Run a Profitable Gym

There have been three major evolutions in fitness training: First, personal training in gyms was introduced. Next, trainers left the big-box gyms to open microgyms of their own. Now, the industry is shifting to online training. Jonathan Goodman is the founder of the Personal Training Development Center, the largest community of fitness professionals in the world. He offers the first certification...

When should you eat carbs? How important is that post-workout shake? What's the best diet for general health? E.C. Synkowski, founder of OptimizeMe Nutrition, fields questions like these every day, and on today's episode of Two-Brain Radio, she shares the answers with Sean Woodland. You'll learn about her decade of experience on the CrossFit Seminar Staff, why she left CrossFit to p...

The best digital ad in the world is only as good as what happens after you click it. Do people get sent to your website? To an opt-in form? To a landing page? In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, digital marketing expert Mateo Lopez breaks down why you need a landing page and what information it should contain to get the most conversions. You'll learn about the benefits of third-party page bui...

You probably know Jason Khalipa as a CrossFit Games legend. You might know him as the owner of NCFIT, formerly NorCal CrossFit. But did you know that he oversees more than 20 gyms and 150 employees worldwide under the NCFIT umbrella? Jason began as many gym owners do. He opened his first gym in a 1,500-square-foot space with no credit and a shallow bank account. He coached classes, handed out flye...

She's competed at the CrossFit Games four times. She stood on the podium twice. In her final year of competition, she took 8th at the Central Regional—in a boot and with a ruptured Achilles tendon. She's Julie Foucher, and now, in "retirement," she's fighting chronic disease with two swords: fitness and family medicine. In this episode, she and Sean Woodland talk about the...

What will get more people to click on your ad: a dude deadlifting or a grandma flipping a tire? The answer could be both. Or neither. It's all about targeting and testing. In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, digital marketing expert Mateo Lopez talks creative: How to tell which images and copy generate the most leads, how often you should change your ad creative and whether or not you need fa...

Too many gym owners are eating table scraps. That is, they wait to pay themselves until all other expenses are covered, and they're left with a pittance—if anything—as profit. In his book "Profit First," Mike Michalowicz posited a revolutionary cash-flow management system: Business owners pay themselves first, ensuring they make the profit they need to serve another day. John Briggs...

What are the most important things gyms should do when it comes to programming? What was it like to compete on champion teams CrossFit Mayhem and CrossFit New England? What's it like to have your mother beat you at Isabel? CrossFit Games veteran and longtime CrossFit Seminar Staff member James Hobart is here with the answers to all that and more on this episode of Two-Brain Radio. James has c...

Two-Brain Radio: How to Turn Prospective Clients Into Paying Clients Too many gym owners spend precious time and money acquiring leads only to leave money on the table. Maybe they don't feel like responding to a request for info at 9 p.m. Maybe they give up after the first call goes to voicemail. Maybe they just don't like selling. But just a little extra time and effort spent pursuing t...

Ever thought about what you can learn about risk management from a brothel? As it turns out, a lot—and that's just one of many risk-management examples author Allison Schrager uses in her book "An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk." In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris speaks with Allison to understand how the risk-management princip...

Two-Brain Radio: Tanya Wagner—Athlete, Analyst, Affiliate Owner Tanya Wagner was the third woman to win the CrossFit Games and the last to do it at the historic ranch in Aromas, California. She and her husband Josh also own CrossFit Apex in Souderton, Pennsylvania. Tanya and Sean talk about how she got into CrossFit, what the competitive landscape looked like more than 10 years ago, what it was li...

Two-Brain Radio: Marketing Podcast Take-Over With Mike Warkentin This week, we're turning the tables on you. Mike Warkentin of Two-Brain Media is hosting this episode of Two-Brain Radio, and his guest? None other than digital marketing expert Mateo Lopez. Mike owns CrossFit 204 in Winnipeg, Canada, so he understands the problems small-business owners face: tight budgets, lack of marketing exp...

Food for Thought Friday - Are You Doing Your Clients a Disservice?  Is your on-ramp program more assembly line than training tool?  Many gyms put new clients through an on-ramp class and then shuffle them to group classes after the on-ramp program is over—regardless of that client's actual abilities. The trainer might not even know what the new client's abilities truly are.  Here's...

