Running a Gym

The short answer: a gym lives on memberships that renew. Run it well by keeping a few simple memberships billed monthly, a class timetable with set places and a waiting list, personal training sold as packs, and a reason for every member to come back each week. Track who stops coming before they cancel, and talk to them.

Keep memberships simple

Members should understand what they buy in one line. Three or four options are enough:

• A monthly membership for open gym access, billed every month.
• A class membership that includes the timetable.
• A class pack of a set number of sessions for people who come irregularly.
• A drop-in price for visitors and first-timers.

Each option should say what it includes, how it renews and how to stop. Put the rules where members see them before they pay.

Build a timetable that fills

Classes give members a fixed time to come, which is what keeps them coming:

• Run classes as weekly series: the same class, same time, same coach every week. Change one date for a holiday without rebuilding the series.
• Set a capacity per class and open a waiting list, so a cancelled place goes to the next person instead of staying empty.
• Ask members to book their place, so you see attendance per class and per coach and know what to add or drop.
• Price member and non-member places differently, so the membership is the obvious choice.

Sell personal training

Personal training is often where a gym's margin is. Sell it as packs of sessions with a named coach, book each session against the pack, and let the coach see their own sessions without seeing your sales. See How to monetize your coaching business for ideas that work for coaches.

Keep members coming

Members rarely cancel on the day they stop coming. They stop coming first. Watch for it:

• Look at who has not booked or visited in the last few weeks.
• Message them with a reason to return: a new class, a challenge, a coach they liked.
• Run challenges and events every few weeks: a strength day, a team challenge, a beginners' week.
• Post what is happening, so members who follow you see it.

More in How to build loyalty, written for padel but true of any membership.

Run the desk

Shakes, water, towels, gloves and supplements add up. Sell them on the same system as memberships and classes, so each member's full spend is in one place, and close the till each day.

How PLAI fits a gym

Fitness, strength and many class sports are in PLAI's catalogue. With PLAI you sell packs (memberships billed monthly, packs of sessions and credit), run classes as weekly series with a capacity and a waiting list, set member prices with privileges, put coaches on sessions, message customers, post to your followers and sell at the till in cash or by card reader. Members book and pay in the PLAI app, on iPhone, Android and the web.

There is no subscription, setup fee or contract, and card fees on online payments are about three times lower than Stripe's standard rate in France of 1.5% + €0.25 per standard European card (source: Stripe pricing for France, read 4 November 2026). See plai.live/business, and read Free venue software: where is the catch? before you choose any tool.

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