WTF Gym Talk

Mike Jones is no stranger to my audience.   He's a colleague and friend whom I have the upmost respect for as an industry leader and it was great to chop with up with him again regarding the specifics around the Torpedo - a truly unique device in the fitness industry that was created to alleviate his operational capacity issues with Alchemy 365. We also catch up with how his microgym brand is...

Dan Vinson is a wild man - a former wilderness ranger and wildland firefighter, Division 1 lacrosse athlete and CrossFit trainer.  All of these unique experiences brought Dan and his co-founder to the realization that the current market of suspension trainers (think TRX) were missing something and that something was going to be basis for creating Monkii.co  Check them out at @monkii.co

A simple yet informational rant on how I'm looking at Facebook advertising within the microgym industry and specifically for my own microgym - Urban MVMNT. 

Chuck Bennington has an impressive story that takes him from DUI's, substance abuse and hitting rock bottom - to finding salvation within fitness - and now is one of the key figureheads for The Gymnastics Course that has historically been one of CrossFit HQ's premiere training arms. While I typically can't stand Kool-Aid drinkers of any variety, Chuck is a guy that I could get stuck in a car ride...

Hear me out...

This has been one of my main mantras for years now.... You can't control your community.  You can only control your culture. So many microgym brands want to jerk themselves off about how amazing their community is...and I'm not doubting their claim.  But when they realize that community and culture are two different things and that community is actually the item you want to spend the lea...

It's been 10 days since I dropped a podcast and a lot of shit has gone down since then.  Time to catch up.

Joe Tebaldi and I kick off another episode by addressing the current CrossFit HQ meltdown that has transpired over the past few weeks and then we get deep into Joe's effort at creating a startup incubator for online fitness companies.  Check out all the awesome shit that Joe and his companies are doing within the microgym community: www.flexx.co @studiobyflexx www.joetebaldi.com @joetebaldi

So we are deep within the COVID pandemic and gyms are starting to come back online...but what does that messaging look like?   Boris and I jam on a plethora of topics that are all very relevant for any microgym that is close to opening or early on in their re-opening as it relates to brand storytelling.  If you think Boris sounds like a smart motherfucker and you'd like to talk to him ab...

If you're one of the many CrossFit affiliates that are considering re-branding in light of the recent CFHQ shitstorm, I have a few things you should consider...

So the big news...in addition to COVID, space shuttles, George Floyd, riots, etc - the PR meltdown that occurred with the CEO of CrossFit, Greg Glassman. Here are my initial thoughts.  

Jason Fernandez is the owner of CrossFit Rife, a senior member of CFHQ seminar staff and the co-host of The Best Hour of Their Day Podcast....he's also a dude a respect tremendously. Mainly, because we don't always agree on every topic, but we are both able to hold our position and respect our counterparts opinion and engage in some seriously valuable conversation. While Jason and myself are fucki...

Many of you are still under a state mandated phased plan where you are having to operate outdoors to scale your service offering, myself included. So for now, let's talk a bit about how I'm thinking about conducting these outdoor workout sessions. 

12 months ago I announced that I was going to be making a 'Pick Your Spot' model at Urban MVMNT (my microgym) and placing numbered, vinyl squares on the floor to create a new type of floor layout + higher operational capacity. I was fucking ridiculed.   "You're insane.  That's never going to work!" "Why would you do that?  It makes no sense." Fast forward to COVID.... How ya like me...

I think it's about time we start discussing the macro-level strategy that I believe is going to be crucial in acquiring new leads once your microgym is re-open after mandatory COVID shutdown.    

An insight into what's been going on in my mind regarding the future of Urban MVMNT, creating more rent roll income in my building, how we are going to franchise/license and just some other things that I'm working on now. 

Coming up on the closing of the 2nd quarter in 2020 has me thinking about the overall timeline that microgym owners have experienced in COVID and wanted to share some of my observations and thoughts leading into the future.

Seriously, don't under-think this and gloss over it.   This is going to be a crucial play for you when it comes to new client acquisition in a post-COVID world. 

An impromptu jam sesh with a good friend of mine, Dave Hurt.  Dave is a former franchise owner in the bar industry, work a full 9-5 job, a father, husband and sponsored 1st Phorm athlete. His micro-influencer popularity surrounding bodybuilding, nutrition, goofing off, family and business has grown over the years and now he's ready to step out on his own and finally turn his personal brand in...

Enough COVID talk for a minute, let's get back to businesses and discuss copywriting for your microgym. 

For the microgyms that are opening up without having these 3 items in alignment, please go fist yourself. 

My man Mike Arce, founder of Loud Rumor , and myself jam on the microgym scene as we slowly start to transition into this new phase of COVID where states are slowly starting to release restrictions and open up fitness facilitates. 

I know microgym owners are all foaming at the mouth to get open, but make sure you're considering these three items before you do so.

Not gonna lie, this whole COVID thing isn't all that bad from where I'm standing. Yes, the deaths and sickness and economy taking a shit and the hardship and all those other things are horrible. But from my view of the world - that exists primarily in the microgym industry - I'm seeing some positives come out of this whole thing.

Jeff Binek owns two successful CrossFit affiliates in Columbus, OH and has also made the move to purchase one of the buildings his gyms are located within.  Sounds like a smart guy, right? He is.  I've had the pleasure of working with Jeff when he was wanting to develop and establish a LBE model inside of his CrossFit business and on today's interview we dive deep into how that looks, wh...