TWO-BRAIN BUSINESS

We make gyms profitable.

4TH EDITION

STATE
OF THE
INDUSTRY
The data, analysis and insight
gym owners need to grow their
businesses and profit in 2024.
Copyright © 2023 Two-Brain Business Inc.

2
 W HY W E COLLECT A ND
PU BL ISH NU MB ER S
AND WHY YOU NEED THEM

BY CHRIS COOPER, TWO-BRAIN BUSINESS FOUNDER

AND OWNER OF CATALYST FITNESS
I love independent gym owners.

I love those who go their own way—the pioneers, the DIYers, the trailblazers.

I love their inside jokes, their homemade logos, their bands of happy misfits
who show up at 5:45 a.m. joking about their daily “torture session” while
loving their coach as they would a favorite cousin.

I love the spirit of entrepreneurship, the optimism and the energy you find in
every independent gym.

With so many group fitness franchises in trouble or closing, it’s remarkable to

see the little gyms surviving and growing.

And I’m proud to help you—to give you the tools of the big franchises without
the polished chrome handcuffs that come with the franchise agreements.

What tools do you need?

DATA MENTORSHIP FRAMEWORKS

You need to You need to You need to be able

know what’s know who’s to copy and paste
working so successful so systems and models
you can ignore you can ignore without building
the stuff that’s those who everything from
not. aren’t. scratch.

3
Historically, that has meant buying a
franchise: getting predictable results
by following someone else’s rules.
But more and more fitness franchis-
es are failing because they focus on
value for the ownership and not for
the franchisee.
The reason most “fitness franchis-
es” won’t sell a location to a fitness
pro is simple: We spend too much
time trying to get the programming
right or arguing about the method.
But we love that stuff … and there’s
no reason to trade business success
for passion.
You can build a business that
supports your life.
You can build a life that’s fulfilling
instead of draining.
You can help your clients without
martyring yourself.
The key is to follow your head to
build your business while you follow
your heart to help your clients.
That means using numbers to make
decisions. And now you have them!

HOW TO MAKE DECISIONS WITH NUMBERS

You don’t need to be an accountant to grow your gym.
There are six metrics you must track:

AVERAGE REVENUE LENGTH OF

CLIENTS PER MEMBER (ARM) ENGAGEMENT (LEG)

You must have The average amount How long clients

enough clients you earn per client. stay at your
at the right rate It’s just as important gym.
to pay your as the number of
expenses and clients you have.
yourself.
EFFECTIVE HOURLY NET OWNER
EXPENSES (ROI) RATE (EHR) BENEFIT (NOB)

The return on The value of your What your

investment you time as owner. business pays
get from your A reflection of how you, the owner
space, equip- well you manage (profit, salary
ment and staff. your team. and extras).

4
In business, we can learn a lot by copying those who are doing better than we are, just
like I can build my deadlift by copying the program of a great deadlifter. The key is to
follow those whose metrics are better than yours and do what they do.

But how do we know who’s actually doing better? How do we know who’s doing great?
I think my gym is great. All gym owners think their gyms are doing great. So who should
we emulate? Whose advice should we take? Who’s not doing so well?

And, most importantly, how can you improve your gym?

When you know your numbers, you can take clear action to improve your gym.

Start by looking at the average numbers. Are you better or worse than average in each
category?

If you have fewer clients than the average gym, focus on getting more clients. If your
clients pay less than those at the average gym, increase your ARM. If your clients quit
before the clients at other gyms, focus on retention.

What would it take to get you to an ARM of $205 per client per month? How can you
earn 150 clients and keep them for two years or more? Those are your first goals.

But I don’t actually want you to be average: I want you to take your gym from average to
good to great. So don’t stop at average. Look at the top metrics in each category. Then
you can ask questions about what the best gyms are doing to earn the top spots.

Is Facebook advertising still viable? Should we spend more time on social media or less?
Are full-time trainers better than part time? Should we add a nutrition program?
Should we buy a second location, expand this location, hire a mentor?

This guide will tell you exactly what the best gyms are doing. And a mentor can help you
take action to become one of the top gyms.

Great gyms don’t just appear: They are the result of focused, data-backed action.

Thanks to Two-Brain’s internal data set and the amazing contributions of our partners at
Kilo, PushPress, TeamUp and Wodify, we’ve put together the most comprehensive and
useful set of numbers in the entire fitness industry.

Look, I’m a skeptic. I don’t believe anything until I see proof. When you start with proof,
you build your gym on a rock-solid foundation. This guide is what I use to make decisions
in my fitness businesses. I hope it helps you, too.

Thank you, microgym owners. Stay indie.

5
 WHO’S IN
THE DATA ?
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY
IN 2023, WE COLLECTED DATA FROM 13,444 GYMS WORLDWIDE.
TWO-BRAIN SURVEY RESPONSE BY SEGMENT
Percentage

Access CrossFit Martial Personal Strength & Other

Arts Training Conditioning

Gym Type
Qualitative data came from our annual State of the Industry Survey, which ran
from Aug. 14 to Sept. 4. Thanks to everyone who entered numbers: You’re moving
the fitness industry forward by helping us make this report better every year.

