Lets Travel back to a time when American bodybuilding was at the beginning stages of a global revolution. In early 1983 George Jackson met Pete Grymkowski, Ed Connors and Tim Kimber through his employers at the time-KPMG KPMG International - KPMG Global (the world's largest accounting firm).
By 1985 George Quit the firm And was hired by Pete and Paul Grymkowski as CFO of Golds Gym international, from 1985-1988 George helped take the Golds Gym brand from 60 locations to 270 locations, While simultaneously Teaming up with BodyBuilding Champion Rick Stephenson to purchase a failed Golds Gym in San Diego CA, which happened to be one of the original three GG licensed locations.
George resigned from GG in 1988 to pursue building his own legacy. By 1992 Rick And George moved around the corner to the newly purchased 2949 Garnet Ave San Diego, CA.
In 1998 we became World Gym when Pete And Paul Grymkowski sold Gold's Gym international to a investment firm, the firm immediately sent us a new agreement which was extremely corporate, we're anti corporate here. We're gym rats running a business and taking care of our clientele and we don't appreciate anyone telling us where to hang our clocks or where to buy our equipment from, So we drove up to Marina Del Rey to meet with Joe Gold who was still alive at the time,he founded World Gym after selling Golds Gym International.
Joe Gold was happy to have us as part of the World Gym family. He was familiar with our gym and knew we had a great reputation, Joe wanted the World Gym name on our building and let us have anything we wanted so we jumped ship from Gold's Gym and Joe Gold took us on.
One of the last things I said when leaving Joe Gold's office was, "Joe, you don't have any plans to sell?, correct?"
He said, "Absolutely not."
Well, Joe Gold passed away and they ended up selling World Gym. Needless to say that put us in the same position we were at in 1998, Another corporate contract filled with corporate rules and regulations.
In 2012 George and Rick met Jacob and Mark (new WG franchisees) at the World Gym international convention in Las Vegas. Their rebellious personalities instantly connected. Over the years they continued to work together to help grow their locations.
In early 17' WG decided to run the same corporate control playbook that GG did in 98' (8%-10% gross revenue). A meeting was instantly set with the guys regarding rebranding. After months of debating and trademark preparations Every one agreed That any community would identify with the TG Brand and culture. In 2018 the four clubs rebranded and had instant success, Fast forward to 2023 THE GYM SD is THE pinnacle of the bodybuilding industry, referred to by many as THE MECCA!. We are on track to break 25 locations by end of 2024!
