Run a Profitable Gym

If you want to improve lead flow, add more high-value clients and generate more revenue, these three simple words can work wonders: “Bring a friend.”

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” gym owner and chiropractor Dr. Braeden Cordts shares his secrets for using bring-a-friend events to replicate his very best clients and grow his membership.

Braeden walks through his plan to get red-hot leads into a workout at Kôr Fitness & Performance in Minnesota, and then he lays out his air-tight follow-up process for turning those leads into clients. The final step: He uses a sy...

The holidays are coming—and for most gyms, that means fewer check-ins, more cancellations and panic about cash flow. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper shares five simple tactics gym owners can use to boost year-end revenue without falling into the discount trap.

He explains how smart, seasonal offers—such as holiday retail presales, meaningful gift cards and “save your spot” promotions—can generate real income while keeping your clients engaged and excited.

Chris also dives into using bring-a-friend events and January kick...

What does it take to run two thriving gyms and serve more than 900 clients?

Tyler Quinn has the answers: He operates two Denver fitness studios with nearly 1,000 members combined.

But here's the surprising part: He didn’t reach these members with paid ads or gimmicks like discounts. Seventy percent of his new clients come from referrals.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Mike Warkentin asks Tyler about the systems and strategies behind building high-volume gyms that actually work.

Tyler explains how to stand out from competitors, how to scale Two-Br...

The average big-group gym has 129 members—but some Two-Brain gyms are thriving with 300-700 clients.

Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper breaks down what the Top 10 gyms for client headcount are doing differently.

Coop explains how five critical systems allow these gyms to retain clients for over 24 months, deliver a consistently high-quality experience and attract new members month after month.

He also shares real insights from the leaders on how they reactivated former clients and found the perfect balance of class size and pricing to maximize value.

Key detail: These...

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin talks with gym owner and Two-Brain mentor Tim Caputo about a simple idea that brought in $720 in one hour—and generated six new leads.

It all started with a client suggestion that evolved into a “moms and kids” pop-up class. The event sold out quickly, generated profit right away and opened the door to a steady stream of high-quality referrals.

Tim explains the strategy behind his pricing and promotion, how he used the class to build relationships and why this type of event works even in sl...

Feeling pressured to run a Black Friday deal at your gym? Don’t do it.

Your gym is a premium service provider, and it should compete on results and relationships, not price.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder and CEO Chris Cooper breaks down the dangers of discounting and explains why most gym owners who offer sales end up trapped in the “discount death spiral.”

Black Friday deals attract the wrong clients and weaken your brand, and you have better ways to grow your gym during the holiday season.

C...

Can a gym be profitable with just 15 to 20 members? The answer is yes—and Oskar Johed is proving it.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin sits down with Oskar, co-owner of two thriving CrossFit facilities in Sweden, to talk about why he chose a different path for his third gym: a small-group training model.

Oskar breaks down the advantages of small-group training, from lower overhead and reduced staff burnout to higher client retention and stronger profitability.

In a small-group model, gyms with limited square footage can break even with j...

If you try to scale your gym the wrong way, you might kill it.

In this episode, Two-Brain founder and gym owner Chris Cooper shares how his first attempt at scaling nearly bankrupted his family. But you don’t have to guess like he did.

Today, Coop walks you through safe, profitable scaling using small-group and semi-private training.

He explains the difference between the two services and how to transition existing clients into them, whether they’re coming from one-on-one or big-group training.

You’ll also learn how to price small-group traini...

Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin talks with attorney and former gym owner Matthew Becker of Gym Lawyers PLLC about how to use AI safely in your business without creating massive liability.

Matthew breaks down the legal risks gym owners face when using AI tools, including operating outside their scope of practice, violating privacy laws and infringing on copyright.

Improper AI use can even increase exposure to lawsuits and eliminate liability protection.

So how can gym owners use AI without endangering their businesses?

Matthew recommends fitness entrepreneurs use AI a...

CrossFit changed the fitness industry forever—but with affiliate numbers declining, gym owners are asking, “What’s next?”

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper digs into why affiliate numbers keep shrinking, where former CrossFit gyms are going and what gym owners can do right now to stay competitive.

He explains how novelty-driven methods such as Hyrox are pulling attention and why the lack of clarity from CrossFit HQ has created uncertainty for affiliate owners.

Coop lays out a solution for managing methods and giving clients what they want in confusing ti...