We also extracted a host of numbers from our Two-Brain App, which meticulously
tracks client progress. In addition, we were thrilled to receive mountains of data
from our collaborators: Kilo, PushPress, Wodify and TeamUp. These leaders pro-
vided anonymized data, but the numbers are valid because we went straight to
the source, minimizing input error and rough guesses.

This is the largest data set in the world for microgyms and coaches. The numbers
you’ll see on the next pages carry weight.

As in 2022, regional differences are sometimes present in the data. For example,
75 percent of Wodify’s data comes from U.S.-based gyms, and 85 percent of the
PushPress data is connected to American gyms. Only 46 percent of TeamUp’s
data comes from North American gyms, with the bulk of the numbers coming
from Europe. When we saw a significant difference in the data, we spelled it
out. If we didn’t note a regional difference or highlight, you can assume the data
applies worldwide.

All monetary stats are reported in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

6
SECT I ON 1 :
CLIENT S

7
 HOW MANY CLIENTS DOES THE
AVERAGE MICROGYM HAVE?
CLIENTS
In a coaching gym, 150 members are a solid Build your plan around getting and keeping
foundation. 150 high-value clients. Then build a plan to
get more or open a second location.
With 150 members:
But building all your rates and models around
• Churn is manageable. 150 will ensure you can keep the gym open
• You can serve your clients in 4,000 for as long as you want.
square feet (the optimum range for profit-
ability, as you’ll see in later sections). And most gyms never reach more than about
• The owner can make $100,000 per year 150 clients anyway.
and employ a full-time coach, as well as a
few part-time staff members.

159
PushPress average
members per gym
(up 3.2% year over year)
2022: 154

8
 ARE GYMS GAINING
OR LOSING CLIENTS?
CLIENTS
WODIFY: USER GROWTH BY REGION
IN RELATION TO JULY 2022 MEMBERSHIP TOTALS

15%

10%

5%

-5%

-10%

-15%
July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June
2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023

United States Australia/N.Z. Canada European Union United Kingdom Other Total

Month U.S. Aus./N.Z. Canada E.U. U.K. Other Total

July 2022 Baseline Baseline Baseline Baseline Baseline Baseline Baseline
Aug. 2022 1.35% 2.04% -2.22% 0.90% -3.97% 1.08% 1.00%
Sept. 2022 0.60% 3.98% -9.47% 2.27% -6.91% 3.09% 0.61%
Oct. 2022 -0.51% 4.71% -7.25% 2.92% -12.12% -1.31% -0.75%
Nov. 2022 -0.78% 6.16% -4.17% 3.47% -9.81% -0.30% -0.47%
Dec. 2022 -0.85% 5.30% -3.51% 1.15% -11.53% 0.70% -0.63%
Jan. 2023 -1.09% 6.51% -1.12% 3.07% -11.39% 1.67% -0.38%
Feb. 2023 -0.47% 6.64% -0.62% 4.91% -11.00% 3.99% 0.51%
Mar. 2023 0.73% 7.14% 0.06% 6.56% -14.12% 3.02% 1.22%
Apr. 2023 1.45% 7.71% 0.01% 7.69% -13.62% 1.94% 1.69%
May 2023 2.18% 7.03% 0.40% 9.24% -12.40% 3.49% 2.50%
June 2023 3.58% 5.32% 2.81% 10.87% -11.16% 5.66% 3.86%

This is not month-over-month growth. All figures are calculated with July 2022 numbers as the baseline.

9
 ARE GYMS GAINING
OR LOSING CLIENTS?
CLIENTS
WODIFY: CANCELED USERS
AS A PERCENTAGE OF ACTIVE BY REGION

July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June
2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023

United States Australia/N.Z. Canada European Union United Kingdom Other Total

Month U.S. Aus./N.Z. Canada E.U. U.K. Other Total

July 2022 5.18% 5.60% 4.02% 5.15% 5.60% 3.78% 5.00%
Aug. 2022 5.44% 5.90% 5.05% 5.72% 6.84% 3.71% 5.30%
Sept. 2022 5.02% 5.98% 5.31% 5.78% 8.84% 3.55% 5.08%
Oct. 2022 4.81% 5.68% 4.41% 6.07% 7.14% 4.00% 4.91%
Nov. 2022 4.48% 5.35% 4.51% 4.98% 6.92% 3.81% 4.57%
Dec. 2022 4.62% 5.93% 3.55% 5.80% 5.47% 3.38% 4.61%
Jan. 2023 5.29% 7.13% 3.99% 4.81% 6.82% 3.48% 5.14%
Feb. 2023 4.46% 5.42% 4.21% 4.13% 5.67% 3.40% 4.38%
Mar. 2023 4.62% 6.24% 4.35% 4.82% 5.23% 4.01% 4.67%
Apr. 2023 4.78% 6.41% 4.49% 5.08% 6.17% 4.12% 4.85%
May 2023 4.83% 6.47% 4.28% 4.64% 5.34% 3.49% 4.74%
June 2023 4.82% 6.45% 4.57% 5.10% 5.70% 4.73% 4.95%

