Fitness Studio Equipment: 8 Pieces Your Floor Needs

If you want a studio that stands out from the crowd, then you will provide an array of fitness studio equipment that sets you apart from all other fitness studios in your area.

Sure, you will need core mats and stability balls as standard. But there is so much potential in studio training that it would be a crime not to offer your clientele as much as humanly possible.

Expanding your offerings does not have to be complicated. Sometimes the simple addition of a couple of pieces here and there can transform a circuit or boot camp class into a high-intensity, fun filled and original full body blast by combining old school exercises with cutting edge technology.

If you are outfitting a floor from scratch, it helps to work from a full commercial gym equipment checklist first, then narrow it down to what a studio format actually uses day to day.

Today we want to showcase the best examples of the more traditional staple products out there, along with some of the slightly more unusual choices that help you maximize your space.

Ready to engage your members like never before and keep them returning for more?

Let us check out the eight best items to buy for your studio.

#1 Balance Pods

You might initially look at balance pods and think they are alien personal trainer equipment from another planet.

However, they provide real-world benefits to the body because they test everything from your balance to your core strength and cognitive abilities.

What makes them such a great addition is that they can be slotted seamlessly into a wide array of fitness classes. You could even get away with implementing some pod exercises into the end of a yoga class.

During a Pilates class, you could also get your attendees to try some of the poses on a set of pods.

They can make any movement you would normally perform even more challenging, and they are a great way to add a new lease of life to some of the more stagnant and old-fashioned class formats.

#2 A Studio Barbell Set

This product can expand your class offerings and the array of exercises you can perform as part of traditional classes.

With a set like this, you can introduce pump classes to your timetable. Those remain a very popular class format and are still rising in popularity, so it is safe to say this is a great choice for that reason alone.

Equally, integrating them means you can completely change the dynamic of every class you offer by adding a wide array of resistance exercises.

Body weight movements are great in their own right, but using free weights will allow your class attendees to transform their appearance and tone up in ways they could not have before.

A set like this will add great value to your studio. If you were only going to get one item on this list, it could be argued that this is the one to go for.

#3 A Power Tower

You will ideally need two power towers to add a serious amount of value to your circuit and boot camp classes, thanks to the plethora of different exercises they offer.

Hanging knee raises, supported press ups, resistance band exercises, and the all-important pull up will now be at your disposal due to having these units in your studio.

Of course, these are not the only exercises at your fingertips. The knee raise and pull-ups alone are worth the investment, because it would be almost impossible to replicate them without using this tower, and they will help to completely transform the bodies of your class goers.

You could argue that a wall mounted pull up bar or simply performing a lying leg raise would cost less, and you would be right. What a good quality tower offers instead is safety and sustainability.

Hanging leg raises are safer on the lower back, and wall mounted pull up bars are almost always destined to come crashing down eventually, usually when someone is in the middle of performing a pull up.

The high build quality on offer by commercial-grade versions of these towers also means you probably will not have to replace each respective unit during the entire lifetime of your studio, especially if you bolt them to the ground.

Stick with the safe option and benefit from the plethora of other activities it offers at the same time.

#4 Fitness Steps

Steps are going to be a necessary component if you are looking to provide pump classes, and they are also going to make a great addition to any fitness circuit you run.

You can perform everything from aerobic to body weight resistance exercises with steps. Having an arsenal of them in your studio means that the popular step aerobic class format is now something you can offer too.

Once the steps are on the floor, the next job belongs to your instructors, and it is worth reading up on how to choreograph and teach a step routine before you put the class on the timetable.

It is important that you get a high-quality series of steps because they will take a lot of hammering throughout their lifetime.

You will find that the best versions are well-built and hardwearing, so they stand the test of time.

When you combine steps with studio barbells, as per item #2, there is not a great deal you cannot offer your members. They can even be used as benches for resistance exercises.

#5 Suspension Training Units

Suspension training is a great way to transform bodyweight exercises into multi-faceted movements that challenge every aspect of your physicality.

All you need to integrate these pieces of equipment into your classes is a series of wall bars to serve as anchor points. From there, the units can hang freely until they are needed.

It would be a good idea to get between four and ten of these units, depending on how you would like to use them in your studio. A series of four would be a great way to boost any existing classes, whereas ten or more would mean you could run a specialist suspension class.

Whether you maximize your current offerings or boost revenue with a unique class, either route makes sense for your studio.

#6 A Balance Trainer

Often seen as an unusual piece of personal training equipment, the balance trainer is a deceptive slice of fitness technology that packs some serious benefits.

Like a Swiss ball, the balance trainer challenges your balance and core, allowing you to perform various resistance exercises to tone up the body.

What sets this item apart is that you can flip it upside down and use it as an unstable platform to practice standing movements on.

That is an immensely powerful test of balance, and it is perfect for those who are unable to perform similar movements on a Swiss ball but still want to achieve the same benefit. Yes, believe it or not, some people can perform standing exercises on a Swiss ball.

