We Spent $42,000 on Cardio Equipment — Was It Worth It?

Key Takeaways:

• Our $42,000 cardio package — six treadmills, three ellipticals, two stationary bikes, and one rowing machine — generated approximately 1,800 weekly uses across all 12 machines over the first year. The weighted average cost per use was $0.48, well below the $0.80 threshold at which a cardio machine stops earning its footprint.
• The six treadmills accounted for 60% of the cardio budget but 68% of total cardio utilization. The return on the treadmill investment was roughly 3x the return on the rowing machine, which accounted for 6% of the budget and 3% of utilization. The package worked financially because the treadmill investment carried the weaker categories.
• Member retention among regular cardio users — defined as members who used cardio equipment at least twice per week — was 11 percentage points higher than retention among non-cardio users over the first 12 months. If even 25% of that retention difference was attributable to the cardio equipment quality and availability, the cardio package paid for itself in retained memberships within roughly 14 months.
• The maintenance cost for the first year was $1,840 — 4.4% of the purchase price. The second-year projection is $2,600-$3,200 as belts, cables, and console components begin to show wear. A preventive maintenance program costing $1,200 per year is projected to reduce year-two repair costs by roughly $800-$1,200, effectively paying for itself in reduced downtime and emergency service calls.

The Cardio Package Breakdown

When we expanded our facility from 2,800 sq ft to 4,200 sq ft, the cardio deck was the single largest line item in the renovation budget. We allocated $42,000 for 12 machines:

The question we needed to answer, and that every operator who spends serious money on cardio should answer, was not “did the machines work?” — they did. The question was: “did the package structure — the specific mix of machines at these quantities and prices — generate enough member value per dollar spent to justify the allocation?”

We tracked utilization for one week at month 6 and one week at month 12. The month-12 numbers, once the gym had stabilized at roughly 320 active members, are the basis for the analysis below.

The Utilization and ROI Table

The weighted average cost per use of $0.48 is well within the range of a strong commercial cardio investment. The treadmills carry the entire package — their $0.43 total cost per use is the best in the facility, better than any strength machine, functional trainer, or free-weight station. The ellipticals and bikes are reasonable. The rowing machine is borderline at $1.24 per use — more expensive than the functional trainer at $0.90 per use and the selectorized circuit average at $0.75 per use.

The rowing machine data deserves a closer look because it reveals a common mistake in cardio package design. The rowing machine was used an average of eight times per day — four times during peak hours and four times scattered across the remaining 16 hours. Eight daily uses is not zero. It is enough to justify the machine in a facility with floor space to spare. But in our facility, where the cardio zone was space-constrained, the 25 sq ft occupied by the rowing machine could have held an additional treadmill that would have generated 20-25 daily uses at a cost per use of $0.43.

The rowing machine was not a bad purchase. It was an opportunity cost purchase — the machine itself performed fine, but the floor space produced roughly one-third the member value of the same space allocated to another treadmill. This is the kind of analysis that matters after the equipment is installed and the utilization data is in, but that is difficult to perform before purchase when the equipment list is still theoretical.

The Retention Connection

Cardio equipment does not generate revenue directly — there is no coin slot on a treadmill. But the connection between cardio availability and member retention is measurable and meaningful.

We segmented members into two groups: regular cardio users (members who used a cardio machine at least twice per week, tracked via check-in data cross-referenced with peak-hour equipment occupancy patterns) and non-cardio users (members who used the gym but did not use cardio equipment regularly). The retention data at month 12:

Regular cardio users were retained at a rate 11 percentage points higher than non-cardio users. The correlation does not prove causation — cardio users may be more committed members for reasons unrelated to the equipment, such as personal motivation, schedule flexibility, or membership duration. But even if only 25% of the retention difference is attributable to cardio equipment quality and availability, the cardio package supported roughly $9,400 in additional annual retained revenue.

At that attribution level, the $42,000 cardio package would pay for itself in retained memberships in roughly 4.5 years — a reasonable return for equipment with an 8-10 year service life. If the attribution were 50%, the payback drops to roughly 2.2 years. If the attribution were zero, the cardio package is still generating 1,800 weekly uses at $0.48 per use, which is a strong operating metric regardless of the retention correlation.