The key to steady gym growth and stronger retention? Turning your best members into your best recruiters.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper explains how to use affinity marketing to strengthen your community, keep members longer and bring in more people just like your favorite clients.

Passive referral programs rarely work, so Chris shows you how to actively connect your clients’ families, coworkers and friends to your gym.

He even provides an inside look at Two-Brain’s Affinity Marketing Cheat Sheet, shows you exactly when to ask for referrals and expl...

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper presents hard numbers and explains why the gap between 3% and 5% churn can be the difference between stability and collapse.

He shares lessons from two decades of studying the science of retention, showing how most gyms don’t fail because they need more leads but because they can’t keep the people they already have.

Coop explains why contracts aren’t the answer, why chasing Facebook leads and six-week challenges can actually erode your community, and how gyms with 300+ members can get into trouble fast if they’re bl...

Kevin Munoz gives his training plans away for free—and still closes 80% of sales! Find out how he does it in this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym.”

Today, host Mike Warkentin talks with Munoz about how he built $500+ average revenue per member (ARM) at his gym, Peak PT. Kevin shares the exact strategies that helped him land on Two-Brain's Top 10 ARM leaderboard, which runs from $502 to $854.

At Peak PT, Kevin uses Two-Brain's Prescriptive Model to sell, and he'll give prospective clients an entire training plan in free consultations to boost the "know-like-trust factor." He shows...

Ready to find out how the top gyms in the world earn between $500 and $850 per member each month?

Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper reveals the latest leaderboard for average revenue per member per month (ARM) and explains exactly how the Top 10 gym owners earned their spots.

You’ll hear about 10 proven tactics used by the leaders, including bundling services, offering semi-private training, selling with the Prescriptive Model and using simple billing changes to boost revenue.

Coop also shares tips on referrals, pricing and niche specialization, and he explains why showing value...

Gym growth is simple when you understand the only six metrics that really matter in fitness businesses.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper breaks them down so you can improve your gym:

Using data from over 15,000 gym owners who contributed to Two-Brain’s 2024 “State of the Industry” guide, Coop presents the industry averages for each metric so entrepreneurs know exactly where they stand in comparison.

Then, he equips...

What’s stopping your gym from growing?

In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Chris Cooper explains how gym owners accidentally limit their business growth and presents a four-level framework for leadership mastery.

The progression moves from self-leadership (controlling your focus and energy) to team leadership (getting staff aligned without micromanaging), peer leadership (influencing equals without authority) and community leadership (expanding impact beyond your gym).

The key insight: Before you can lead others effectively, you must first master yourself.

Fix the owner, fix the business.

Links

Overwhelmed by conflicting business advice? Cut through the noise with Chris Cooper’s proven system for building wealth as a gym owner.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris explains how to move beyond the passion-first mentality that keeps most fitness entrepreneurs stuck and broke.

He breaks down his four-phase roadmap for gym-owner wealth: Founder, Farmer, Tinker and Chief. These phases show you what to focus on right now, what to ignore and how to move toward financial freedom.

Coop also shares candid stories from his early years of gym ownership, includ...

After consuming free Two-Brain content for three years, gym owner Tyler Ouwendyk signed up for mentorship. Less than a year later, he earned a spot on the Top 10 leaderboard for net owner benefit (take-home pay), which ranges from US$17,000 to $45,000 per month. 

Tyler runs three facilities in a town of 30,000 people: two 24/7 access gyms with memberships capped at 400-500, plus a group training studio that launched with 52 members on Day 1 and hit 130 clients in eight months.

In this episode, Tyler shares the Two-Brain strategies that contributed most to his gyms’ success:

Many gym owners burn out because they reinvent everything daily. In this episode, Chris Cooper shows you how to systemize your gym without killing your creativity.

He introduces the concept of “freedom within a framework”—the solution to decision fatigue, staff chaos and businesses that get stuck in the Founder Phase forever.

Coop explains exactly where to systemize and where to be creative in each area of your business:

You’ll also hear how Two-Brain Business mentors help fitness entrepreneurs build solid systems that support their gyms’ growth without forcing a model or method...

Think you need a huge gym and hundreds of members to make serious money? These gym owners proved that wrong by generating $600 average revenue per member (ARM) in just 1,400 square feet.

In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Mike Warkentin sits down with Jake Parton and Jenser Gomes from Evolver Fitness in Connecticut, who made Two-Brain's Top 10 leaderboard for net owner benefit (owner take-home) with only 90 members.