They are well made and hard wearing, meaning that replacing them any time within a 10-year time frame is highly unlikely, and they can integrate perfectly into a wide array of classes.

So unique is the array of exercises on offer by a balance trainer that, in a similar fashion to the suspension training units mentioned earlier, you could run a specialist balance class to add value and increase retention.

#7 The X Mark Heavy Bag Stand

A heavy bag stand is not the only investment you should consider making if you want to offer impact cardio options like boxercise. Still, in its own right, it can easily transform a typical circuit class into something a little more exciting.

Made of heavy-duty steel, these frames can be anchored into the ground and accommodate any heavy bag of your choosing.

Bag training is great for strength and power development while toning the body and core in a manner most exercises cannot replicate.

Not only that, but heavy bags are excellent for developing cardiovascular fitness. Bag work is tough on the lungs, and your class attendees will benefit from a few rounds on the bag as part of their normal classes.

If you want to go all out and offer a fully encompassing boxercise experience, get plenty of gloves, at least one pair to go with the bag, and pads too.

This is one of the most popular forms of exercise because of how satisfying it feels, and it is a great stress reliever. You will hold the interest of your members by integrating this element into your array of studio equipment.

#8 Plyo Boxes

Plyo boxes are a fantastic way to add a new dynamic to almost any class type you choose.

You can perform plyometric movements, meaning jumping and explosive work, using any typical step. Eventually, though, you will need to challenge your class goers with some serious height.

Not only that, but steps are not really the safest items to jump onto. They are prone to giving way, and thanks to the sturdy construction of purpose-built plyo boxes, that will not happen.

The best sets contain up to 7 boxes, some even more, at different heights, so that your members can progressively develop their power.

With a couple of sets, you could run a specialist class. Or purchase one set to integrate into your existing classes and transform them completely.

Buy for Your Class Format, Not for a Gym Floor

A studio sells scheduled classes, not open-floor access. That single difference changes the buying list: you need multiples of light equipment rather than one of everything heavy.

Count your sets by maximum class size, not by member count. If your biggest class caps at sixteen, you buy sixteen sets of steps, bars and mats, no matter how many names sit on the membership roster.

Everything has to reset fast between back to back classes. If a piece takes four minutes to break down and stack, it will quietly wreck a schedule that runs classes ten minutes apart, so favor gear that racks quickly and stores in one place.

Storage and floor clearance matter as much as the equipment itself. Measure the wall space and the carts before you order, because a studio that cannot clear its floor in a hurry cannot run two different formats in the same room.

Then add one or two anchor strength stations to cover the one on one sessions a studio books between classes. A functional trainer is usually the most efficient choice here, and it is worth understanding the difference between a single stack and a dual stack cable machine before you commit. If personal training becomes a bigger share of your revenue, the same logic that governs a dedicated personal training studio build out applies to your back corner.

Count Sets by Class Size, Then Check the Reset Clock

Studios get burned twice on the same order. They buy one of everything the way a gym does, then run a class where sixteen people need the same item at the same second and the whole floor stalls waiting on a bar.

The first calculation sizes the order. In plain text: sets to buy = maximum class size x items each participant uses at once x (1 + a spare factor for damage and loss).

The second calculation asks whether anyone can put all of that away in time. In plain text: items one instructor can reset alone = gap between classes in seconds / seconds to reset one item. If the number of items on the floor is larger than that answer, the schedule breaks even though the equipment budget was right.

Every input below is an assumption, stated as an assumption. We assume a maximum class size of sixteen, two items in use per participant at once such as a step and a bar set, a spare factor of 0.15 for damage and loss, a ten minute gap between classes, and twenty seconds to break down, carry and rack one item. These are WorkoutHealthy planning inputs, drawn from the way the formats described in this article are usually run, and they are not measured studio industry data, so replace every one of them with numbers from your own timetable.

Here is the worked example. Set count = 16 x 2 x 1.15 = 36.8, so you order 37 items and probably round to 38 so the pairs stay even. Reset capacity = 600 seconds / 20 seconds = 30 items. The order is right and the timetable is wrong, because the floor now holds 38 items and one instructor can clear 30 of them before the next class walks in.

Change one assumption and the answer moves a long way. In a format where every participant resets their own station, reset capacity multiplies by the number of people on the floor and the constraint disappears entirely, while a studio that pays one floor staff member to work between classes doubles capacity to sixty items, and simply stretching the gap to fifteen minutes lifts a single instructor to forty five.

Treat both numbers as a WorkoutHealthy planning estimate and nothing more. It is a method for pressure testing your own order before it ships, not an industry standard, and the reset clock is the half that most studios never run.

Every item on this list will help to set you apart from the other studios in the area. A combination of all of the above would certainly establish you as an all-encompassing fitness facility capable of delivering the goods no matter what goal a person has in mind.

In conjunction with variety, these items represent the commercial gym equipment standard, meaning that you will get a huge amount of mileage out of your investment without worrying about breakages and repairs.

With these eight products on hand, there is nothing your studio will not be able to do. It is time to say hello to a wave of new members.