WTF Gym Talk

CrossFit showed up on the fitness scene and completely transformed the industry. Even if you've never worked out at a CrossFit facility, wherever you do train - has probably been very influenced by the CrossFit training methodology. However, along the journey there were instances where individuals created a unique belief in fitness that moved beyond CrossFit. While this was sacrilege to the CrossF...

Craig Howard is the owner of Diablo CrossFit in California.   He's been a gym owner for over a decade and while I could probably fill multiple podcast interviews on his experiences as a business owner, this conversation was specifically geared towards one thing:  Craig's effort to keep his business alive during the pandemic, even if it meant defying government orders. In this conver...

Paul Jarvis is the author of one of my top 3 business books: Company of One .   The concept is simple:  Resist growth in your business when there are smarter ways to increase revenue, without increasing overhead + complexity. Seems simple right?  Well, my guess is that your current business aspirations + actions probably look great on paper, but when you peel back the layers of adde...

In another segment with the HBIC (Head Bitch In Charge) at Urban MVMNT - Sarah Isaac (aka. Isaac)...we give a very transparent look at how Urban MVMNT handles one of the five functions of our business: ATTRACTING NEW BUSINESS. We share the guerrilla marketing strategies that have worked, those that failed and what we learned along the way.  Lots of great pieces here for you to steal and insta...

In this limited series segment of the podcast, I interview former gym owners who have transitioned from owning brick & mortar gyms, to now becoming online digital marketing gurus. You know the ads - the ones where a guy is standing on stage with a golden plaque, with gimmicky ad copy that brags about their ability to give your gym "superpowers" and "fill your gym with 349 leads by lunch!". Wel...

Just a quick proposal to my audience to see if you'd be interested in a long-form podcast segment. The idea is simple, I'd travel to meet figureheads in the fitness industry and have lengthy, all-inclusive conversations about business, life, relationships, vices, secrets, gossip, etc.  Think of this as me channeling my inner Joe Rogan or Tim Ferris.   Is this something you'd be intereste...

Every great microgym has a unique belief in fitness. It's not the ingredients that are unique, but the recipe. In this episode, Deuce (Head Coach at Urban MVMNT) and I jam on why we chose tempo training as the foundation for our entire training methodology.

With the recent announcement of Urban MVMNT license model, I felt it was imperative to have my two main co-designers of the brand on the podcast to discuss how we look at operations, programming, marketing, HR + team development, and more. On this episode we have Sarah Isaac (just call her Isaac), my senior ride-or-die to discuss how we view operations within Urban MVMNT at a high level.  Int...

Brie Hollingsworth is an accredited human within the fitness industry. She was a customer turned instructor at Flywheel (prior to bankruptcy, was one of the largest indoor cycling brands in the world) and quickly ascended to the highest tier possible - Master Instructor and Director of Talent Development.   After achieving what most trainers in the fitness industry aim for - making a salary +...

In a world where everywhere fuckface-marketing-guru wants to sell you a system or PDF full of ways for you to run your business, I'm here to tell you that it won't work long term. Hell, it probably won't work short term. The only way for your business to grow and thrive is to be able to come up with specific solutions to specific problems.  Not some generalized, spray-and-pray strategy. And t...

In this episode I break down one of the three unique workout style we offer at Urban MVMNT - SPRINTS. I talk about the origins of this workout, how we think about the dose response + client experience and more. Remember - Urban MVMNT is now accepting applications for our license model here .

Most people know Kelly Starrett, founder of the The Ready State , for his amazing work in the world of mobility and bringing that entire frontier to the mainstream fitness consumer. ⁠ ⁠ However, my admiration of this individual is centered around the catalyst that really give his empire it's genesis...he committed to 365 daily, unique pieces of content and uploaded to YouTube.⁠ ⁠ He was educationa...

Matt Simpson is an accomplished trainer out of the UK who has garnished the spotlight in primetime documentaries and most recently by the masses of social media after he made a misguided post for his current gym employer.  Matt and I jam on the delicate nature of social media and humans these days, where we get deep into the psychoanalysis of what causes the rage we see on in the comments sec...

On this episode, I sit down with Emily Lasko who has lived multiple careers in the fitness industry during her short tenure. She worked her way through the Orangetheory corporate ladder to become a leading Studio Manager, learning the in's & out's of a polished franchise business. Then she would take a marketing & brand developing role with her home gym, CrossFit Grandview, to help them la...

This is a big day for me. I evolved from a successful CrossFit affiliate back in 2017 and created something unique in the market place. Microgym owners have come from all over the world to see how we were taking advantage of the 'white space' in the market and filling a huge gap in between the Orangetheory Fitness models and CrossFit.  Well, we were well underway into our franchise journey wi...

In this limited series segment of the podcast, I interview former gym owners who have transitioned from owning brick & mortar gyms, to now becoming online digital marketing gurus. You know the ads - the ones where a guy is standing on stage with a golden plaque, with gimmicky ad copy that brags about their ability to give your gym "superpower" and "fill your gym with 349 leads by lunch!". Well...

In the next several months, you'll be hearing a lot of content from me that goes beyond the scope I typically discuss - fitness programming & design. Don't worry, the business content isn't going anywhere - but I'm looking to get the conversation started for a better way for barbell-biased gyms to train their clients, run a group fitness class with high operational capacity and even higher pro...

On this segment of How I Broke This, I interview Chad Curtis - the co-owner (with his awesome wife Melissa) of Kinetix. Chad shares his failure as a microgym owner who has been through it all since 2010, when he left his teaching job to open up his gym.  From getting into shitty lease situations, developing a "clubhouse" style gym in the early days and a bit-too-fast-paced rebranding scenario...

In the final installment of this five part series, I'll be reviewing (at a high level) a 5 point model that I teach within Microgym University. Today's episode with focus on CONNECTING with your members in ways beyond what we've traditionally done pre-COVID.   Want to level up your education as a business owner in this industry? Interested in working smarter, not harder?  Then enroll in...

Looking at how I think of my own content evolution within WTF, I'm going to share some insights regarding how you need to be thinking about your content for your microgym. 

And I know how to do it....listen up. 

I can't scream this loud enough - the majority of you who are not "successful" are suffering because of your inability to apply basic math to your business.  On this episode, I'm going to try to help alleviate that problem and shift your thought process around numbers in your business. 

As many of you know, I found CrossFit early in 2006, started a brick+mortar CrossFit affiliate in 2011 and after making enough money to buy commercial property in Charlotte, NC...I moved my gym and rebranded it as Urban MVMNT. The goal was simple, take the played-out CrossFit model and make it better.  We improved the fitness offering, got rid of the intimidating stereotypes and redefined the...

In part four of this five part series, I'll be reviewing (at a high level) a 5 point operation model that I teach within Microgym University. Today's episode will focus on COLLECTING monies from your customers, productivity from your employees and efficiency from your systems (workflow).   Want to level up your education as a business owner in this industry? Interested in working smart, not h...

I first had the pleasure of meeting Miranda + her husband Julian back in 2019 at the Iron+Mortar Summit in Portland, OR.   They delivered a keynote that I was completely intrigued by regarding the growth of their online programming model, Street Parking . And then after a recent episode of the WTF Gym Talk SHOW, where I analyzed their business model, I decided to reach out for an intervi...