10
 ARE GYMS GAINING
OR LOSING CLIENTS?
CLIENTS
WODIFY: NEW USERS
AS A PERCENTAGE OF ACTIVE BY REGION

July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June
2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023

United States Australia/N.Z. Canada European Union United Kingdom Other Total

Month U.S. Aus./N.Z. Canada E.U. U.K. Other Total

July 2022 3.92% 5.74% 3.54% 3.68% 4.87% 2.98% 3.92%
Aug. 2022 4.74% 6.99% 3.92% 5.58% 6.14% 3.77% 4.83%
Sept. 2022 3.90% 6.00% 4.79% 6.46% 5.87% 3.45% 4.24%
Oct. 2022 3.60% 6.79% 4.16% 5.13% 5.48% 3.36% 3.96%
Nov. 2022 3.48% 4.84% 4.44% 4.31% 5.05% 2.80% 3.62%
Dec. 2022 3.10% 3.85% 2.81% 3.02% 3.25% 2.26% 3.02%
Jan. 2023 5.22% 7.43% 5.09% 5.81% 8.36% 4.15% 5.36%
Feb. 2023 3.66% 5.44% 3.36% 3.59% 5.85% 2.97% 3.74%
Mar. 2023 4.48% 5.34% 3.97% 5.11% 5.21% 3.33% 4.43%
Apr. 2023 4.03% 4.64% 3.32% 3.61% 4.69% 2.94% 3.89%
May 2023 4.48% 5.48% 3.96% 4.86% 5.51% 3.48% 4.45%
June 2023 4.74% 4.18% 4.17% 4.07% 4.25% 3.19% 4.41%

11
 WHO ARE
THE CLIENTS?
CLIENTS
BREAKDOWN BY GENDER

51.0% 49.0%
Male Female

Source: Wodify
U.S. Segment

12
 WHO ARE
THE CLIENTS?
CLIENTS
BREAKDOWN BY AGE

Under 21 21-30 31-40 41-50 51+

Source: PushPress, TeamUp, Wodify

Age Range
Under 21
21-30
31-40
41-50
51+
Source: Wodify

U.S. Aus./N.Z. E.U. Canada U.K. Other

13
 HOW ARE GYMS
GAINING CLIENTS?
MARKETING

Only
80.9%
of gyms
49.1%
were running ads
have run ads in August 2023

There’s a strong correlation between gyms

THE KEY TAKEAWAYS:
that are profitable and gyms that are
running ads. Only 50 percent of gyms run ads “Waiting and hoping”
for various reasons, but this is an important is not effective.
consideration: If you aren’t running ads and
the other gym in town is, it’s getting a lot more
lead traffic than you are. Staff members at the All gyms need a
other gym are probably talking with clients marketing strategy,
before you are. which may or may not
include paid ads.
In our conversations with gym owners,
many say “ads don’t work” because they The most profitable gyms
don’t understand the whole funnel. Ads are have a precise plan to
one part of the funnel. They must be
acquire leads and clients,
supported by lead nurturing, systems that
and they usually use all
help leads book and show up for appoint-
ments, and effective salespeople who solve
four of the funnels we
problems and close. For example, a recommend: paid ads,
spectacular advertising campaign can be referrals, organic social
derailed by a poor salesperson. media and content.

You can’t run a microgym without marketing,

and we teach four marketing funnels in Two-
Brain. One of those funnels involves paid ads.
Some gym owners use it very effectively when
they understand how it works, and
others can acquire the clients they need
without paid advertising.
THE MOST COMMON REASONS
WHY RESPONDENTS ARE NOT
CURRENTLY RUNNING ADS
• Organic campaigns and referrals work
better (46% of those not running ads)
• Lack of skill with advertising (39.9%)

14
 WHY OWNERS
ARE NOT RUNNING ADS
MARKETING
Organic Campaigns PERCENTAGE RUNNING
are Better GYM TYPE
ADS AS OF AUGUST
No Return on Access 47.4%
Investment CrossFit 44.2%
Lack of Skill With Martial Arts 85.7%
Advertising Personal Training 49.5%
At Max Strength
Capacity 57.6%
& Conditioning
Poor Lead
Other 54.0%
Quality Total 49.1%

Other

0 50 100 150 200

Note: The graph above shows selections from a checklist in our survey.
Gym owners were asked to check all reasons why they are not running ads,
not the main reason only. Many gym owners checked two or more boxes.

WHAT ELSE ARE GYM OWNERS DOING

TO ATTRACT CLIENTS?

Nothing 81.3%
of survey respondents

7%
use social media
to attract clients
Other
do nothing
Lead Magnets/
Nurturing Campaigns 73.7%
use referral campaigns,
beyond
paid ads

Affinity Marketing and

Blogging/Website SEO local networking

Social Media
Publication

Referral Campaigns/
Affinity Marketing/
Local Networking

Note: The graph above shows selections from a checklist in our survey.
Gym owners were asked to check everything they are doing, not the main activity only.
Many gym owners checked two or more boxes.

