Olaf Growald
Fitness had always been a part of Greg Goss’ life, especially in his younger days when he played football and ran track. But it was a lull in his routine that eventually set him on the path to opening his own gym.
Long before opening Goss Fitness — a boutique gym located at Mont-Del Plaza just off Texas State Highway 183 and Southwest Boulevard — Goss worked for Union Pacific Railroad. For a minute, he says he “got away from working out” until one day, he decided to check out a gym down the street. He met the gym’s owner, who was into bodybuilding, and was soon inspired to get into bodybuilding himself.
Bodybuilding would do more than just put Goss back on track with a normal workout routine — it would kickstart a newfound passion for fitness that would soon prompt him to seek certification as a personal trainer.
Balancing a passion with a day job, Goss would find himself juggling both — Union Pacific by day and personal training by night. He says he worked for a couple gyms like Fit for Life, and “it was fine at first, but as I started getting more clients, it started becoming an issue, so I had to decide on which one I really wanted to do.”
So, he decided to take the leap and dive into fitness full time.
“It was so funny because [Union Pacific] asked me, ‘Hey, do you want us to keep your name on the list just in case it doesn’t work out for you?’ I said, ‘No, take my name off the list.’ I don’t want any reason to not put 100% into this,” Goss says.
After working for Fit for Life for 10 years, Goss decided it was time to branch out on his own. With the help — and financial investment — of faithful clientele, he opened Goss Fitness in 2016. The 6,000-square-foot gym carries a gamut of equipment and also hosts classes, along with personal training sessions. The gym also recently added 900 square feet for functional training, complete with artificial turf.
Goss refers to his business as a “boutique gym” and takes particular pride in its small size. “When you go to a bigger gym, they’re nice to you when they’re trying to get you a membership ... Once they get your membership, they don’t speak to you anymore. They’ve got your money, and they’re done. And here’s the deal — your money is important because it keeps the doors open, but that’s not the most important thing to me or my trainers. It’s your health and your well-being.”
That philosophy — coupled with faith in God, Goss says — became part of the reason why Goss Fitness stayed afloat through the COVID-19 pandemic. When gyms were forced to temporarily shut down due to state mandates, Goss says he did lose a few customers, particularly elderly clients. But others came through to help the gym — just because they wanted to.
“They just paid,” Goss says. “They were like, OK, we’re not coming, but we’re going to come up and pay, so when this craziness is over with, we have a place to go because we don’t want to go to 24 Hour Fitness; we don’t want to go to this gym; we want to go to Goss Fitness. So that’s what they did.”
Goss says the gym has done well at Mont-Del Plaza, building a loyal clientele and expanding its offerings over the past five years.
But don’t ask if another Goss Fitness is in the works. Goss says the answer is no.
“[In a large gym], there’s a lot of wasted space. We want to be just a bit more personal — not too small like a personal trainer gym and not big like a 24 Hour Fitness,” he says. “We wanted something in between. We love that family atmosphere … Everyone always asks me, ‘Hey, man, you want to try to open up another gym and franchise?’ I don’t think I want to do that because I can’t be at another gym. I just want to make Goss Fitness better.”
The Biggest Workout Mistakes, According to Greg Goss
Trying to do too much. “Overtraining, that’s a big common mistake. A lot of people think they’ve got to come into the gym and work two to three hours — that’s not true. You can get a 30- to 45-minute workout. I train people, and I just train them for 30 minutes.”
Thinking that working out will help you lose weight. “It’s more about diet and daily movement.”
Lifting above your limit. “Lifting a lot of weight usually means your form is going to be off, so you want to lift the correct and proper weight. A lot of times, too heavy is not good for you.”
Forgetting leg day. “Most people want to work their upper body; they don’t want to work their lower body.”
But the biggest common mistake in working out? “You know what it is? Not working out.”