How to run a gym: the complete guide

Running a gym means keeping four things under control at the same time: your members (who is signed up, on which plan, until when), your money (what comes in, what goes out, what is still owed), your team (front desk, coaches, administrators) and your members’ experience (welcome, follow-up, atmosphere).

When one of these four is unclear, the others suffer. An expired membership that goes unnoticed is a member training for free. A badly kept cash register makes it impossible to know whether the month was profitable. The goal of this guide is to give you a simple method for each of them.

Your plans are the foundation of your revenue. They should be easy to explain at the front desk and easy to track afterwards. The most common ones:

• Monthly membership: the core of most gyms, ideal for regular income.
• Session pass (10 or 20 sessions): for irregular members or beginners who hesitate to commit.
• Long plans (quarterly, yearly): a better price in exchange for commitment, and cash in advance.
• Add-ons: personal coaching, access to a specific class, a locker… added on top of a base plan.

Avoid having too many plans: three or four are enough. To attract people at a specific time (back to school, new year), prefer a time-limited promotion rather than a new permanent plan.

A payment that is not recorded does not exist. Whether the member pays in cash, by Mobile Money or by bank transfer, every payment must be recorded with the date, amount, plan and the person who received it.

Many gyms accept payment in instalments, especially for long plans. It is a good way to convert hesitant members, as long as you track exactly what is still owed: without tracking, part of those debts will never be paid.

Also keep separate registers: memberships on one side, the shop (drinks, supplements, accessories) on the other. You will know what each activity really brings in.

Our dedicated article explains the method: reducing unpaid fees in your gym.

Access control protects your revenue: without it, it is hard to know who comes in with a valid membership. A paper log at the front desk works at first, but quickly becomes unmanageable at peak times.

The simplest solution today is the QR code: each member has a personal code on their phone, the front desk scans it and instantly sees whether the membership is valid. Check-ins are recorded along the way, which also gives you visit history and your peak hours.

To go further: QR code access control in a gym.

Most members who do not renew have not left on purpose: they simply forgot. A reminder a few days before the membership ends, then another just after, is often enough to bring them back.

1. 1A few days before the endA short message: end date, plan, how to renew.
2. 2On the due dateA simple reminder, without insisting.
3. 3A few days afterA more personal follow-up, possibly with a come-back offer.

Sending these reminders by hand is doable with 30 members, much less with 200. It is one of the first tasks to automate.

Even in a small gym, several people are involved: you, the front desk, one or more coaches. Each of them needs access to what they need, and only that. The front desk records entries and payments; coaches follow their members; you keep an eye on the numbers.

Member follow-up is your best retention tool. A member who sees their progress (weight, measurements, photos, completed sessions) and follows a suitable training plan has far fewer reasons to leave.

You do not need to be an accountant to manage your gym. A few indicators are enough, reviewed once a month:

• Number of active members and how it changes.
• Monthly revenue, split between memberships and the shop.
• Expenses: rent, salaries, electricity, maintenance, purchases.
• Profit: what is really left.
• Outstanding debts: what your members still owe you.
• Best-selling plans, to adjust your offer.

Compare each month with the previous one and with the same month last year: you will quickly spot quiet periods and can plan your promotions accordingly.

New members mostly come from word of mouth and online search. A gym that is easy to find, with up-to-date opening hours, plans and photos, starts with a head start.

Events (challenges, special classes, in-house competitions) and a small shop create buzz and extra revenue. They also give your members a good reason to talk about you.

A notebook is free and never breaks down, but it reminds nobody, calculates nothing and gets lost. A spreadsheet calculates, but quickly becomes fragile when several people edit it, and it does not check entries.

Gym management software brings everything together in one place: members, memberships, payments, access, reminders and numbers. The right tool should be simple for the front desk, keep working when the internet goes down, accept the payments your members actually use (cash and Mobile Money), and stay affordable.

That is exactly why we built Lama Gym Pro: memberships, QR code access control, automatic reminders, debt tracking, coaches, cash register and reports, in an app that works offline, for €15 per month, all included.

• Limit your plans to three or four, each with a clear price.
• Record each member’s membership end date.
• Record every payment, including partial payments.
• Set up entry checks.
• Plan a reminder before and after every due date.
• Keep the memberships register separate from the shop register.
• Review your numbers once a month.