Rehoboth fitness guru downsizes to find niche

Last year, as Paul Timmons surveyed the business climate for gyms like his, he decided that three types of business plans worked.

The largest gyms can charge relatively low monthly fees and offer a minimal level of service in return. They depend, Timmons said, on their members preserving their subscriptions out of a nagging, low-level guilt that they ought to be working out more.

“Their business model is predicated on having your credit card,” he said. “The giant gyms don’t even want you to come.”

OK, onto No. 2. Group fitness classes can work, but are likewise not well suited to the individual experience Timmons prefers.

But there’s a third option for gyms, one that plays to Timmons’ strengths. It’s called a “boutique gym,” and they’re an increasingly popular way for smaller gyms to compete with the megagyms.

Timmons’ mid-size gym, located in Quillen’s Shopping Center for about a decade, didn’t fit any of those three models. It’s not hard to guess which direction he chose. 

In December, Timmons reopened his gym, The Firm Fitness Center, in a warehouse complex called the Rehoboth Service Center.

His boutique gym will depend on his strong relationships with members, of whom Timmons plans to have only 30. That’s not just marketing talk — some of his former members helped him move, and we’re not talking boxes and chairs.

“My members offered to help move treadmills and dumbbells,” said Timmons, 48. “I’m not paying these people.”

More than 20 of them are now paying members at Firm Fitness, he said. At $600 a year, a pricier membership imparts something of an extra motivation to show up.

“Not one person is paying and not coming,” he said. “My business model is predicated on people showing up, achieving their objectives and telling people about it.”

One of his members, Nick Degnars of Rehoboth, said he was looking for a place where he would feel challenged.

“I met with Paul and knew I wanted to spend more time around him,” he said in an email. He said Timmons’ versatility — he’s been a competitive powerlifter, rower, serial marathoner, triathlete and martial artist — was another advantage.

”The guy could train anyone from a powerlifter to a marathoner and anyone in between,” he said.

A winding path

Earlier in his life, when he was a political science graduate and part-time athlete, Timmons planned on entering law school.

But his stepfather, sensing the young man wouldn’t enjoy life behind a desk, suggested he take a year off and mull it over.

Timmons agreed, and started working at the Sussex Family YMCA in 1992, eventually becoming its director of fitness. He worked there until 1997 and spent a few years as an independent fitness trainer before buying a business, then called The Firm Health Club and located in the Camelot Shopping Center, in 1999.

“I wanted a home base and not to be bouncing all over the place,” he said.

Ultimately, the decision to make a career out of fitness suited him.

“What makes me good at my job is who I am and what I do are pretty closely linked,” Timmons said.

From 11 to 75

As Timmons had his aforementioned reflection about the state of the industry, his lease at Quillen’s was ending. He found a less expensive warehouse space a few hundred yards away and moved in Dec. 1.

As with many boutique gyms, Timmons’ space is not filled to the brim with exercise equipment.

“The more you know about training, the less stuff you need,” he said.

And, with many fewer members, Timmons believes he’s created a culture that eschews the selfish behavior and screen distraction seen at some big gyms.

“Pretty much everybody knows everybody here,” he said. “With devices, people are tuned into headphones, and not really there. They’re not strangers in here. Everybody here knows why we’re here.”

He said his members include people between the ages of 11 and 75, and in general anyone who wants to be “leaner, stronger and faster.”

Timmons, who is also a 6th-degree black belt in Kenjitsu from the Selbyville-based Delaware Budokan, also teaches the martial art.

For more information on how to sign up, visit https://thefirmfitnesscenter.com. 

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