'Owning a gym is living the dream, but it's a tough physical job'

I FOUND MY passion for mixed martial arts (MMA) and Brazilian jiu-jitsu while training in SBG Ireland, the gym that was founded by John Kavanagh who coaches Conor McGregor.

I was John’s first student to get from white to black belt and then I coached classes with him for about 10 years. Whenever John was away at big fights, I would cover his classes and then I would have a few of my own in conjunction with my full-time job.

Once Conor signed with the UFC in 2013, the demand for MMA classes in Ireland exploded. I was in a gym of about 100 members and suddenly that ballooned to 500. Other SBG gyms started to pop up around the country to match the demand.

At the start of last year, I got a call from Chris Fields, who I had made my MMA pro debut with, and he said he was interested in opening up a gym in partnership with me. It’s not something I had seriously thought about until that point.

It all started from that phone call and we began looking at premises. There were a couple of false leads but the idea snowballed.

We developed a vision of creating a gym that was both commercially successful and, more importantly, successful in MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, because the two sports have a symbiotic relationship.

It felt like everything was a long time in the making – we took about a year before we found a site we were happy to open up in. Then in April of this year, we got started.

Tom King, co-owner and head Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach of SBG Swords

Grand opening

We opened up on the main street in Swords, which is a bit of an unusual spot. It’s a centrally located gym, which makes it very like one of the city gyms you would find in New York that are uncommon in this part of the world.

Even before we opened the doors, there was a queue down the street. We had 70 or 80 people in on the first night and we were packed out for the rest of the week. Within the first month we were actually nearly at peak capacity.

When we started the business in April, it wasn’t in my mind to go full-time working at the gym. But after the first week, it was just so hectic and considering the time it took to keep on top of it all, I realised that I needed to be in the gym almost every day.

So two weeks after opening up, given the numbers and the fact we were commercially viable already, I decided to hand in my notice. It’s actually been so busy that we’ve had to get some other coaches on board to cover classes.

Day to day

For me, owning a gym is living the dream, but it’s a tough, physical job. People usually only see the glamorous side of running a gym, but there is a whole other side to it.

Generally my day consists of a training session early in the morning with the more experienced guys, then we have a class from 12pm until 2pm, followed by a break in the afternoon and then more classes after 5pm.

There’s no chance to put down tools during the day. Even during that break, we have to do paperwork and clean the gym. It might be less glamorous, but the administration stuff has to be done and there’s a lot of work to it.

It has been a challenge to keep on top of the workload, but in terms of the business, everything has run smoothly so far. The biggest hurdle has been dealing with the physical aspects of the job.

It’s very hands on and probably can be equated to working on a building site. Any physical ailment you might have can really inhibit you. For example, I picked up a back injury a few months into opening the gym and I just had to work through it, there’s nothing else you can do.

We’re four months into it now and there’s probably bigger hurdles on the horizon, but it does feel like at this stage that we’re onto something with SBG out in Swords as we constantly expand and get new members each month.

Fond memories

Since we threw the doors open, there have been many moments that stick out – especially that initial rush on day one when people were running up the stairs to get in after queuing for an hour. To have people that enthusiastic meant a lot and I could see then that it was really going to take off.

But there’s been many other moments since then that I look back fondly on. For me, it is really rewarding to see the effect the training is having on some people that have joined the gym.

There are two guys in particular who just started training with us a few months ago and have never done anything like MMA before. One has lost a stone and a half and the other has lost a stone. That’s made a huge difference to their lives.

Another rewarding thing to see as a coach has been the progress people have made with their skill sets and how much they have embraced the team and family mentality at SBG.

An assortment of medals on display at SBG Swords

What we are building here is hard to describe. It’s not like a regular gym where people go in and do their own thing. Yes, people pay for a membership in our place, but everyone who comes through our doors is part of the team and comes into a team environment.

That’s not just our gym, that’s the SBG approach. There’s a huge support network between us and the other gyms. If they ever need help in any way, we’ll give them a dig out because I know they would do the same for us.

Tom King is the ‎co-owner and head Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach of SBG Swords. This article was written in conversation with Killian Woods as part of a series on unlikely entrepreneurs.

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