Run a Profitable Gym

Tired of answering the same questions, fixing the same mistakes and doing everything yourself? In this episode, Corey Lewis, Two-Brain mentor and owner of Xtra Mile Fitness, shares how systemizing his gym with SOPs (standard operating procedures) has helped him save time, improve retention, onboard staff more efficiently and build a more profitable business. Creating SOPs doesn’t have to be painfu...

Want to earn $100,000 a year from your gym? Passion alone won’t cut it. You need a clear plan. Today, Chris Cooper introduces a proven, step-by-step guide: “The Gym Owner’s Checklist for Hitting $100K+ Annual Income.” Based on data from thousands of gyms worldwide, this checklist outlines exactly what you need to do to build a profitable, sustainable business. It’s broken down into six essential a...

At just five months old, Emilie Towns’ gym is already averaging more than $450 per member per month. Instead of offering big group classes, Emilie built Ardent Fitness on a high-value foundation by focusing on semi-private and small-group training. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Emilie shares how her mentor helped her launch with clarity and confidence, and she lays out the systems tha...

What if every client in your gym happily paid you $20 more per month? What about $50 more? Or even $100 more? In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper presents the Top 10 leaderboard for average revenue per member (ARM), with the No. 1 gym earning $724 per client per month. He explains how these elite gyms have boosted their revenue by prioritizing client value over headcount. In fa...

When Theresa Straight signed up for mentorship, she was working 70-80 hours per week—coaching for 30-plus of those—and barely scraping by. Seventeen months later, she’s doubled her client headcount, doubled her average revenue per member and quadrupled her revenue. Theresa raced through the stages of Two-Brain mentorship and has reached the elite Tinker level, where gym owners are earning over $10...

Struggling to turn gym leads into paying members? Your sales funnel might need some first aid. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” marketing experts John Franklin and Matt Temby break down sales data from three gyms, identify gaps in their sales processes and explain how to fix them. The pair dial in on three key lead-tracking metrics: set rate, show rate and close rate. They explore why on...

If you own a gym, you must sell. That probably makes you uncomfortable, but Chris Cooper is here to remind you that selling is actually the first act of coaching. If you can't get people to sign up, you can't coach them to improve their health and fitness. Still, no fitness coach wants to feel pushy or slimy. In this episode, Coop explains how to sell while maintaining a philosophy of ge...

How can gym owners achieve financial freedom and retire comfortably? Traditional retirement plans are not always the best answer for gym owners, and relying solely on gym income can be risky. To tackle this question, Chris Cooper sits down with Joey Mure from “Wealth Without Wall Street,” a podcast and online community designed to educate people on how money truly works. Chris and Joey discuss how...

Economic uncertainty is coming, but that doesn’t mean your gym has to struggle. In fact, the best gym owners use challenging times as an opportunity to grow, refine their businesses and come out stronger on the other side. In today’s episode, Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper lays out the exact steps gym owners can take to thrive during an economic downturn. Slashing membership rates is the wrong mov...

Struggling to pay yourself enough as a gym owner? James Harris of Brentwood Barbell went from barely scraping by to generating $30,000 a month in revenue—and today, he’s sharing exactly how he did it. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin sits down with James to unpack his journey from burnout to six-figure success. A former physical therapist turned gym owner, James revea...

First-time entrepreneur Natalie Winslow opened her gym with the support of a Two-Brain mentor and brought her income from $0 to $100,000 in under a year. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym” host Mike Warkentin talks with Natalie, owner of The Gym at Tierra Verde in Florida, to find out the exact steps she took to build a profitable gym fast. Natalie shares how her mentor guided her to develo...

CrossFit founder Greg Glassman is back with a new project: MetFix. In this exclusive interview on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain Business CEO Chris Cooper gets the inside story on Glassman’s latest venture—a program designed to attack chronic disease through its focus on metabolic health. Glassman explains why he believes sugar is public enemy No. 1, how broken science has misled the fitness in...