15
 LEADS PER
MONTH
MARKETING
AVERAGE NUMBER OF LEADS PER MONTH
Access

59
CrossFit

21
Martial Arts

46
Personal Training

31
Strength & Cond.

31
28
Survey respondents’
Other

average number of
leads per month
40
across all gyms Total

28
Kilo stats reveal what
the funnel looks like:
(Kilo monthly average sales stats)

To become clients,
25 leads
leads must book an
appointment, show up
for the appointment 9 appointments
and sign up.

6 sales
16
 COST OF A
NEW LEAD
MARKETING
Leads coming from social media, blogs,

$45.91
podcasts and other media don’t carry a
measurable cost, which pulls the average
cost of acquisition down. However, generat-
ing these leads takes time.
Average cost of a lead
across all gyms In the early stages of gym ownership, time is

$27 your greatest asset, and it should be invest-

ed into lead generation with low ad spend.
2022 However, the most profitable gyms eventu-
ally run paid ads. And knowing the cost to
GYM TYPE AVERAGE COST acquire a client can help gym owners direct
Access $11.27 attention to the greatest point of leverage in
CrossFit $33.10 their marketing plans.
Martial Arts $56.54
If the cost of their leads is too high, they can
Personal Training $57.59 focus more on posting media. If the cost of
Strength & Conditioning $91.42 their leads is low, they can focus on add-
Other $34.59 ing paid marketing to speed up a working
process.
Total $45.91

SIGNUPS PER MONTH

This is an interesting number to know, and several factors
should be considered when evaluating it.

First, is your gym signing up more or fewer clients than the

AVERAGE SIGNUPS
average in your category? GYM TYPE
PER MONTH
Next, what are gyms in the other categories doing to sign Access 38
up more people? CrossFit 7
Martial Arts 11
For example, while access gyms regularly sign up more
Personal Training 9
clients per month, their churn rate is also much higher, and
the value of each client is much smaller. Look at the aver- Strength & Conditioning 9
age pricing tables in the next section and you’ll see that it Other 10
takes four access-only clients to equal one coaching client Total 9
in value.

The strategies for acquisition are different in each niche,

but if it costs the same amount to get a high-value client
and a low-value client, it’s a good indication that coaching
gyms should prioritize value, not headcount.

17
 NEW
MEMBERS
MARKETING

7.3
Average new
5.3
Average cancellations
members per month per month
(PushPress) (PushPress)

INVESTMENT IN MARKETING SOFTWARE

$370
Average investment
by those who pay for
marketing software

70%
of survey respondents
invest in email or text
automation, a customer
relationship management
system (CRM), funnel
builders, etc.

18
SE CT ION 2:
CLI ENT
VA LUE

19
 CLIENT
VALUE
REVENUE
Total revenue isn’t the most important metric—but it’s still important.

In an ideal world, a gym would have strong, consistent monthly revenue totals all
year round. But, as you know, December is often a bad month in the gym world, and
January is usually a good month.

In the chart and table below, July 2022 revenue is used as a baseline, and you can
see when gyms made more money—or less—over the next 11 months. Some clear
regional trends are also apparent.

WODIFY: MONTHLY GYM REVENUE

CHANGES IN RELATION TO JULY 2022 REVENUE
20%

15%

10%

5%

-5%
July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June
2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023

United States European Union Australia United Kingdom

Month U.S. E.U. Aus. U.K.

July 2022 Baseline Baseline Baseline Baseline
Aug. 2022 2% 2% 10% 1%
Sept. 2022 1% 11% 4% 5%
Oct. 2022 2% 19% 12% 9%
Nov. 2022 3% 16% 10% 3%
Dec. 2022 0% 6% 5% -3%
Jan. 2023 10% 11% 13% 5%
Feb. 2023 4% 4% 6% 5%
Mar. 2023 8% 10% 17% 9%
Apr. 2023 6% 9% 5% 11%
May 2023 12% 14% 17% 12%
June 2023 13% 14% 9% 10%
Note: This is not month-over-month growth.
All figures are calculated with July 2022 numbers as the baseline.

20
 CLIENT
VALUE
REVENUE

WODIFY AVERAGE REVENUE PER GYM

Month U.S. E.U. (euros) Aus. (AU) U.K. (pounds)

July 2022 $11,886 €8,882 $16,766 £8,283
Aug. 2022 $12,107 €9,022 $18,384 £8,372
Sept. 2022 $11,976 €9,854 $17,395 £8,697
Oct. 2022 $12,182 €10,594 $18,838 £9,018
Nov. 2022 $12,196 €10,328 $18,494 £8,502
Dec. 2022 $11,922 €9,424 $17,560 £8,049
Jan. 2023 $13,050 €9,903 $18,928 £8,723
Feb. 2023 $12,331 €9,267 $17,713 £8,696
Mar. 2023 $12,841 €9,768 $19,598 £9,051
Apr. 2023 $12,614 €9,676 $17,589 £9,166
May 2023 $13,300 €10,110 $19,648 £9,257
June 2023 $13,482 €10,167 $18,341 £9,135
Average $12,490.58 €9,749.58 $18,271.17 £8,745.75

WODIFY AVERAGE REVENUE PER MONTH

IN U.S. DOLLARS

Aus. $11,578
U.S. $12,490 (AU$18,271)

E.U. $10,272 U.K. $10,618

(9,749 euros) (8,745 pounds)
Converted with Oct. 18, 2023, rates

21
 CLIENT
VALUE
REVENUE
TWO-BRAIN GYMS: AVERAGE REVENUE PER MONTH

$21,040
Two-Brain gym
average revenue
per month

AVERAGE NUMBER OF MEMBERSHIP

PLANS BY PARTNER
WHAT ARE GYMS SELLING?
AVERAGE
NUMBER OF
PARTNER
MEMBERSHIP
PLANS
PushPress 17
TeamUp 13
Wodify (U.S.) 12
Wodify (Canada) 16
Wodify (E.U.) 13

22
 GROUP
TRAINING
WHAT ARE GYMS SELLING?

GROUP 73.9%
Average percentage of
TRAINING total revenue for
CrossFit respondents who
offer group coaching

$165
Survey respondents’
median price of
65%
Average percentage
41%
Average percentage of
group training
of total revenue for total revenue for Personal
survey respondents Training respondents who
who offer group
3.1%
offer group coaching
coaching
increase over 2022
7.6%
Average percentage of
$160 67% total revenue for Access
respondents who offer
2022 price 2022
group coaching

PERCENTAGE
GYM TYPE AVERAGE PRICE
OFFERING
Access $145 52.6%
Almost every CrossFit and Martial
CrossFit $160 99.8%
Arts gym in the data set offers group
Martial Arts $152 93.3%
training. Access Only gyms are least
likely to provide group training—only Personal Training $180 73.1%
52.6% offer the service (2022: 57%). Strength &
$175 94.4%
Conditioning
Other $150 92.0%
Total $163 93.1%

HOW MANY GROUP CLASSES

DOES THE GYM PROVIDE PER WEEK?

57 27
TeamUp’s average PushPress’s average
(dominated by (dominated by
European gyms) U.S.-based gyms)

54 31.4
2022 number 2022 number

23
 GROUP
TRAINING
CLASSES & ATTENDANCE
WODIFY: HOW MANY GROUP CLASSES
DO GYMS PROVIDE PER WEEK?

Wodify broke the numbers

down further to show that
53 percent of gyms have
Percentage of Gyms

between 20 and 50 classes

per week.

Classes per Week

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE PER CLASS

9.5 What’s even more interesting than “how

many classes?” is the question “how
TeamUp many classes should gyms be offering?”
average class
attendance In general, we’ve found that client
adherence is improved in classes of 7-13,
but many gyms are running classes for
fewer than four attendees.

It’s simple to determine whether you 6.9

should keep a class: Just calculate the PushPress
average amount clients pay per class and average
multiply that by the number of people in class
the class. attendance

Is it worth it? The math should tell you.

6.6
2022 number

24
 GROUP
TRAINING
AVERAGE CLASS SIZE

Wodify’s data shows the

33% of gyms
distribution of gyms
have an according to average
average class class size.
size of 4 or 5.
Percentage of Gyms

Analysis: We saw a
significant change in
Wodify’s data from year
to year: Fewer gyms are
running classes of 1-4
and more gyms are
running classes of 5-8.

Average Class Size

Note: The combined percentage of gyms with average class sizes of 15 or more is 1.23%.

• The percentage of gyms with average class sizes of 1-4 people Average Percentage
decreased from 71.33 percent to 47.38 (-23.95 points). Class
Size of Gyms
• The percentage of gyms with average class sizes of 5-8 people
increased from 26.56 percent to 43.24 (+16.68 points). 1 7.82%
2 9.01%
Gyms aren’t running more classes, but the average number of attendees 3 13.39%
per class is rising. Average membership hasn’t increased much since last 4 17.16%
year, so that means gyms are getting better at running the number of class-
5 15.53%
es they need instead of running a bunch of classes for one or two people.
6 13.10%
This decreases costs for the gym—and it’s correlated with higher reten- 7 9.60%
tion, too. It’s just more fun to have five to eight people in a class than one 8 5.01%
or two. 9 3.32%
10 2.31%
Take note: Almost no one in the data set is consistently running classes 11 1.21%
with more than 10 attendees all the time. Building your business on the
12 0.71%
target of running large classes all day is just not a good idea.
13 0.41%
14 0.21%

