Wirral gym goes viral on TikTok with ‘hilarious’ video

Bare Rooms is a gym in Birkenhead which specialises in private training rooms for those who “don’t like gyms” and are looking for an alternative to open plan gyms.

Gym owner, Wayne Hughes came up with the idea after suffering an injury and becoming self-conscious when working out in his local gym.

Wayne Hughes, owner of Barerooms gym in Birkenhead (Image: Wayne Hughes)

READ MORE: Specialist gym with private training rooms opens in Birkenhead

After opening Bare Rooms in 2022, Wayne has been looking at ways of advertising the space to new customers.

Wayne told the Globe: “We live in an age where we are bombarded with advertising so I was chatting to my daughter, who is a millennial, and we had a conversation about what I should do in terms of advertising for the gym because your standard video layout with music just don’t hit anymore people just skip past.

“She said to me, 'Dad you need to be authentic, be yourself and show your personality', so I thought ok let's come up with an idea.”

Another one of the rooms at Bare Rooms (Image: Wayne Hughes)

Wayne took to TikTok where he posted a video captioned, 'nobody told me that starting a business will drive you insane, it's all been worth it tho', with comedic video clips of him dancing in different locations around the gym.

Watch the video here

@barerooms Nobody told me that staring a business will drive you insane, it's all been worth it tho. #newbusiness #gymbutdifferent #funny ♬ original sound - Barerooms

The video, which has racked up more than 80,000 likes and 30,000 shares, highlights the challenges he’s faced running his own business so far including float tank flooding, leaky doors, golf club thefts, and VR concussion.

Wayne, 45, said: “We wanted to show a glimpse of both sides of running a business with an element of comedy because it’s not all sunshine and roses there are a lot of headaches that come with it.

The gym also features a virtual reality room where gym-goers can use a VR treadmill (Image: Wayne Hughes)

“I think you’ve got to step outside your comfort zone these days when you're advertising to people. You have to create something of value in order for people to spend time watching it.

“This was my first attempt at doing something a little bit outside the box and I was blown away with the response.

Gym members can use the flotation relaxation tank (Image: Wayne Hughes)

“When it first hit 4,000 views after a few hours I was jumping around amazed.

“Then it just kept going up and up I was shocked to be honest but it’s been amazing.

“There are plenty of reasons why people don’t want to or are unable to work out in a traditional gym. We’re trying to break the mould and the comments were a breath of fresh air.

One of the rooms inside Barerooms gym in Birkenhead (Image: Wayne Hughes)

“It was so nice to read comments saying what a fantastic idea it was and how people wished it was near them.”

The specialist gym offers workout spaces with single, double, and small group rooms that have projectors for people to play their own music and videos.

Bare Rooms is a gym in Birkenhead (Image: Wayne Hughes)

All the rooms are soundproofed and have their own app with access to thousands of online workouts.

The gym also features a virtual reality room where gym-goers can use a VR treadmill and virtual golf simulator as well as other VR games where you can run, jump and walk safely.

The gym also features a virtual golf simulator (Image: Wayne Hughes)

Since sharing the video, Wayne says there’s been an “influx” of new customers travelling to visit Bare Rooms.

He said: “We’ve had members come over from Liverpool which we don’t usually get because of the tunnel fees.

“But people have said they’re not bothered about paying because they get the privacy to work out in their own space.

“We’ve even had two girls from North Wales come over as well after seeing the TikTok. It took them half an hour to get here but they said they’re happy to do it three times a week because they’ve tried other gyms and didn’t like them.

“So it’s been a real boost for us.”