This episode features important visuals. For the best experience, watch it on YouTube . Two-Brain Business has helped hundreds of gym owners hit their income goals with dramatically reduced work hours—and Chris Cooper is here to give you a detailed look at the exact system they used to do it. This plan has produced 55 millionaire gym owners (and counting) and helped gym owners around the world rea...

What if you could double your gym’s size without spending a dime on advertising? Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Mike Warkentin talks with top-earning gym owner Travis Laufle of TRVFIT in Detroit, Michigan. In just one year, Travis doubled his gym’s size with zero ad spend and earned a spot on the net owner benefit (NOB) leaderboard. Travis reveals the simple but effective strategies he used to a...

Greg Glassman’s new venture, MetFix, has generated monster buzz across the fitness industry, and current and former CrossFit affiliate owners are particularly interested. So what exactly is MetFix, and how does it compare to Glassman's other major creation, CrossFit? In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain Business founder Chris Cooper sits down with Glassman’s partner in MetFix,...

Most gym owners don’t start their businesses to get rich, but that doesn’t mean they should struggle to make a living. In fact, the better a gym pays its owner, the more likely it is to stay in business and change more lives. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper reveals the Top 10 gym owners for net owner benefit (NOB)—take-home pay. More importantly, he breaks down exactly what...

Some CrossFit affiliate owners believe the CrossFit Games are a powerful marketing tool for their gyms. But is that really true? In this special episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper challenges the idea that the Games help affiliates and explores what must change to make them a win for more than just elite athletes. Coop explains why Games exposure doesn’t translate to measurable benefit...

CrossFit’s future depends on its affiliates—but right now, they’re struggling. The public message is that the brand is thriving, but behind the scenes, thousands of gym owners are fighting to stay afloat. In today’s special episode, Chris Cooper explains why CrossFit affiliates are closing at an alarming rate and outlines what must change if CrossFit LLC wants to save them. For years, CrossFit HQ...

Last week, Chris Cooper published a blog titled “How to Save CrossFit,” and the response was massive—affiliate owners, coaches and industry leaders reached out with questions and concerns. Today, in this special episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris answers their questions. Coop addresses why he deaffiliated from CrossFit and why the method must evolve, then he digs into a question many have as...

Free trials might seem like a great way to attract new members, but they’re actually hurting your gym. Instead of bringing in long-term, high-value clients, they often lead to price-based decisions and short retention—and they have low conversion rates, too.  Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin and gym owner and mentor Nick Habich break down why free trials no longer work and lay...

CrossFit is at a crossroads. With affiliate numbers shrinking and Berkshire Partners looking to sell, the future of the brand is uncertain. In this special episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain Business founder and CEO Chris Cooper lays out a plan to save CrossFit—the company and the broader community of gym owners and trainers who depend on the brand. Chris was an affiliate owner for 14 ye...

Many gym owners still rely on free trial classes to attract new members, but do samples actually help your fitness business? The data says "no." In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper explains why free trials are ineffective, how they hurt long-term retention and what to replace them with. Instead of creating a race to the bottom by commoditizing coaching, gym owners can...

What happens when every coach at your gym operates at an A+ level? In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin sits down with Two-Brain Business mentor Kenny Markwardt to discuss the massive rewards of developing your training staff. As the owner of Sandpoint Strength Conditioning in Idaho and co-host of the “Strength Coach Collective” podcast, Kenny is passionate about coach de...

Good coaching is necessary but insufficient for a world-class fitness business. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper breaks down why a gym owner must first focus on building a strong foundation for their business before working to improve their coaching. In the early stages, most gym owners are good coaches but weak entrepreneurs, so they must upgrade their business skills first...

Raising rates at a gym can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be—if you have help from a business expert. When done correctly, a rate increase can strengthen your business and allow you to provide greater value to your members. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin talks with Chris Lomen, owner of Ripple Effect Community Fitness, who raised his rates by 15 percent and didn’t...