WTF Gym Talk

Do you have classes with horrible utilization? Are you constantly thinking to yourself, "I should probably cancel that class, but I'm afraid what my members will say"? Then please, give this podcast a listen. Would you like to be able to hit me up during the day and ask questions about solving problems in your business?  Good news - you can.   I work with up to 40 gym owners per mont...

Yoga and spin studios may be boring to you with their singular modality offering, but from a business perspective, they are fascinating. They are the originator of the "in-place" model - a group class style in which participants get set up in a certain spot, with specific equipment and never leave until the end of class. Compared to the chaotic, less profitable versions of HIIT and Cross...

Gabriel Sandoval is the owner of CrossFit MOB - a gym he was able to purchase from the previous owner and turn into a profitable business. One of Gabriel's entrepreneurial superpowers exists in creating a culture where members not only consistently purchase retail (especially his SFH supplement line), but he's also able to manage inventory and pricing to stay as profitable as possible with...

My good friend and colleague, Dr. Sean Pastuch - founder of Active Life, is taking another stab at brick and mortar ownership. Sean used to own a brick + mortar gym before Hurricane Sandy destroyed his location. He then spent the next several years growing a multi-million dollar online company with Active Life. Now he has re-envisioned what he believes a fitness facility should look, feel and act...

Todd Wise is an experienced coach and gym owner of The Pack in Rochester, NY. One of his niche areas of expertise lies in creating competitors' programs within a gym. I'm not a huge fan of competitor programs within the average microgram , so Todd and I decided to hash it out on the podcast. https://thepack.fit/

I've got a news flash for you. Just because you love your service, location or unique belief in fitness...doesn't mean everyone else will. Here's how I recommend thinking about the fact that your thing isn't going to be for everyone. Would you like to be able to hit me up during the day and ask questions about solving problems in your business?  Good news - you can.   I work with u...

So you may have noticed my pre-roll ads asking for podcast reviews on Apple or Spotify.  Simply send me a screenshot of your review on Instagram @wtfgymtalk and you'll get a chance to be entered for a free 10-minute call - where you can ask me anything. Would you like to be able to hit me up during the day and ask questions about solving problems in your business?  Good news - you can.   I wor...

Lauren Rantala + Marc Howe might have been listening to my story and content for years prior to us ever meeting, but their story was one that hit me as hard as any conversation I've ever had on this podcast.  These two incredible humans are currently leading the charge of growing the HYROX affiliate community within the US and are the current (2022) World Champions in HYROX Doubles.     However, t...

CrossFit HQ and Seminar Staff haven't always been my biggest fans.  So I'm always grateful when a CrossFit team member is willing to sit down and talk shop and we actually agree on the same things.  Jen Charlesworth is the co-founder of CrossFit Tuebor with her husband Andrew (whom I've also had on the show).  She's a CF Seminar Staff member and has a great perspective on how to gro...

In the product industry, we can return items that we changed our minds on.  Currently, very few companies are doing that in the service industry.  Here's how I would run that play.  Would you like to be able to hit me up during the day and ask questions about solving problems in your business?  Good news - you can. I work with up to 40 gym owners per month where we communicate...

The Gym Real Estate Company helps gym owners lease and buy buildings.  But we also help problem-solve your other real estate headaches.  Here's a great case study of finding the perfect building, in the right area, but it's much bigger than what you actually need. Need help with real estate?   Contact us on IG @gymrealestate  

Regardless of whether you're a personal trainer, physical therapist, chiro, or hair stylist - you need to be selling subscriptions. 

I haven't been this excited about a coach's body of work since reading the original CrossFit Journal articles by Greg Glassman in 2005. Rich Diaz's work in the endurance community and his unique protocol for energy system training (The "Flow" Method") has been very eye-opening for me personally in my fitness pursuits, and I believe more coaches and athletes should be exposed to his unique training...

After discovering Deka Fit, and the "fitness racing" genre, I was interested in learning more about the brands bringing the concept of fitness racing to life.   Spartan, which many of you know from their massive success in obstacle course racing, has now added Deka Fit to its brand offering in hopes of creating more mass adoption for functional fitness racing.  Yancy Culp and Preston Bur...

Shawn Hanquist and his wife, Amanda Hanquist, own and operate The FitCFO - a CPA and wealth management firm that works specifically in the fitness industry.  We have been on each other's podcasts in the past, but towards the end of 2022, I hired Shawn as my financial planner and would highly recommend you consider doing the same.  As Shawn puts it, "it's not easy to get financially naked...

A debrief after running the Austin Half Marathon earlier in February.  

Mike Taylor and I were introduced after I witnessed the custom equipment storage rack that his company BeaverFit had created for MADabolic.  BeverFit made a name for itself during the pandemic with their innovative modular, outdoor workout solutions and then with their Rumble collab for a custom fitness bench to increase operational capacity.   Since then, the company has been expanding...

During my research on Hyrox and fitness racing in general, I stumbled upon Coach Rich Diaz's work and his latest book, Training The Dark Side.   His paradigm and unique belief in fitness align incredibly well with my Tempo Training experiment.  I'll be having him on the podcast soon to dive further into his research, but here's how I'm currently viewing the intersection of his methods an...

When you're winning in business, you can choose to finally take it easy or you can choose to stay critical of your product and find ways to improve. MADabolic has chosen the latter and has collaborated with BeaverFit to create a storage rack solution that can save their franchisees over $20,000 of rent per year by reducing their square footage needs.  If you're interested in franchising a MAD...

As many of you know, I'm a big fan of Frequency Based Pricing.  This is simply a simple menu of membership options that give the member options in terms of the frequency they attend the gym.  However, some of my colleagues do not agree.  They believe in offering an Unlimited Only membership to encourage higher attendance.  Here's why that's some silly bullshit... Would you like...

Since 1980, Coach Ian King @coachianking has been one of the leading authorities in strength and conditioning. Most notably, his body of work and education regarding Speed of Movement and Time Under Tension as it relates to installing tempo prescriptions in strength training.   He is on my Mount Rushmore of coaches who have influenced my career, and I'm pumped to have him on the podcast to di...

So you may have noticed my pre-roll ads asking for podcast reviews on Apple or Spotify.  Simply send me a screenshot of your review on Instagram @wtfgymtalk and you'll get a chance to be entered in for a free 10 minute call - where you can ask me anything. Would you like to be able to hit me up during the day and ask questions about solving problems in your business?  Good news - you can...

FYI:  This one has a lot of math.   I recommend checking out the video version on YouTube.   One of my colleagues, Jason Ackerman with Best Hour Of Their Day, recently made a post on his Instagram giving some business advice to gym owners.  I significantly disagreed but wanted to provide context and math to help support my argument.  Hopefully, by seeing both perspectives...

When looking to expand into your second (corporate-owned) location, here are the two biggest red flags that I look for that would probably indicate you're not ready. Would you like to be able to hit me up during the day and ask questions about solving problems in your business?  Good news - you can. I work with up to 40 gym owners per month where we communicate DAILY and have a scheduled mont...

I'm honored that Mo Fuerste, co-founder of Hyrox, was so gracious with his time and invited me up to Chicago during their North American Championship race to learn about Hyrox and the fitness racing genre at large. www.hyrox.com