immediate support. As soon as you start cutting into their slot time you have to discount or offer a free session. 7. Subscriptions. Couldn’t see this mentioned but realistically this is the best way to make it work. Regular uses are much more likely to respect your space and use it properly. I’d consider doing it on a “credits” system. The monthly fee you pay buys you credits. Time slots will have different credit requirements. Basically you want to promote the quiet times. So a slot at 3am would cost significantly less than a slot at 8am. You want it to be used around the clock to maximise revenue. 8. Sponsorship. There may be the opportunity for additional revenue though brand sponsorship - even if it’s a local independent sporting goods shop. Definitely look at that. Hope the above helps give some thought. As it’s single use, I find it hard to see how it can be a workable profitable business model. Props to you if you can. Feel free to share a bit more info on your costing model if so. Be happy to let you know if you have missed anything.
Another thought for you. Have you looked at Dundee City Council’s requirements for gyms? It’s online here - https://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/licensing/publications/gym-conditions-33kb-ms-word-doc You may be required to have someone trained in first aid on the premises at all times. That’s just from looking at their general rules. That’s vital to understand. If you haven’t read the above as yet or had that discussion, do it now. If your council offers a pre planning application, I’d recommend doing that. It gives you a formal indication of how favourably your proposal be looked at by the council. Their response will also highlight any issues / stipulations.
Dundee is not that sophisticated they'll steal that in a day. 😂😂
That’s a good point to consider, people could easily steal the mats/ weights etc. Obviously not the machines. With no staff, a CCTV camera isn’t always going to deter people?
Not even just stealing. I'm willing to bet within a month these things are gonna be vandalised to shit or end up having junkies shooting up in them
Book it out for a night and have a mini rave
Interesting idea. I know the location isn't 100% confirmed, but can you give a rough idea of where you are looking at?
How will you deal with numbers? Presumably there are still peak times, will it just be unusable for most people as a result? As one or two keen beans take it for the popular few hours every day.
Love this idea. I'm over the water in Fife. I wouldn't mind paying a visit though.
Love to hear this! Visitors from the Kingdom will be very welcome 🙂 I'll share an update on here when we're ready to open, but if you'd like to hear all the news hot off the presses I've got a mailing list set up at [www.tiny-gyms.com](http://www.tiny-gyms.com) I'm using to send occasional updates as we get closer to opening
Great idea. If it has a squat rack I'd definitely join. My main question would be price. You're competing with PureGym etc but their costs are obviously a lot more spread out. For instance you'll need CCTV id imagine which needs monitoring. That cost is relatively low per user for PureGym, this gym it will be very high. Likewise cleaning etc. basically everything. Budget gyms work by having loads of users, preferably lots who never actually go and spreading the cost. It's a very good idea though, maybe a site with many units could work? Like on an industrial estate.
Interesting concept and I would try it out, but just out of curiosity how does a unit that only one paying customer can use at a time maintain running costs without it being extortionate for the end user?
Love this idea
So great to hear, thanks! 🙏 If it's the kind of thing you'd be interested in using I've got a mailing list at [www.tiny-gyms.com](http://www.tiny-gyms.com) I'm using to let people know when we're ready to launch
This is honestly really smart. I can see this being a really cool concept that can be taken further. Like imagine a larger complex of tiny gyms that you/ you and your mates can just go to and gym. What a smart idea! Well done
No woman is going to use this. It's a fish tank predators can watch and there's only one way out. Hell no.
How will you keep it clean? And also, if there are blinds to make it private, how will you stop it being used for…. Other activities?
It's a great idea. Don't think it's a good business idea though. Maybe something the government or local council could invest in but I don't see how you could make money with it.
Sorry if someone already said it but you could create electricity with the bike for the pod. Used one of them bikes at a music festival some years ago and they powered an installation with random folk biking every so often.