25
 ANALYSIS:
GROUP TRAINING
CLIENT VALUE
In theory, the group model should be the most
profitable. One coach working with 12 clients should
generate more revenue at a higher margin.
But the reality—highlighted in data from 13,444
gyms and obvious to anyone selling the group mod-
el—is that the model has flaws. The average group
has three to seven clients, not 12. Yet the average
gym owner has invested in space and equipment for
12, so six-person groups barely cover the bills.
Worse, most gyms are undercharging for coaching:
They’re selling small-group coaching at large-group
prices. That puts gym owners in a real pinch: They’re
not making enough with six people in a group be-
cause their prices are too low, and they’re paying
too much in expenses. They have three choices:
1. Coach everything themselves for 12 hours a day.
2. Pay their coaches a low wage and make very
little themselves.
3. Supplement the model by selling personal train-
ing, semi-private training, nutrition coaching and
other higher-value services.
In the past, it took gym owners three to five years to
figure this out. But now they don’t have the luxury
of time: With group-exercise competitors flooding
the market, prices are going down fast, leads are
harder to find, and clients jump from gym to gym
after months instead of years.
The bottom line: If you’re selling group exercise,
you’re going to compete with Nike, Revel, F45 and
others at a lower price. If you’re selling coaching,
you can deliver it in ways that don’t appear to be the
same as the lower-priced “commodity brands.”
CrossFit affiliate owners might not like to hear this,
but they should take comfort in the knowledge that
Greg Glassman didn’t sell big group classes. His
groups were small, carried a high value, and required
little space and overhead. The myth that “CrossFit
equals big classes” came from an outsider.
26
No matter what your method is (CrossFit, HIIT, boot-
camp, strength and conditioning, Brazilian jiu-jitsu,
Pilates, etc.), focusing on a higher-value model is
your best bet against the commoditization of intense
exercise done in a group setting.
Attendance Patterns
Wodify supplied detailed tables showing very clear
attendance patterns.
• Monday remains the most well-attended day of
the week worldwide.
• Sunday is the least well-attended day of the
week worldwide.
• Sunday attendance drops off more dramatically
in the U.S. and Aus./N.Z. (about 5 and 9 points,
respectively), but the decline is less pronounced
in Canada, the U.K. and the E.U. (about 4 points
in all regions).
• Attendance declines each day from Monday to
Sunday worldwide, with the exception of slight
increases from Thursday to Friday in the U.S. and
U.K.
• Significant attendance declines appear on
Thursday in all regions except Canada, from a
3.86-point drop in the U.S. to a 2.68-point drop
in the E.U. In Canada, the Thursday decline is still
present but lesser in magnitude: 1.07 points.
In 2022, the E.U. saw the lowest Wednesday-
Thursday dropoff, at 1.76 points.
• Combined Saturday and Sunday attendance is
still not as great as attendance even on the worst
single weekday (Thursday or Friday) in all regions
but the U.K. In that region, combined weekend
attendance is greater than attendance on
Thursday and attendance on Friday.
• In the U.S., Saturday attendance is more than 4
times that of Sunday. This figure is 9x in Aus./N.Z.
but less than 2x in the E.U., the U.K. and Canada.
 POPULAR
CLASS TIMES
WHEN DO CLIENTS TRAIN?
Most Popular Weekday Class Times: U.S. Most Popular Weekend
1 2 3 4 Class Times: U.S.
1st: 9 a.m.
2nd: 8 a.m.
5 a.m. 5 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 a.m. 3rd: 10 a.m.

Most Popular Weekday Class Times: Aus./N.Z.

Most Popular Weekend
1 2 3 4 Class Times: Aus./N.Z.
1st: 8 a.m.
2nd: 7 a.m.
5 a.m. 6 a.m. 5 p.m. 9 a.m. 3rd: 9 a.m.

Most Popular Weekday Class Times: E.U. Most Popular Weekend

1 2 3 4 Class Times: E.U.
1st: 10 a.m.
2nd: 9 a.m.
6 p.m. 5 p.m. 7 p.m. 4 p.m. 3rd: 11 a.m.

Most Popular Weekday Class Times: Canada Most Popular Weekend

1 2 3 4 Class Times: Canada
1st: 9 a.m.
2nd: 10 a.m.
5 p.m. 6 a.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 3rd: 8 a.m.

Most Popular Weekday Class Times: U.K. Most Popular Weekend

1 2 3 4 Class Times: U.K.
1st: 9 a.m.
2nd: 10 a.m.
6 p.m. 5 p.m. 6 a.m. 7 p.m. 3rd: 8 a.m.
Source: Wodify
27
 PERSONAL
TRAINING
CLIENT VALUE

PERSONAL
2022
TRAINING
AVERAGE PERCENTAGE

$75
GYM TYPE PERCENTAGE

Access
PRICE

$67
OFFERING

94.7%
OFFERING
85.7%
22%
Average percentage of
CrossFit $75 93.7% 93.3% total revenue for survey
Martial Arts $78 93.3% 87.5% respondents who offer
Survey respondents’ 1:1 coaching
Personal average 60-minute PT
$76 98.1% 98.4%
Training

93%
session price
Strength &
$77 95.2% 89.8%
Conditioning
Other
Total
$74
$74
81.3%
93.3%
87.5%
92.1% $74 of gyms in all categories
2022 except Other offer PT
$71 Other: 81.3%
CrossFit: 93.7%
2021

Analysis
While it’s nice to see the price of PT slowly climb-
ing over the last three years, it’s even better to see
that more gyms are offering PT—a high-value service
that supports gyms, produces the swiftest results for
clients, and creates more income for trainers.

