DiR Group is a company founded in 1979 by Ramon Canela i Piqué that manages seventeen gyms in Barcelona and Sant Cugat del Vallès. With more than 70,000 members and 400 employees, DiR is a chain of gyms in Catalonia and one of the most powerful in Spain. The initial name of the company was DyR, acronym for "Sport and Recreation", which was later changed to DiR. The first gym of the chain, DiR Maragall, was opened in the district of El Guinardó in Barcelona in 1979, under the name of Sport Met occupying the old textile factory Costa Font. Ramon Canela i Piqué founded this first gym because there was no equipment in the neighborhood where it was possible to practice sports individually. In 1983, he opened the second club DiR, DiR Castillejos, in the old Guzzi motorcycle factory in Barcelona.