Jake and Jenser reveal how they built a high-ticket, high-touch personal-training model that keeps overhead low and maximizes profit.

They share their bootstrap approach to...

In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Chris Cooper reveals the monthly leaderboard for net owner benefit—what gym owners actually pocket from their businesses.

The top-earning fitness entrepreneur takes home over $45,000 a month!

So what are our elite gym owners doing that others aren't?

The Top 10 includes gyms from Belgium, Norway, Canada and Hong Kong, proving location doesn't limit earning potential.

The leaders also proved small gyms can dominate: One top earner has only 90 members, and another operates in just 1,400 square feet of space.

Chris breaks down th...

Think you need 300+ members to run a profitable gym? The data says otherwise.

In fact, the average gym can generate an extra $45,000 per year just by keeping the clients it already has for two extra months.

In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Chris Cooper cuts through the noise with hard numbers from the “State of the Industry” report—the most comprehensive data set in the fitness industry.

He walks through the six metrics every gym owner needs to make smart business decisions:

➡️ Average revenue per member (ARM)—earn more without addi...

“Get 500 members.” “Online coaching is dead.” “Don't raise your rates.”

How much of the gym business advice flooding your social feeds is actually true?

In this episode, Chris Cooper cuts through the BS with a crucial request for gym owners: Be part of Two-Brain's annual “State of the Industry” report.

Every year, thousands of gyms worldwide contribute to the report, along with software platforms such as Wodify and Kilo, creating the largest fitness business data set in the world.

The data is reviewed by an independent analyst and then published to help gym owners...

Hate writing but love talking? Here's how one gym owner uses AI to create everything from SOPs to sales scripts without typing a single word.

In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Mike Warkentin sits down with gym owner Ryan Webb to explore how AI tools have transformed his gym’s operations—with minimal investment of time or money.

Ryan shares his workflow for using Wispr Flow and ChatGPT to save hours each week on essential business tasks.

He explains how Wispr Flow transcribes and improves spoken thoughts, which ChatGPT can then turn...

Tired of wearing every hat in your gym?

AI can handle repetitive tasks so you can focus on the work only you can do.

Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper explains how gym owners can use artificial intelligence to automate their businesses without losing the human touch that gyms need.

He walks through the three-step process of systemize, optimize, automate—explaining that many gym owners fail to use AI successfully because they’re trying to automate broken or undefined processes.

Once solid systems have been optimized, gym owners can use AI f...

What if one simple daily habit could help you grow your gym?

In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Chris Cooper invites you to join him in his Golden Hour—a daily routine that grew his gym and other businesses. 

This business-building hour is structured with the GOLDEN acronym:

- Go to a place where you can focus.
- Open your mind with a brain dump.
- Lead with marketing reps.
- Do your big projects.
- End at the hour.
- Next steps.

Chris det...

Overwhelmed by business advice and the mountains of fix-your-gym resources?

That's common, and overwhelm kills action.

To help, Chris Cooper walks through six of his books for gym owners and helps you choose the one that will help you get big-time results today.

👉 You can even get the book you need for free between Aug. 4 and 8, 2025.

Maybe you need “Gym Owners Handbook” to help you systemize operations or “The Golden Hour” to build the daily habits that grow your business.

If your business is already operating at top speed, it might be...

Most gym owners struggle to close in just half of sales consultations.

Korey Schindler closes at a 93 percent clip.

In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Korey, co-owner of Impact Fitness in Florida, reveals how he achieved his incredible close rate by following up with leads 381 times in one month. His efforts produced 44 sales consultations and 41 new members.

Korey breaks down the process he follows to turn cold Facebook leads into paying clients: He follows up with lightning speed, relies on script-based conversations—which he still rehearses even with 10 years of sales ex...

Every month, Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper shares real gym data and actionable tips from top performers. In July 2025, it's all about marketing excellence.

Today on “Run a Profitable Gym," Chris presents the leaderboards for three key marketing metrics that tell you if your sales funnel is leaky or locked down: 

Instead of just buying more ads, these Top 10 CEOs refined their systems so more leads booked appointments, more prospects showed up and more people committed to memberships.

Six gyms made all three leaderboards, proving their marketing systems are A+.<...

Tired of watching small mistakes drain your gym's profits? Here's how to stop paying the “dumb tax” once and for all.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper explains how seemingly small business mistakes compound into million-dollar losses over time. More importantly, he tells you how to stop making these gym-sinking errors.

