How John Robert Cardillo Succeeded in the Gym Business

At 19 years of age, bodybuilder and fitness icon John Cardillo opened his first gym and went on to create an empire of premier gyms throughout southern Ontario. His strategy was to buy real estate and redevelop it to house his gyms, and also build other rental spaces usable by complementary health and fitness related tenants such as medical clinics, spas, hair salons and supplement stores. John Cardillo was a turnaround specialist who acquired more than 25 bankrupt fitness clubs during his career! He would buy fitness facilities that failed, renovate them, install his management and fitness systems and turn them into successful fitness clubs. Over a 30-year career, Cardillo opened more than 60 clubs ranging from 15,000 sq. ft. to 75,000 sq. ft. Cardillo’s fitness business was awarded as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, an annual event sponsored by the National Post. Here’s how it all happened.

It All Started in an Old Karate Studio

At 18 years of age, John had just won the overall senior Mr. Ontario and the Canadian Jr. Bodybuilding Championships. It was then, shortly after winning these shows and turning 19, he opened his first gym. John found an old karate studio that had just closed down. It already had locker rooms, showers and gym floor space. He signed a lease, repainted the place and even hand-painted a sign for the front of the building! He kick-started the publicity by going to see a local newspaper and telling them what he was doing. They ended up writing a big feature article on him. He borrowed money from a health-food store owner who was a sponsor of one of the bodybuilding competitions he had won. He used the money loaned to him to buy weights, bars, dumbbells and a couple of pulley machines. He also learned how to weld and build his own equipment at his friend’s welding shop. He made all the basics—benches, racks, pull-down machines—and hand painted everything and even learned how to do upholstery! He didn’t have any sales experience, so all he could do was demonstrate his bodybuilding workout knowledge. So he took people through workouts and treated them well and, fortunately, they joined his gym! His first gym became so successful, he decided to not go back to school the next school year and pursue the gym business fulltime.

Opening Multiple Locations

John's first gym did so well that he decided to open a second location in a nearby city. Again he built his own equipment, but now he was able to afford to also include brand-name equipment, so he added a few pieces that he knew bodybuilders would like. He was finally making a good living in the bodybuilding industry, which he absolutely loved. Over his career, he continued to refine his business model and eventually opened over 60 locations! Early on, he realized that owning his own real estate was a good move long term, so the majority of his gyms were built from the ground up on real estate he purchased. One third of the clubs were takeovers from other businesses that had gone bankrupt. John would buy the location, renovate it, install new equipment and apply his business process to running the company. By rejuvenating each location, he made each of them successful. As his peak, John had 2,200 employees and over 250,000 members annually! In total, over the course of his 30 plus years career, his gyms amassed over 3 million members.

John Cardillo Fought Cancer and Won

At the peak of his success, John was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, which required a serious operation and radiation treatments for almost one year. He was now fighting for his life. Recuperation was slow and painful, but after his third year of fighting cancer, his CT scan results were clear of any cancer. He started to feel better about his future. Fast forward to today and John’s health is perfect and his workouts are as intense as ever!

For more info on John Cardillo, check out his website at johnrobertcardillo.com or right here under his column at Muscle Insider.