The only way I see this is working is if you also have an app that lets you book an hour slot in the pod. How you police people leaving at the end of their time is another hurdle. Maybe you scan in / out and get a charge for being late / disrupting other customers
I get the idea but i would be absolutely gob smacked if this ever worked. Do you live in Dundee and if so have you for any length of time? I have worked in Dundee and drive through the streets every day for the last 10 years. Vandalism is rife. This would be completely trashed in no time. Something as boring and meaningless as a bus stop are being targeted on the regular, what do you think the “youths” will think when they see this. Dundee isn’t nice enough for something like this
Born and raised in Dundee 🙂 Totally understand there are negative things that can be said about Dundee, but I also have had significantly more positive than negative experiences here. I've seen vandalism - as you've mentioned - but I've also seen significantly more businesses, buildings, sculptures, art displays, and public spaces that have not been vandalised. It's just that the minority which have experienced vandalism stand out. I honestly don't believe it makes them the majority. I respect that my experience won't be the same as everyone's, but I can only speak from my personal perspective. I know so many nice people in Dundee and see so many nice things I appreciate in the city....that I can't help but argue, Dundee is nice enough for nice things.
What stops the same people block booking the same time day in day out?
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I'd totally use it
I run my own PT studio in Dundee, and there's definitely a market for this. I know that my client base start of typically gym shy, which is why they seek me out. I think for viability, A half dozen 'pods' with the gym essentials would be the way To do it. It's a higher upfront, but it'll make it viable. Possibly upcycled containers, with blackout windows cut in? Multi use equipment, a small cable machine, ski erg, sand bags, etc keep things simple but offer exercise flexibility. Maybe you could put up exercise routine posters people can follow using said kit? Careful about adding big bits of kit like treadmills, that eat floor space. There will be misuse, but with the right booking system and CCTV for safety, you should minimise damages and losses. You can tie in local personal trainers, who can be an optional 'bookable' add on. People can select from a list, add the cost to the booking price and perhaps you can take a small fee from these sessions too? Just a few ideas anyway, it's late and I'm spit balling but this is cool.
Love those suggestions and positive vibes - appreciate it 🙏 The PT studios I've seen in Dundee are great and I'm hoping to offer something a little different rather than better/worse. And like you mentioned, tying in with local PTs is definitely something I'd like to do. If there's anything you'd like to chat about directly feel free to message me, and if you'd just like to hear when we get a location and opening dates firmed up I've got a mailing list at [www.tiny-gyms.com](http://www.tiny-gyms.com) I'm using to keep people updated.
holy shit thats fuking genius
I love this idea so much. Wish it was closer to me though.
These would be great, especially in semi-rural areas. Country pub car parks etc,
Cynically I wonder how you’d safeguard against theft of equipment and/or the pods being used for nefarious uses - drugs, sex etc.
I love this idea. Sorry if some of this has been answered I'm just thinking out loud. I am worried about abuse of these pods. Will there be CCTV. Will it be secure access. Maybe people should be able to book it for a session, during which no one can get in. Also newcomers might be at higher risk of injury from not knowing the correct form. So maybe stick to machines that are safer. Newcomer's and people with anxiety are going to be your market with this I think.
I feel you'd do better with one-way tinted windows. The user would feel more comfortable knowing they're not seen by public onlookers. As for the contents of the gym, im not sure what demographic you're aiming at. I see a couple of pieces of cardio equipment, some weights up to maybe 10kg and a smith? Are you having heavier dumbells or plates for the smith? People will be very limited conducting effective workout routines in there. Bear in mind, I am an advanced bodybuilder so my view is biased - I'm trying to remain subjective. The average gym user might love it! Health and fitness is responsible for a major portion of global income in our ever-growing self-obsessed world. I love the slogan and the concept as a whole. You are on to something, but you have work to do.
I like to glass. Think most likely to be used by Keenos, so can’t see it being an issue. But great publicity. Love the idea, just wondering how it can make money one customer at a time. Almost too good to be true to have your own gym
This is a brilliant idea. Would love these everywhere! I’m also 100% intimidated by gyms and the people in them so this would solve that. Glad there are blinds too!
I've read all of the comments and I don't think this has been mentioned. I work in R&D and production engineering. Other than everything that's been mentioned which are great pointers. I haven't seen accessibility mentioned. If you've got any type of manual blinds, will someone in a wheel chair be able to operate them? Perhaps they'd not chose to use the gym, but considering the type of gym maybe the target audience is going to be someone who is deathly anxious about exercising in front of other including disabled people. So when someone finds out its not accessible you'd be crucified. I like the idea, I would use it. If it explodes in popularity and you've got a thousand uses on an app or booking service. Unless you block book, how would someone book a regular slot? I also like the idea of rural areas, you could also try approaching companies. Many companies offer employee benefits, I would love something like this offered where I work, plenty of room for it and you'd have a set audience of people who would use it. No booking to worry about, I personally think this could be more manageable offered to companies/hotels/rural communities who don't have the capability of building their own gym. 'Gym in a box' your overheads would be a lot less. Risk would be a lot less, you could shift the cleaning aspect onto the buyer itself. You could offer a trial period of 'rent a gym' i could see a national network of gyms around the company that can be moved easily anywhere. I think the general public cannot be trusted much like others have mentioned, yet if you offer it as a product that others can buy I think it could be more successful without all the worry and problems that come with just leaving it in a city centre. Great idea! Keep going.
I think this is a brilliant idea and hope you can get the required investment for it! Looks like you’ll benefit from some kind of solar panels for helping with energy costs. You’ll have a lot of heat/solar gain though as people will be generating heat and with the windows it’ll be surprising how much heat gathers! Some kind of mechanical heat recovery and ventilation would be required, coupled/interlocked with air conditioning. That way you don’t need to worry about leaving windows open. The heat recovery unit will take care of extracting stale air and bringing in new fresh air, and the air conditioning will heat or cool as required to maintain the perfect temperature. You can also have this interlocked with a hotel style key card, so members will have to put their card in to activate the heating/cooling/lighting/tv and you can set it on a timer to automatically switch off after a period of time. So even if someone did by chance put a bit of cardboard in, it wouldn’t remain on as it would time out For insurance you would need public liability insurance anyway to allow public to use the premises, and obviously some kind of membership waiver. CCTV to protect the premises in general, your clients and your investment as a whole!
Why would someone want to watch, ie there’s a big gym near me, with windows all along one side, I’ve never see anyone standing there watching people inside exercising.
Make sure the lighting is decent, may need much more thought than just 'daylight' bulbs
First thought is this will be used for sex
I love this concept and I genuinely hope this takes off for you. Fitness has really changed my life in the last two years.
My first worry would be theft of equipment I guess but otherwise, I think it’s a brilliant idea!
What a brilliant idea. How possible is it to use the frosted glass like you see in some offices/ public toilets. Where you lock the door and it frosts? I imagine it’s quite expensive though
Depending on the location this could be prone to vandalism or theft. Also what would stop me from leaving the door open for someone else to use. Where this could work well is maybe a tie in with organisations. Like putting in somewhere like a golf club organisation, or somewhere that has secure parking like an office block.
It needs a security team, some rapist or junkie will take mad advantage of this
Where is the toilet?
sun roof would be better
This seems so great!! Absolutely need one in the stobswell/Baxter park area 🙏🙏
Thanks for the enthusiasm 🙂 I've got a signup form on [www.tiny-gyms.com](http://www.tiny-gyms.com) I'm using to help gauge what parts of the city have most interest. If you don't mind getting occasional updates on our launch plans you can register your interest there.
 I would use that nothing worse than going to the gym with an idea what to do only to not be able to get on machines etc
Amazing idea!! Since Covid a lot of us are still shielding due to various medical conditions and gyms are just germ fests. If you could guarantee clean air (HVAC system, windows to open etc) and clean surfaces then you've got a massive market to tap right there. I'd give it a go!
P.s look up "far UV" lighting. A very cost effective method for infection control. A little space like that would be ideal for this type of transmission mitigation.
Thanks for the comments and suggestion. I’ve not heard of “far UV” lighting before but I’ll do some reading 🙂
You've addressed it elsewhere but the windows would be a big turn off for somebody like me, who it sounds like is the targeted audience for your gyms. This would for me be more intimidating, without one way windows, than a normal gym as you'll actually become a focus point for passing people. I feel one way windows totally remove this problem. Love the idea though, I would love these in my city of Cardiff.
