R ecently, we spent some time
with Dave Kenyon, part of a family
who has been in the Gold’s Gym
brand for generations. Dave is also
one of the founders of the iconic
program that has represented what
the brand symbolizes for over 22
years, the Gold’s Gym Challenge.
He shared his story with us, and his
thoughts on how the pandemic is
giving us a new perspective and
opportunity to serve the communities
where our brand lives.
Dave first started working for Gold’s
Gym in 1996 before knowing anyone
in the family. He began part-time as a
personal trainer at the Gold’s Gym in
Wappinger Falls, NY, one of the gyms
that Bill Austin and Mary Murphy owned.
During that time, Bill and Mary had 5
Gold’s Gym locations in mid and upstate
New York, including Wappinger
Falls, Croton and Newburgh, NY,
Stanford and Danbury, CT.
After 2 years of working part time as a
trainer, in passing he mentioned to Bill
and Mary that he would be interested
in a career change. They offered Dave
a full-time position in personal training
in their Newburgh club. Dave carefully
weighed the pros and cons and accepted
in 1998. Within 2 years he was running
over 200 PT sessions per month. It
was intense and fun for him to learn
more about the business. The other
trainers started asking Dave how he
was so busy and had so many clients.
This caught the attention of Bill and
Mary. They asked him to manage the
PT team in the club. He accepted the
position reluctantly, because with his
background in exercise science he had
no experience in managing people.
GOLD’S GYM
DUTCHESS
COUNTY’S�
DAVE
KENYON
It took time for Dave to become
comfortable in his new role. While he
had to give up his own clients, he transitioned
to helping trainers be better
for their clients. He really cared about
his clients, but he found that he could
help many more clients through his
training team. Collectively, they helped
hundreds of people to become
healthier and fit.
Bill and Mary helped him with all
aspects of his new position, but it took
him some time to learn how to hire
and put together a great team. “Out
of 25 or 30 people, only one was really
a great candidate.” Over time, Dave
learned that he needed to teach people
why he was doing things, instead of
how.
“I eventually realized that people
don’t respond well to my way of doing
things, but they flourished once
they were taught the why.”
Dave said. With this approach, the
trainers started taking personal
responsibility for things that were
important for them to own. Once he
applied the same principle to interviewing,
it resulted in acquiring better team
members and it was fun for Dave to
learn more about people in different
ways.
During the early years, it was important
to Dave that he work extra hard to prove
to everyone that he did not receive the
opportunity he had because of his
relationship with Bill’s daughter. Bill was
extraordinarily hard on him because of
it too. Dave understood why he treated
him that way. Dave also worked
hard to earn his spot in the business.
After dating for a couple of years, Dave
married Kim Austin on May 27, 2000.
Their daughter Kyra was born in 2002,
while they were full steam ahead in the
business. They both had to learn how
to work together, but luckily, they didn’t
go to the same gym together each day.
Around 2004, they began looking for a
new location for the Wappinger Falls
gym. Within a few months, they found
property for their Fishkill location and
began working on the 36,000 square
foot space. A few short months into
the Fishkill project an opportunity to
open and run an exceptionally large
complex, with soccer fields and fitness
center presented itself. They jumped at
the chance to run the 120,000 square
foot fitness center in LaGrange. This
became Gold’s Gym LaGrange and
remains their largest facility today.
They also started expanding the
Newburgh club while both Fishkill and
18