Two-Brain Radio: Fat People on Mars In this quick and dirty episode of Two-Brain Radio, Chris Cooper tackles the goal of all of humanity: the pursuit of happiness. And to be happy, you've got to be healthy. That's where you come in. Fitness professionals are leading the pursuit of fitness—and therefore happiness. That's why our goal is to produce 1 million fitness entrepreneurs: to...

Two-Brain Radio: Reporting on Fitness With Niki Brazier In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Sean Woodland talks with CrossFit Games sideline reporter Niki Brazier. Niki has been involved with CrossFit media since 2013. Before that, she was a reporter, anchor and producer for a local TV station in Maine. Niki is one of the most experienced sideline reporters covering the Sport of Fitness right now....

From Gas-Station Gym to 5,000 Square-Foot-Facility With Jonathan Watt Jonathan Watt opened Townie: A Fitness Community in an abandoned gas-station garage. He painted the walls, made a post on Facebook and showed up at 5:30 a.m. the next day, praying someone would show up. Someone did, and the gym soon expanded to the 5,000-square-foot facility it's in today. But when Jonathan found himself st...

Food for Thought Friday - How Often Are You Communicating Your Values, Mission or Vision? You know the values, mission and vision of your business. You're pretty sure your staff knows, too—but are you sure? Even if they do, is it something they think about often?  To keep your vision at the forefront, make sure you're communicating it to your staff regularly.

Two-Brain Coaching: The Second-Degree Course With Josh Martin Josh Martin is a Two-Brain Business mentor and the creator of Two-Brain Coaching, an international company dedicated to the development of fitness coaches. Two-Brain Coaching is method agnostic; that is, it teaches the principles of great coaching that can be applied to any methodology. In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Josh explains...

Two-Brain Radio: The Morning Chalk Up With Justin LoFranco In this episode of Two-Brain Radio, Sean speaks with the founder of The Morning Chalk Up, Justin LoFranco. Justin started the daily newsletter in 2016, and over the last four years it has become part of every CrossFitter’s morning ritual—the newsletter now boasts 85 thousand subscribers worldwide. Sean and Justin talk about how his life wo...

Two-Brain Radio: From $260 in Ads to $5,000 in Front-End Sales With Rachael O'Donnell In September 2017, Rachael O'Donnell took the leap: She quit her job as a clinical social worker and closed her private practice to open Grit and Grace CrossFit in Gorham, Maine. Her social-work experience added tremendous value to what she had to offer as a coach, employer and leader, but she lacked th...

Food for Thought Friday - What Nutrition Program Are You Running? Confused about the difference between Precision Nutrition and Healthy Steps Nutrition? Think of it like the CrossFit Level 1 Certificate Course and Two-Brain Business: One teaches you the foundations of the program and the other teaches you how to run a business. 

Two-Brain Radio: When You Have to Let a Staff Member Go Today we've got a short—but important—episode for you that addresses one of the most daunting tasks a gym owner can face: letting a staff member go. It's never fun or easy, but there are steps you can take to make sure the process goes as smoothly as possible for all parties. Here, Greg Strauch shares what to tell your staff and cli...

Two-Brain Radio: Incorporating Strongman Movements Into CrossFit With Rob Orlando In this episode, Sean talks with four-time CrossFit Games competitor and strongman subject-matter expert Rob Orlando. Rob has competed at the CrossFit Games three times as an individual and once as a master. He also runs the Hybrid Athletics Strongman Course. Rob talks about his days as a competitor, why he decided t...

Two-Brain Radio: From Backyard Boot Camp to Profitable Multi-Gym Business James Mawson, owner of Tribe Mvmnt in Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia, began in 2010 by training one person in his backyard, his only piece of equipment a large rock. But he got results, and one client turned into five—which soon turned into more than 50. Six months after opening a brick-and-mortar gym, he had nearly 100 cli...

Food for Thought Friday - What to Do When a Staff Member Messes Up Everyone makes mistakes.  But how should you handle it if an employee makes the same mistake over and over?  The answer: Have a plan in place. Here, Greg Strauch shares his.