The Maintenance Burden

The first-year maintenance cost of $1,840 — 4.4% of purchase price — is within the expected range for new commercial cardio equipment. The costs broke down as follows:

The second-year projection, based on the wear patterns we observed and the manufacturer’s recommended replacement intervals, is $2,600-$3,200. The increase comes from scheduled belt replacements on two treadmills (roughly $600 each including labor), one elliptical drive belt replacement ($250), and the increasing probability of console or electronic component failures as the machines pass 3,000-4,000 hours of cumulative use.

A preventive maintenance contract at $1,200 per year — covering the annual service, quarterly inspections, and priority scheduling for repairs — would reduce the year-two repair cost to roughly $1,800-$2,000 by catching belt wear, cable fraying, and resistance drift before they require emergency service. The contract effectively pays for itself in the first year by reducing the number of billable service calls.

What We Would Change

With the benefit of utilization data, three changes to the package would have improved the overall return:

Replace the rowing machine with a seventh treadmill. The rowing machine generated 55 weekly uses at $1.24 per use. A seventh treadmill would have generated roughly 140-160 additional weekly uses at $0.43 per use — the treadmill utilization would have dropped slightly per unit because of the additional machine, but the total cardio throughput would have increased by roughly 5-7%. The main constraint was floor space, not budget — the rowing machine’s 25 sq ft was just adequate for an additional treadmill if we reconfigured the cardio zone layout.

Upgrade two treadmills to premium models with entertainment consoles for the front-row positions. Members consistently preferred the two treadmills with the best sightlines to the mounted TVs. Upgrading those two positions to premium models with integrated entertainment — at a cost of roughly $1,200 per machine — would have increased the perceived value of the most-visible cardio positions and potentially reduced the churn rate among the members who valued entertainment features.

Add a second stationary bike instead of the rowing machine. Bikes generated 11 daily uses per unit at $0.82 per use — significantly better than the rowing machine at 8 daily uses and $1.24 per use. The bike also served an older member demographic that valued low-impact cardio and was more likely to complain about equipment availability. A second bike would have increased bike utilization only marginally — perhaps 15-18 daily uses per unit — but would have improved satisfaction among a member segment that was vocal about equipment preferences.

Best for: a cardio package structure that allocates 60-70% of the budget to treadmills, 20-25% to ellipticals, and the remaining 10-15% to secondary modalities like bikes and rowing machines. This structure maximizes the return from the highest-utilization category while preserving enough variety to retain members who prefer alternative modalities.

Not ideal for: a cardio deck dominated by secondary modalities — a package with four treadmills and six specialty machines is unlikely to generate competitive cost-per-use numbers because the specialty machines will see lower utilization and the inadequate treadmill count will create peak-hour congestion that drives member complaints.

Expert Insight

We recommend that every commercial gym track cardio utilization by machine twice per year — once after the initial member ramp stabilizes at month 6, and once at month 12. The utilization data reveals which machines are earning their footprint and which are candidates for replacement or reconfiguration. A machine that averages fewer than 8 daily uses after 12 months in a facility with 300+ members should be evaluated for replacement with a higher-utilization category.

Avoid building a cardio package around variety at the expense of capacity. A cardio deck with two treadmills, two ellipticals, two bikes, two rowing machines, and two stair climbers looks diverse in a brochure but will fail during peak hours because the two treadmills — the highest-demand machines — will be occupied continuously while the specialty machines sit half-empty. Capacity in the highest-demand category drives member satisfaction. Variety drives niche satisfaction. Capacity matters more.

This makes sense when the cardio package is designed around member demand data rather than showroom variety. If your member surveys, your pre-sale feedback, or your existing facility data show that 70% of cardio demand is for treadmills, then 70% of your cardio budget should be allocated to treadmills — regardless of how impressive the specialty machines look in the equipment catalog.

This is usually the wrong choice when the cardio package is designed to impress prospective members during tours rather than to serve existing members during peak hours. A cardio deck that looks diverse but fails to provide enough treadmills for the 5 PM crowd is a marketing asset that becomes an operating liability the first time a member walks out because every treadmill is occupied.

For a framework that models the revenue contribution of individual cardio machines, see our treadmill revenue and ROI analysis. For the full story of what happens when a cardio section is under-specified for its actual usage, see why we replaced our entire cardio section after 18 months. If you are building a cardio equipment package and need help modeling the ROI for your specific facility, contact our team.