Coop presents three types of mistakes that destroy gym profitability:

Most gyms don’t fail because of one big disaster. They fail because of small, repeated mistakes that drain money, energy and time until the owner burns out.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper explains how to spot and avoid common mistakes in your gym—in other words, how to stop paying the “dumb tax.”

From undercharging to chasing the wrong metrics, Coop shares how he paid the dumb tax in his own gym and learned some tough lessons.

He explains how to replace guesswork with clear data, build...

In this episode, gym owner and CrossFit Games athlete Bryce Broome shares how he built a profitable, systemized gym that lets him take regular time off to travel, train, compete and recharge.

In fewer than two years, Bryce has developed a team that handles day-to-day operations when he’s away—without sacrificing client care or profitability.

He explains how business planning with a Two-Brain mentor set his gym up for success from Day 1: Before opening, he planned for staffing costs and scalability, identified his ideal culture, and hired staff who aligned with that culture.

...

Stop wearing every hat in your gym. It’s time to move from coach to owner.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper shares the exact steps gym owners can take to reclaim their time, take regular vacations and build businesses that run on systems.

He walks you through the process of “climbing the value ladder,” aka buying back your time:

- Identify the roles you fill.
- Calculate the replacement cost for each role.
- Write step-by-step instructions for each role.
- Delegate roles from lowest to highest...

If you’re not regularly sitting down with your clients to talk about their goals, you’re leaving money on the table.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” gym owner and chiropractor Dr. Brian Strump shares how quarterly Goal Review Sessions became one of the most effective tools in his gym for increasing retention, referrals and average revenue per member.

Brian walks through exactly how his team at Live Active Charlotte uses these short conversations to keep clients engaged, identify new opportunities to help them, and increase gym revenue without running ads or pushing...

In this episode, Chris Cooper shares a preview of his upcoming training session for gym owners: “How to Add $10K in PT Without Adding a Single Member.”

During the live, interactive webinar, you’ll learn how to sell PT confidently, prescribe it in Goal Review Sessions and No Sweat Intros, and set simple targets to quickly grow your revenue.

Coop will also show you how to overcome common mindset barriers. For example, many of your members actually need one-on-one coaching to get better, faster results, and other members don't need PT but want it because they p...

John Bartholomeo, one of Two-Brain’s Top 10 leaders, added $15,000 in monthly revenue through annual planning and smart gamification of challenges at Mohawk Valley Wellness.

Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” he shares how his gym uses simple, repeatable systems to run revenue-generating nutrition challenges and events that clients love.

These events aren’t last-minute attempts to fill revenue gaps. They're part of a clearly defined annual plan that's created each year in collaboration with a mentor to drive engagement, retention and profitability.

John reveals how he turns nutrition into a competitive game, using streaks...

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper explains how the Top 10 gyms on the revenue leaderboard drive consistent, high-level monthly income.

These gyms have moved beyond the "group only" model to add high-value services such as personal training, small-group training and semi-private training. Some gyms are generating significant revenue with challenges and special events that include gamification to drive retention.

Chris shares what the top performers have in common—such as strong client avatars, structured annual planning and a focus on delivering measurable results—and explains why mentorship is a key part of their...

Erik Zeyher’s gym, Warlock CrossFit, generates over $200,000 in annual revenue from its semi-private training program. 

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Erik breaks down the exact steps he took to build a premium program that works across the board—for clients, coaches and the business. As Erik puts it, “It is aces.”

Erik shares how he structures sessions, pricing and coach pay, and he explains how he generated internal buzz around the program to fill it fast. When his first semi-private session filled up in just 45 minutes, Erik knew he had a winner. 
...

Small-group and semi-private training can dramatically increase your gym’s revenue, improve coach pay and boost client results.

In this episode, gym owner and semi-private specialist Daniel Purington shares exactly how to build a high-revenue, high-retention semi-private program from the ground up.

Certain prerequisites must be in place before you offer this service. If you miss steps, your program will flounder, you'll get frustrated and your members won't sign up for coaching that can help them get better results faster. Daniel's got your do-this-first checklist.

Daniel also identifies the biggest mistake gym owners ma...

Does your gym really need more leads, or are you wasting the leads you already have?

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” marketing expert John Franklin shares six simple strategies that will help you book more intros and close more sales without spending a dime on ads. 

Even small improvements in your lead-nurture process can produce huge returns—just one extra sale per month can add over $17,000 in revenue to a gym.

John explains: