The Small Group Gym Pod

In this episode, I sit down with Jerome Bolze, owner of Madison’s in Haywards Heath – a 400-member, premium small-group gym charging around £900 for its front-end trial. We get into why Madison’s obsesses over tiny details most gyms ignore, how Jerome “becomes the customer” by training in his own sessions every week, and why he always fixes the product before worrying about marketing. We talk prem...

In this episode, John Clark (@The Bending Barbell) breaks down how he went from 5 to 180+ online clients in 18 months – and why there’s  no  single “best” business model for coaches.  We dig into his Time/Fun/Money framework, what local small-group gyms should do  instead  of chasing virality, and the simple Instagram + email system that fills his client roster. If you’ve ever wondered whether to ...

In this episode, I break down one of the most underused growth tools for small-group gyms: running simple in-person seminars for your members and local community. You’ll learn: Why a 45–60 minute workshop positions you as  the  local expert How seminars boost retention, referrals, and warm lead flow Topic ideas that work for parents, over-50s, and youth athletes How to turn attendees into trialist...

Owning one successful small-group gym is hard enough. Growing to three sites, serving an average age of 50–60, and still obsessing over experience? That’s what Aaron Swales has done with The Confidence Coach in the North East of England. In this episode, Aaron walks through how he opened his first gym in the middle of a global pandemic, why he’s stayed laser-focused on older, gym-intimidated clien...

[This episode is a recording of an interview I recorded for my PT mentoring group. If you're an SG gym owner, you'll still get a lot from this, but most of the lessons are applied more to the PT/ coach than they are to the gym owner.] After 28 years of coaching 25–30 sessions a week and running one of London’s most respected personal training studios, Integra, Michael has refined client experience...

Tim Reid of ETC Fitness, a medium-sized group fitness studio (12:1) in Northampton joins Stuart to share how he built one of the most culture-driven gyms in the UK. They discuss his model and the economics of it, the power of client recognition and how they do it, how to simplify onboarding without losing connection, how they get clients, what's working for their ads just now and why you can’t aut...

Twelve years in, Ian Stevenson has nearly quit the gym-ownership game plenty of times, but he's now got it to a point where it runs without him. In this episode, we dig into how he's done it and a few of the key changes he's made + lessons he's learned: 45-minute sessions that start at 5:30 a.m., the mentality needed to run a gym, a simple group offer, pods for every member, pricing that stays acc...

Thinking about opening your own gym? In this episode, Business for Unicorns’ Mark Fisher joins Stuart to unpack exactly what it takes, from capital and space size to pre-sales and starting models. They explore why now might be the best time in decades to go into gym ownership, how to avoid the most common launch mistakes, and why “small and simple” beats “big and fancy.” If you’ve ever thought, “I...

When Nora Matthew moved back to the U.S., she had no plans to open a gym. Fast forward a decade, and she’s the founder of  Her Strength , a thriving 4,000 sq ft women's-only studio with 160+ members, a strong 55+ community, and zero paid ads. In this episode, Nora shares how she evolved from prenatal classes to a local women’s brand, simplified her programming to scale, and built a business that r...

Want your clients raving about your sessions? In this episode, Tom Hamilton (Foundry Gyms & @Lift Strong Look Strong) breaks down what separates good small-group coaching from world-class. We dig into: How to create five-star client experiences Why most gym owners neglect coaching development Building consistency and culture across your team The framework Tom uses to deliver “gold-standard” SG...

5 essential lessons you can apply to your SGPT gym from the first 5 episodes. Want the free referral training I mentioned in the episode? DM me "referrals" on Instagram (@stuart__aitken)

What Jean-Claude Vacassin doesn't know about building, running and growing SGPT gyms isn't worth knowing. He's not only running the successful London-based gyms, Foundry, but he's also consulted and coached hundreds of gyms for the best part of 10 years. From running effective front-end offers to leveraging referrals as a key marketing method to having key exit strategies in place so clients who l...

Lisa Jarratt, of Downham Ladies Fitness in Downham, didn’t start with a big facility, a huge budget, or even a long-term plan. What she had was £6k, a love for fitness, and a background in marketing. Fast-forward to today, and she runs a thriving small-group gym on her high street with over 100 members, a strong community, and a business that only needs 10–15 hours a week to keep growing. In this...

Many gym owners feel pressure to chase big numbers, 150, 200, even 300 members, to feel “legit.” But what if your gym could be successful, sustainable, and fulfilling with far fewer? That’s exactly what Harry Morris has built in his 50-member SGPT gym. In this episode, Harry opens up about: Why he doesn’t hide from having a lower member count, and why more gym owners should talk about it. How he’s...

When Sean Armstrong first started coaching, he poured every ounce of emotional and physical energy into clients, and quickly burned himself out. Mainly from doing so many 1-1s. Fast-forward to today, and Sean is running a thriving small-group training gym with over 100 members, a growing team of coaches, and systems that make the business sustainable. In this episode, Sean shares: The summer event...

When George Branford first saw the barn that would become his 5th gym, it didn’t look like much. But with vision, systems that have been built after learning the lessons in his 4 others, and a heck of a lot of persistence, he’s turned it into a thriving small-group facility, capped at 150 members. In this episode, George shares: Why he caps membership at 150 per gym (and why that number works). Th...

Running a small-group gym isn’t easy. Most owners get stuck at 30–60 members, burn out trying to do everything themselves, or struggle to build systems that actually help them grow. That’s why I sat down with Mike MacDonald , owner of AKR Fitness in Aberdeen, who’s just celebrated 10 years in business and grown to 200+ active members with a thriving team behind him. In this episode, Mike opens up...