While many of us are laser-focused on our workouts, only a minority of gym-goers take the time to look closely at their life-changing equipment.
Former bodybuilder Steven Rinaldi, however, is an exercise innovator, the man behind the muscle and the brains behind Primal. a growing brand that has exploded onto the gym floor. We spoke to Rinaldi to find out more.
Steven Rinaldi has grown up with a passion for strength training, but he doesn’t just serve clients like the world’s strongest men and Olympian champions. He also works with industrialists to make sure his gear is suitable for taller and shorter people. Its integrated approach to building equipment that can transform the lives of its users is part of Primal’s success, but where did it all begin? And what’s next for this exciting company?
Primal is one of those brands that has really blown up. Where did it all start?
It started in 2016. I’ve been in the industry since 2002. I was a junior bodybuilding champion back in the day and I’ve always loved fitness. I did sports in college. We had a previous fitness company, but I was looking at the market and noticed that the gym floors had rows and rows of unused treadmills. Rows of ellipticals and other unused machines. And the power areas were getting overcrowded. As a guy who works out and I’m at the gym with all my friends, along with my wife, I thought. “We have to change that.”
I then went on a mission to make the gym floor more strength based. There are a lot of companies now doing this, but I really feel like Primal was one of the early pioneers. It has really evolved. What started with 120 products and thinking I had created the best shelf is now 800 products and I provide a complete solution.
Was making that initial decision to focus on power-based gear a risk?
It’s not just removing five treadmills and putting five squat racks in there. He looks at the market and says; “Okay, if there are more and more people training (for strength), let’s take care of it. Let’s be the people who develop it… we discussed things like the hip thrust bar. This wasn’t a product that was on the market until 2017 or 2018. Hip thrusts and glute discs became really popular two or three years later and exploded into the mainstream, so we were probably eighteen months early, but it is what it is. : removing borders and creating markets.
Primal has certainly been instrumental in disrupting the traditional gym floor, but how can you compete when there are so many manufacturers out there with the lead?
First, I think the Primal brand is very strong, when you have an aspirational brand like Primal, and the demographic is a little bit younger now. they rely more on social media and they want to have a brand that they can love and show off that they use (us) on socials, and that’s why they tag us so much. Then having built kit that lasts, and good engineering. You can’t just have a nice brand that doesn’t live up to the name.
The brand started in the UK, but how much of a global presence do you have in 2024?
We work with various gym chains in Saudi Arabia. We already have our equipment in over a hundred gyms in South Africa. We have product in the United States. It’s there because clients and customers see what we do and ask us to provide it. We are in more than twenty-five countries.
You don’t just design, build and install exercise equipment. What is it like to work with athletes like Ryan Terry?the Stoltman brothersand many others to design their own gyms.
It generally starts where the athlete, or the celebrity, or whoever it may be, reaches out to Primal and says, ‘Hey, I like what you’re doing, can we come over and have a chat?’ … Ryan flew in to see us, gave us some feedback on the kit, made some changes. He comes from an area that maybe wouldn’t have a super gym, so we set out to help him design it. The positioning, the lighting, the recovery suite, this complete solution. Being able to work with him on all of these things really makes for a world-class facility. It must be organic. We don’t sit here ay PRIMAL and say; “Okay, let’s pick this celebrity and try to work with them.”
You go to a lot of fitness shows. What do you learn from exercisers about what they want most?
Average gym players are getting more and more advanced. It’s so exciting for me as a kit design and build guy. We have a whole new line of accessories, tons of different parts and handles. When you use different attachments on machines, you fully use the muscles in different ways. Moving into 2024, we’re making a big international push .. we’ve launched the Performance Series. International growth has been phenomenal and we look forward to continued expansion.
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