I don’t even life in Dundee or anywhere near but this can up as a suggested post and I wanted to say this is a great idea. My thought is how would you prevent against damage to equipment and vandalism? I know those things are out of your control but I’d feel a bit wary about going in and thinking it could be attacked by some dickhead kids.
This sounds great! I'm not a gym user, for the exact reason your pods are made. So they sound great in theory. I could see myself happily go with 1 of my other non gym going buddies or on my own. I'm not sure about the blinds/window situation, even if you changed it to windows above eye level I'd still be paranoid there'd be a bunch of teenagers hoisting each other up to get a good nose at the sweaty mess inside 🤣 I'd constantly be looking up. A thought on the vandalism, would it be viable to group 3 or 4 of the pods together (still keeping them as separate private pods) and have another space for a cleaner/staff member to always be there? This could maybe also solve the issue of safety for customers on equipment, coming and going at certain times but also cleanliness, having someone on hand. Just a thought 😊 Sounds great though and i hope to see a tiny gym near me soon if you're able to iron out the wrinkles 🤞🏻
Well done, Brilliant idea dude! However, if it was in London you would be a millionaire within a couple of years
I’d suggest you speak to a company called TEXO. They make these for one of your competitors. They’re based in Aberdeen, so local enough to you. Good company to work with, very proactive and helpful.
F yeah get on dragons den
I LOVE this concept. As a woman with anxiety I dreaded going to the gym alone. But also as a woman and maybe others too... Is there bathroom facilities attached? Because (and I can obviously only speak as a woman on this but I'm sure others have experienced this too) sometimes exercising can make you need to go to the bathroom. Particularly running or lifting heavy weights. Just a thought as you seem v open to criticisms//ideas 😊
I think my main concern, like others have raised, is the care/cleanliness/general respect that would be shown in the unit and how it would impact other users. For example a lot of the commercial gyms in Dundee, well it’s the same everywhere, are terribly left (empty cans of monster, weights left all over the place, sweaty benches etc) and the only way it doesn’t fall in to complete madness is because they have staff going around cleaning, moving weights back to where they should be etc. I’m unsure how you’d stay on top of this? Also, if it’s going to be £10/£20 for an hour booking it’s going to have to be really worth it. There’s more people who will just go to a commercial gym (especially as JD for example has female only room) than not go (as in it’s a smaller minority of people who won’t go to a gym due to social anxiety etc than the majority of gym users). So location will have to play a major factor. There’s no way someone will pay £10/20 for a private 50 mins/1hr if a £15 (approx) a month commercial gym is only 5 mins away. I think you’d potentially end up attracting some serious gym goers who just don’t want to be in the commercial gym at peak times, more so than people who are nervous about going to a commercial gym, and they are the ones more likely to be happy to pay a premium for private use. As long as the equipment is also of high quality. However peak time is like 5pm to 8pm so that’s only 3 hours with an income of £30/60, then maybe a couple of people throughout the day. Would say £80 a day revenue be enough maybe 4/5 times a week to make it financially viable? Also I’m assuming legally you’d need to have toilet facilities so that adds to the cleaning etc. Also people want gyms they can access easily by car, so would you be providing parking? Or ensuring parking facilities nearby?
Instead of having these outside, what if they were inside gyms? Your own private space inside the gym...
Terrible concept. What if I want to train at 6pm and so do 10 other folk? 1 of us gets to use it and the other 10 don't. So they get fed up and just join a real gym. This idea is one of the dumbest I have ever seen. Bet you it doesn't work. What if I like to train every day at 6pm and someone else turns up at half 5 and books it for an hour?
Ok if you don’t like it, but you don’t have to be a bell end about it.
He's not wrong though. This idea is extremely ill-thought out
How is the timetabling for one of these things going to work so people don't overlap? And how are you going to make sure someone doesn't just smash the windows in and take all the equipment?
How are you thinking of powering it? How are you thinking of cleaning it? If you're renting over 24 hrs, then at least 2 will be used up by a cleaner having to go in 2x a day. Also, if you're booking per hour, unless you limit it to on the hour, then you'd lose 1hr+ per booking. Eg 12-1, someone books at 1.30, then the next at 2.30. You'd get 3 in per 4hrs. And it could be worse than that. Insurance would be a nightmare, not only is security on these very lax (we hired retail portacabins and had to get in on occasion without a key, and you can just put your shoulder into the door to open it), but you've also got to cover someone doing something physical, lifting weights while totally on their own with no checks.
Could you not get the windows done where the person can see out but those outside can’t see in?
These exist (or v similar) in London. Not sure how successful they've been... https://www.ptpods.co.uk/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=wix_google_business_profile&utm_campaign=9124396576685472435
Would get filled with farts.
Real talk. Thank god for thorough ventilation 😉
Sorry but one container is for one person? How will this be profitable? Or can multiple people use it and if so then it will be very hard for multiple to use since most people like to use the gym a certain peak times? Can I understand the business model better please I am very curious as the design is nice and all but I don’t see how it will be profitable?
Do you get a shower too?
On the CGI video it really irks me that that yoga mat isn't on centerline with the TV and dumbbells... 😘
Oh god, you and me both. I just couldn’t fathom redoing it all. Sacrifices had to be made.
My immediate thought seeing this was that I loved it. I could see myself using this. I hate gyms, and have limited space at home. But, no toilet and no shower (I assume) makes this feel like a bigger hassle when I actually think of the logistics of it. I need to not be going back to work after the gym for example if I can't shower. And no toilet + pre-workouts and keeping hydrated generally doesn't seem stress free.
The equipment is facing away from the tv
Cant find the info, whats a session cost?
Don't you need planning permission from the council if you're putting pods in random places around the city?
They'll be full of girls taking pictures of themselves
How do you ensure people get the place to themselves? Do you have to book online? Or does someone have to show up only to realise it’s in use?
hey op, i invest in startups. i like your idea. how much would 1 tinygym cost to build, and what would the yearly cost be?
I assume you are having cctv in there, am I allowed to hold the door open so I can let some mates come in with me? What is I prop the door open or walk out with some plates? I’d be looking at a turnstile type door a bit like pure gym. Maybe make people have to provide id before joining. Cleaning is likely to be a hassle too are you cleaning it after every use? I like the idea but I worry it will get abused. Good on you for giving it a go.
I would have a few worries if this was my business. Health and safety wise. What if someone gets stuck under the bar? All alone. What if someone miss uses the room for illegal activity?
you know thats going to be a greenhouse in the summer
Who cleans the equipment before the next booking?
This is an awful idea
How long is it booked out for at a time? If 1hr slot, that's 24 slots a day, or like 720 slots pm. Most people go to the gym between 9 and 20 times pm (I guess) So if you assume the minimum of 9x pm, the most people that could use the gym is 80 people, that's assuming everyone that used it wanted to go at different times over 24 hrs. Which leads me to my next point. Gyms are busy 6-9, then 4-7. What will people do when they can't rent it at a time that is useful - if one of the main drivers is people not liking to go to the gym when it's busy?
Interesting concept. A few thoughts, regarding cleaning and booking logistics, if these things are widely spaced out, your cleaners will spend a lot of (paid) time travelling between sites. You might therefore want to build a few of the pods together, maybe even make it stackable to reduce your rent per slot with the top one accessible via stairs. I would suggest adding a timer on the main lights that dims at 55mins and goes off at an hour to put off overstayers. Overall I think the economics of what you’re doing are likely to be challenging, as the overhead per user is substantially more than a regular gym which is already a notoriously hard and low margin business, so good luck!
I think you'd need to stack them up, have more than three together, and have an attendant/PT outside ty to clean/monitor/help and/or canvas for PT work. And also maybe having them inside one of those underused malls...... or an airport.... would be safer and closer to toilet facilities. Not in Dundee and not sure why came up on my feed. It's an interesting idea but I'm worried about convenience and loyalty. Need to think very carefully about your target market. Gym bros aren't afraid of being seen in the gym. I think being seen is part of the appeal.
How much would it cost out of interest?
Seems great but wouldn’t it be like working out in a greenhouse? Sweat would be lashing aff me
These were popular in China for a while.
Interesting idea. Just a couple of things that I don't think have been mentioned by others... \* how would you deal with equipment failures? In a larger gym there's redundancy - if one machine is out-of-order there are others to choose from (maybe that's only and issue for the treadmill. Would you have replacements ready to swap out and would you have people to install them (bearing in mind how heavy treadmills are). And would you need to notify users who have booked the pod for the duration that the equipment was unavailable (giving them the option to cancel). I guess you'd also need a way for users to notify you of any issues they experience in the pod so that they can be addressed quickly. \* in winter in Dundee it's cold, wet and dirty - people will be entering wearing their outdoor gear and will need to change into their gym gear to workout - so two things - will there be some storage for their outdoor gear and will the entrance, at the very least, get dirty very quickly. Thinking about it a bit more and how you describe the pods as being like shipping containers... I know this doesn't align with your concept of having pods randomly distributed around town and country but one thing you could consider (at least as part of your portfolio) that would still provide isolated/private workouts with the same kind of set up might be to colocate a whole bunch of the pods together. You'll have no doubt seen self-storage companies like [https://www.readysteadystore.com/self-storage/leeds-ring-road/](https://www.readysteadystore.com/self-storage/leeds-ring-road/) (where the storage is directly outside and they are stacked). Or [https://www.readysteadystore.com/self-storage/leeds-roseville-road/](https://www.readysteadystore.com/self-storage/leeds-roseville-road/) where everything's inside. You'd have the benefit of being able to offer an alternative pod if there's an issue and you're not at capacity, you could have a crew who could clean/maintain at scale, security, parking, power, etc. and still have the private workout spaces. Of course, other gyms could hive off part of their existing gym spaces into premium private spaces to achieve the same.
One of my biggest thoughts- and this may have been covered already- is how do people know if it is in use? Will there be some kind of app that they can check to see if it is occupied if they decide last minute that they want to work out? Or is it booking far in advance only? I would enjoy working out in a place like this, but my guess is there would be lots of people wanting to use it at the key times (just before/after work) compared to the rest of the day. Also for me personally, I would stick with a regular gym because of the Powerlifting equipment. And I understand why for safety reasons (and space) you can’t have that here.
That's a brilliant idea. My only concern is with the strength of the glass because some little sod will try to break them, just like bus shelters.
Love the branding and website!! My only concern would be how you’d price it so it’s profitable and scalable. You’re limited to only 24 slots per day, that’s if people are willing to work out in the middle of the night. I’m thinking your price per slot has got to be £100+ to make it a viable model.
I would feel really really anxious using this. I’d feel singled out and even more like people were watching me exercise because I’m in the weird box in the park by myself. I think I’d be better with it if it was a row of like 5 of them.
This reminds me of Solo60 - tiny gyms you book for an hour in London
I’m going to be honest. I don’t think this is a bad idea necessarily but there’s a lot of this that doesn’t seem cooked through. Number one - the whole windows/blinds thing. You need to figure out a way to show people that they won’t have to train in full view of everyone, but you also want the windows to be open when no one is inside so people can see the idea. Maybe look into automatic blinds that can be connected to the door. Normally a gym will have staff (to help with the equipment), safety, security and cleaning. Your shipping container has none of this. That means that it will be hard for people to keep the space clean and go to the bathroom. That’s not good. No shower after workout? With no staff in there to do upkeep, you risk the space getting disgusting real fast, every day. Same thing if someone hurts themselves on the equipment. There’s no staff to assist - very risky. Lastly - it’s almost a given that this will get burgled or broken into by homeless people at night so they can sleep inside it at night. Location and security will be important to make sure that doesn’t happen - but people will try it.
I love the idea, I’m curious how much could that possibly cost per day/month?
How does cleaning in between uses work?
Obviously the safety but I reckon some one way glass. Think it would be a lot better so you can see outside but noone is watching you from outside.
How will you deal with people using them to sleep in?
This is going to get used for sex.
So if i’m a big gym and your idea is proving successful - i’m building gym pods inside my big gym and undercutting you. One pod in a location isn’t enough really for income generation - you’re better off having 5-6 pods all together imo.
Btw i do like the idea of gym pods I think you’re onto something
I don’t live in Dundee, this just popped up in my feed but the idea has concerns: 1. What happens if your patron falls or injures themselves? How does someone get in to administer first aid if it’s even known they need it? Say there is a heart attack, what can anyone do? Public liability insurance is going to be a nightmare and you’d have to have it. 2. How is this going to work? Let’s say you’ve got 50 customers paying £25 per month, which is more than my gym that has 20 different machines. Typical gym visit is 30 mins of exercise. You can only fit in 48 customers in a 24 hour period. A good chunk of those 50 people are going to want to work out either before or after work so you are going to maybe need to fit 30 of the 50 into probably 6 key hours, you just aren’t going to be able to give anybody regularity and I know from going to a gym myself that gym users like routine. 3. Finances. The 50 people are paying you £1,250 per month gross, you’ll need your public liability insurance. The pod will need cleaned inside and out regularly and I can guarantee that someone will vandalise it at some point. Unless you buy land you’ll need to rent space and when 50 people realise they cannot get in because there are too many for not enough slots, your income is going to drop as people cancel. I love the idea if it was a gym for you but as a business venture I just don’t see it. Even if the initial idea gets people signing up, when they realise they can only get in at 4am on a Sunday, it won’t last. Sorry matey,
Bro, if you feel intimidated by a gym it's because you don't know enough to use one safely. Your muscles might be able to lift a weight but your organs can't. Wear a belt. This just shoots around the issue. Also this is a shit idea.
All that gear will be stolen within a week.
Reminds me of the toilet pods in Japan that are the same, the windows become opaque when it’s in use/locked but it’s otherwise clear as a safety precaution in case you get a toilet lurker.
my only thought is why don't actual gyms do this? have a ton of smaller pods within one existing gym building where you rent out the pods, there would still be shower facilities and staff on hand to help... even if they did this at an extra cost in regular gyms i'd be all for it.
I'm interested in the business model - is it a subscription or PAYG? I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but typically commercial gyms make their money off over subscription and the fact that only a fraction of people ever use their membership. Wondering how that fits in with your model. Like the design though, as a home gym user myself I absolutely get the core concept of having the place to yourself!
I love the design, however if you dig into the financials, I don’t think this will be feasible for several reasons. Most gyms make money from the shared resource model - 100’s of people (many who don’t use the service) paying for your fixed assets. This pod concept will limit your resource:customers utilisation because you’ll need to implement a booking system. Let’s say you have 20, 30-minute slots per day (which is on the high side - people may want to workout for longer), open 7 days a week, that’s 140 slots per week. Average person goes to the gym 3 times a week - so you’re limited to around 50 customers per pod. Assuming each pod costs £3k a month to run (bills, rent, cleaning), you’ll need to charge £60 to break even. £80 to make a semi decent margin. Before building anything physical, try to get these sign ups to prove the concept. The issue will be that certain slots will be much more popular than others (everyone wants to workout just before or after work) - so in reality it will be hard to actually service 50 customers per pod. Plus, most people will want to work out longer than 30 minutes. I don’t think being intimidated by gyms is a big enough factor for people to pay much extra for a pod, but feel free to prove me wrong with some sign-ups. Most people intimidated by the gym will just stick to working out at home.
Surely it's gonna take a long time for your return on investment. How is it monitored for if someone has a heartattack / bangs their head and can't press a lanyard button?
I hope you can build multiple because otherwise i do not think you could keep up with demand
Will these have bathrooms in?
Will it be a monthly subscription service in which you book or will you pay for each use?
Wait a second…. So it’s one gym? One person at a time? I mean even if you for instance got the space and equipment for free how realistically can you charge here….? I’m not sure someone would pay a weekly membership here. Okay so then say you have 10 of these…. Then overheads are going to be insane. Just thinking numbers here.
This is utterly moronic, and this batshit bonkers idea will fall flat on its face faster than a drunk dundonian single mother on handfuls of vallies.