The Novel Business Idea Related to Gyms That Henry Walker Shared With Me Days Ago
Henry Walker is an American entrepreneur based in Seville with whom I have become friends at the gym.
Henry Walker revealed to my surprise a few days ago that he was pondering the possibilities of a totally new business project: to set up a gym where you completely dispense with free weights, weighted machines, exercise bikes, cardio bands, and all kinds of objects, apparatus or machines where you have to apply effort to obtain a physical gain.
Me: “So, what kind of business is this?”
Henry: “Let me explain.”
He told me that it was scientifically proven that more than 60% of the people who join a gym spend most of their training session talking or joking with the training partner, the fantastic girl or the nice young man next door, and/or with the first stranger they meet to end up making a new friendship.
Henry: “Do these people get any physical gains? None or little. What they do get is the physical enjoyment of exercising their tongues a lot by blabbering on and on for the duration of the training session. Then they tell the first friend they meet on the street that they’ve just come from an hour and a half or two at the gym.”
Me: “I’m very intrigued. Please tell me how you will substitute in your gym for free weights, weighted machines, stationary bikes, cardio bands, etcetera.”
He finally cut to the chase and told me that his gym-related business idea represented the gym of the future: machines that burn calories while you drink coffee and watch Netflix.
Me: “Machines that burn calories.”
Henry: “Indeed my friend. It is scientifically proven that 80% of people who join a gym rather than worrying about muscles want to burn calories. Hence also the statistic that out of every 10 people who join a gym, 8 or 9 drop out in the first month…”
Henry: “Of course, the market for calorie-burning machines specifically adapted to gyms is currently non-existent. We can find calorie-burning machines adapted to the aesthetic and medical fields. And these will still have to evolve a lot.”
Me: “Henry, I’m afraid that until the market is mature enough to provide calorie-burning machines specifically adapted to gyms, you won’t be able to carry out your project. And you may have to wait several years…”
Henry: “I’m on the move. I’ve contacted a German inventor to whom I’ve explained my novel business idea and he’s giving me a deadline of a year to a year and a half to have the machine I’m asking for ready. The guy has a company in Germany and is willing to partner with me.”
Me: “Well, a year to a year and a half is not too long.”
Henry: “I’m sure Carl is the guy I need. He’s recommended that while he’s working on the invention I shouldn’t sit idly by. He says to set up the gym and temporarily install bathtubs in place of the fat-burning machine. Twenty tubs.”
Me: “Bathtubs?”
Henry: “Yes, tubs. In three months I’ll have my gym open.”
Me: “But Henry…”
Henry: “Carl knows what he’s doing. He’s an inventor with a certain name all over Europe for a reason.”
Me: “Yes…”
Henry: “According to Carl, soaking in a bathtub for an hour will lose 120 calories. It’s scientifically proven. Depending on whether my subscribers watch one or two movies on Netflix, they will burn between 180 to 360 calories per day. In addition to the fact that coffee slims.”
Henry: “A subscriber who trains at my gym five days a week can burn between 900 to 1800 calories. Translated into kilos well that’s a total weight loss of 2 to 3 kilos a month. Isn’t that a great weight loss to start with? Imagine when Carl gets the machines ready!”
Me: “I like the idea of losing weight by soaking.”
Our American was introduced to me by an acquaintance about half a year ago. Since we usually met at the gym in the middle of the afternoon, after a growing friendship, we ended up training together after two or three weeks.
But within two weeks of training together I realized I had made a big mistake. Henry was clearly a prime example of the 60% of people who, according to him, use most of the training session to exercise their tongues like blabbermouths.
I summoned up the courage to tell him that after the experience of training with a partner, I still preferred to train alone. And he understood. We are still friends and occasionally he still comes up to me in the middle of my training session to pester me a bit with his witty business ideas.
