Gym consultant, fitness consultant and gym designer - what's the difference?

Biofit owner Matt Morley with client Dr Kale matovich from Natural Way Chirpractic, Calgary, Canada

So, are you looking for gym consultants or fitness consultants?

In some circumstances, a 'fitness consultant' in a gym is another term for a coach or personal trainer, however there is another common usage case, that is closer to what we might term a 'gym consultant'.

We see this especially in US vs European projects; in the case of the former the terminology is 'fitness consultant', whereas in the UK and Europe it is more common to search for a 'gym consultant'.

Effectively however these two concepts are broadly the same, that is to say, we are providing fitness business owners, fitness centres, real estate developers and hotel owners with gym consultancy services specifically related to the gym equipment selection, zoning, layout and specifications. Additional advisory might extend to virtual trainer software solutions for gym users and considerations around gym operations.

Fitness consultants services

This also extends into advising on industry trends, allocating floor space according to the specific demographics and psychographics of the desired target users, as well as advice on new fitness concepts worthy of inclusion in the final user experience.

We distinguish this from gym design consultancy services, which will be addressed below. The fitness consultant role does not extend to gym interior design, the line is lear on that.

Interior designers collaborating with a fitness consultant on a gym design

Indeed, by maintaining a clear division of labour, we can therefore provide expert advisory on practical elements such as health and safety, gym equipment storage solutions and expert guidance on strategic partnerships with gym equipment brands, leaving the gym interior designers to do their work independently.

It requires good communication, transparency and 'sticking to the lane' in order to avoid any kind of antagonism.

As long as we follow those basic principles though, we've found the fitness consultant role to be highly fulfilling, we've delivered these services for a range of US-based real estate developers recently, such as Alpine Start Developments in Dallas and Fish Capital in Denver.

3D layout by biofit for alpine start developments in dallas, texas, usa

Creating a gym layout - one of the primary fitness consultant jobs

Once there is a clear sense of who the gym is servicing, for example residents of a new build multi-family residential building in the USA, one of our most popular briefs, then we begin to divide up the floor plan provided to us by the architects or interior designers.

It's a process of distilling fitness consultant expertise, market knowledge and trend forecasting into an allocation of floor space for specific training typologies, such as cardio, functional strength, mobility, yoga, outdoor, weightlifting, free weights, functional training, martial arts and so on.

The gym layout process

The most common components of any gym layout, in our experience as fitness consultants, is a combination of strength, cardio and stretching or free space, this excludes any circulation areas, corridors, bathrooms, water fountain or entrance area. We are literally just focused on usable floor area for exercise.

Other iterations can include dropping the strength machines in favour of a functional training area and a larger cardio area, as a way to help gym users prepare for outdoor activities, as we've done recently for a project in Colorado, a hub of outdoor pursuits if ever there was one!

Gym equipment sourcing and selection by a gym consultant

Selecting gym equipment is one of the primary responsibilities of a gym consultant or fitness consultant.

It is worth mentioning that some clients such as Hotel General Managers looking to keep things simple for themselves, just hand a gym space over to a brand like Technogym or Life Fitness and ask them to design the layout, select the equipment and manage the entire process for them.

Working with a fitness consultant sales advisor from an equipment brand

What is the advantage in this? Less to worry about, it's a pain-free option that does not require searching for a gym or fitness consultant online. As I always say, nobody ever lost their job for fitting a hotel gym out with Technogym equipment, it's such high quality and a premium brand.

The cons however are that the sales rep has his or her own commercial objectives that may or may not align perfectly with those of the client.

Few are the gym equipment sales advisors who dare to propose a lot of empty space for movement, stretching and bodyweight training! There will always be plenty of the more expensive machines, mostly cardio and strength.

An independent fitness consultant perspective

Going with an independent fitness consultant frees the project up to choose liberally from any number of different brands, mixing and matching as needed to create a unique blend that is ideally suited to the client's vision, the end users' anticipated preferences, local market idiosyncrasies and so on.

As an expert advisor with no incentive to increase or even to use up all the available budget, a fitness consultant will provide multiple sales quotes from different brands that can be evaluated on their respective merits.

Typically such decisions are a combination of price (obviously), aesthetics, quality, brand image and the detailed specifications of the equipment itself.

Gym flooring selection - how to leverage your gym or fitness consultant expertise

Another key component of fitness consultant jobs is advising on gym flooring, this needs to tie in with the zoning of the gym, so for example there may be a cardio zone that needs a certain type of highly resistant flooring next to a functional training area that needs something softer and more forgiving.

Concerns here, beyond colour and aesthetics, tend to cluster around user comfort, price per square meter, the sustainability of a chosen product, and above all its durability - is it going to able to handle dropped weights, sweat, direct sunlight possibly, constant friction from cardio machine use, and so on.

Recommended gym flooring width

We typically look for at least 10mm of gym flooring and if it is going in on top of a concrete slab we'd ideally install a floating floor to ensure a perfectly level surface, this also adds an extra level of user comfort that our premium clients appreciate.

This does add another 10mm > 30mm of floor height build-up so needs to be carefully planned in advance to ensure smooth transitions around the doorways.

Gym flooring choices - a gym designer or fitness consultant decision?

A gym floor is the meeting point between gym design consultancy and gym consultancy, the interior designers will likely have their own opinion so as a fitness consultant our role is to advise less on the aesthetics and more on the functionality.

We tend to recommend specific gym flooring products such as a certified, sustainable rubber flooring solution. Cork can also be a viable option, as is turf and a vinyl top layer for cardio zones in particular.

Matching gym flooring to the gym concept

In a CrossFit box the standard option is all black rubber tiles or rolls but in a gym design aiming to stand out from the crowd we'd go well beyond that, incorporating multiple colours and or materials.

So ultimately this decision is about collaboration between the interior designers and the fitness consultant, together they basically need to reach a compromise that works for both parties.