We saw sizable increases in the percentage of

Access, Martial Arts, and Strength and Conditioning
gyms that offer PT, while the CrossFit and Personal
Training gyms held steady (both well over 90 per-
cent). Only the Other category saw a decline.

This is important: If the median group-training mem-

bership for a whole month is $165, gyms can take in
almost the same amount by selling just two PT sessions.
The 9-point increase in Access gyms that offer
PT carries even more weight. These gyms charge
an average of $43 a month for uncoached facility
access (see Page 34), and on average they charge
$67 for one PT session.
So selling two PT sessions provides more
revenue than acquiring three new members.
If you own one of the few gyms that doesn’t
offer personal training, consider adding the
service tomorrow.

28
 NUTRITION
COACHING
CLIENT VALUE

NUTRITION
COACHING 66.1%
Percentage of survey respondents

$151 4.3%
Average percentage
who offer nutrition coaching

Survey respondents’ of total revenue for survey

average monthly price respondents who offer AVERAGE %
GYM TYPE
2022: $145 nutrition coaching PRICE OFFERING
Access $167 31.6%
Survey respondents’ median CrossFit $150 73.5%
monthly price Martial Arts $130 33.3%
$150—2023 Personal Training $152 61.5%
$140—2022 Strength &
$157 63.5%
$129—2021 Conditioning
$110—2020 Other $151 52.0%
This is an annual increase of Total $151 66.1%
about 8% per year

Analysis
The question we must ask with every service is
this: Does it solve the problems of the client
and the coach and the gym owner?
More importantly, most don’t tend to stick with
nutrition coaching long enough to develop a
habit—at most, a few months. So the model
doesn’t work for the coaches for long, either.

On the surface, nutrition coaching does all
three. In theory, it’s more scalable than group
training because a nutrition coach requires less
time to deliver service. And the nutrition coach
doesn’t have to show up at 11 a.m. every day
to run the Noon Nutrition Group.
The problem: Most popular models for de-
livering nutrition coaching aren’t working.
While more than 66 percent of gyms have a
nutrition program now, those programs, on
average, create less than 5 percent of total
revenue. If you subtract about half for the
coach, there’s almost nothing left—and if
you’re paying an external company to over-
see your nutrition coaching, the net benefit
to the gym is probably zero.
29
Some clients pay a nutrition coach for account-
ability long term, but you should ask this ques-
tion in your gym: How long does the average
client pay for nutrition coaching? And do they
keep up their habits after the coaching ends? If
so, then the program is working for the clients.
But if clients sign up for $150 a month, stay
for three months and then quit, are they really
benefiting? Is the gym? Is the coach?
In that light, it might be better to run
quarterly nutrition challenges or have a regular
“accountability” add-on instead of selling a
separate monthly service. This is an area where
the theory of “what’s best” doesn’t match
what’s happening. That’s why we trust data
instead of just seeing what we want to be true.
 ONLINE
COACHING
CLIENT VALUE

ONLINE
COACHING GYM TYPE
AVG.
PRICE
%
OFFERING

$166
Access $161 31.6%

Survey respondents’
3.8%
Average percentage of
CrossFit
Martial Arts
$164
$93
28.2%
20.0%
average monthly price
total revenue for survey Personal Training $189 51.5%
respondents who offer Strength &
$170 44.4%
online coaching Conditioning
2022: $181 2022: 5%
Other
Total
$136
$166
34.7%
34.8%
2021: $163

The percentage of gyms offering

online coaching has declined since
51.5%
of Personal Training gyms
COVID times—from 63 percent in offer the service
2020 to 35 percent in 2023. That (highest rate).
said, the figure increased by 3.2
percentage points from 2022 to As in 2022, Martial Arts gyms
are still the least likely to
2023.
offer online coaching.
Many bricks-and-mortar gyms
simply stopped offering online
training when they reopened
after lockdowns. But clients who
purchased equipment while their
gym was closed, clients who move
away from the gym, and clients
who travel often can still benefit
from this service.

In many cases it’s a defensive move

to keep clients, not an upgrade.

30
 SUPPLEMENTS
CLIENT VALUE

50.8%
PERCENTAGE

3.7%
GYM TYPE
SELLING
of survey respondents Access 52.6%
reported selling CrossFit 59.3%
supplements Average percentage of Martial Arts 20.0%
total revenue for survey
respondents who sell Personal Training 36.5%
2022: 48.1% supplements Strength &
Conditioning
44.4%
2021: 52.5% 2022: 3% Other 39.7%
2020: 54% Total 50.8%

Analysis
The percentage of gyms selling
supplements has gone up over last
year. Supply-chain issues have been
mostly ironed out, and supple-
ments carry value on two fronts:

1. Gym members often buy supple-

ments from someone who isn’t as
knowledgeable as their coach, so
you have a chance to offer more
value to clients if you prevent them
from being led astray at the mall.

2. Selling supplements is actually

a high effective hourly rate (EHR)
activity because, while setup takes
a few hours, system maintenance is
almost nil.
BioEdge, for example, tracks inven-
tory and pays the gym whenever
anyone buys, then ships new stuff
when we’re low. We’ve done liter-
ally nothing since we printed out
the QR code and taped it on the
shelf.
Next to raising rates 3.4 percent or
reducing transaction fees 3.4 per-
cent, selling supplements is one of
the easiest ways to add revenue. And
many gyms do it just to get good stuff
for their people.
The key is to use a service you don’t
have to spend time maintaining. The
old way of buying and storing inven-
tory is not effective.

31
 KIDS
CLASSES
CLIENT VALUE

7.6%
Average percentage of Most likely
GYM TYPE
PERCENTAGE
OFFERING
total revenue for survey to offer kids classes: Access 21.1%
respondents who offer
kids coaching Martial Arts, CrossFit, CrossFit 49.3%
2022: 9% Strength & Conditioning Martial Arts 80.0%
Personal Training 16.5%
40.9%
of survey respondents
Least likely:
Personal Training, Access
Strength & Conditioning
Other
41.6%
24.0%
offer kids classes Total 40.9%
2022: 39.5%

In 2023, 40.9 percent of survey respondents

Analysis
Many martial-arts gyms now focus on
kids, and more CrossFit gyms are bringing
back programs for kids. Many “strength-
and-conditioning gyms” are sport specific,
which lends itself to a younger audience
of hopeful athletes.
offer kids classes, as opposed to 39.5 percent
in 2022. But the revenue stream is contributing
less to total revenue in gyms that serve kids. On
average, it provided 7.6 percent of income in
2023 vs. 9 percent in 2022.
Overall gym revenue hasn’t gone up much,
so that means gyms are either
undercharging or the classes aren’t filled.

32
 HYBRID
PROGRAMS
CLIENT VALUE

62.1%
$337
Survey respondents’
of Personal Training gyms offer hybrid
memberships (greatest percentage)
GYM TYPE
AVERAGE PERCENTAGE
PRICE OFFERING
average monthly price Access $250 21.1%
2022: $319 21.1% CrossFit $322 54.9%
of Access gyms offer hybrid
memberships (lowest percentage) Martial Arts $384 46.7%
Personal
8.5%
Average percentage
54.9%
of CrossFit gyms offer hybrid
memberships
Training
Strength &
$377 62.1%

of total revenue for $365 58.7%

Conditioning
survey respondents
who offer hybrid 54.6% Other $327 45.3%
programs of survey respondents Total $337 54.6%
2022: 11% offer hybrid memberships
2022: 47.7%

Analysis
Hybrid packages are defined as
a combination of two or more
services. Hybrids are any pre-
packaged combo of group classes,
personal training, online coach-
ing or nutrition services. In the
future, we might call these pack-
ages “high-ticket offers.” The table
shows the average values of the
packages gyms are selling.

It’s interesting to compare 2023

data against last year’s numbers—
the average price of a hybrid pack-
age has gone up by $18. This is an
indication that gyms are selling
higher-value packages now—or
at least that their most expensive
options are more expensive than
they used to be.

What’s most important is that

more gyms are solving clients’
problems more fully instead of just
offering an exercise program.

33
 UNCOACHED
ACCESS
WHAT ARE GYMS SELLING?

$76
Survey respondents’
15%
Average percentage of total
GYM TYPE
AVERAGE PERCENTAGE
PRICE OFFERING
average monthly revenue for survey respondents Access $43 100%
price who offer uncoached access CrossFit $86 29.2%
2022: $73 2022: 20% Martial Arts $38 13.3%
Personal
$73 16.4%
26.8%
of all gyms offer
74.8%
Average percentage of total revenue
Training
Strength &
Conditioning
$69 22.6%
uncoached access for survey respondents who
2022: 23.9% identify as Access gyms Other $61 19.2%
2022: 77% Total $73 26.8%

Analysis
Obviously, Access gyms offer
uncoached access. But more
CrossFit, Martial Arts and Personal
Training gyms are offering it now,
even though fewer Strength and
Conditioning and Other gyms are
offering it. The total percentage of
gyms offering uncoached access
increased by 2.9 points from 2022
to 2023.

The really interesting thing is

that most coaching gyms that sell
uncoached access are charging
double what an access-only gym
would charge. For example, Access
gyms charge $43 on average, but
the CrossFit number is $86.

There are two possibilities here:

Either the gym is selling un-
coached access as an alternative
to its coaching program or the
gym is selling it as an add-on to its
coaching program.

34
 PERCENTAGE
OF REVENUE
WHAT ARE GYMS SELLING?
This is one of the most interesting pages every
year. First, it highlights opportunities for owners
to increase their value to clients (and receive val-
ue in the form of more revenue). Second, it shows
owners where they can refocus their attention.
This table breaks down the average percentage of
revenue each service stream contributes to gyms
in each category. Note: Input errors create totals
that do not equal 100 percent.
revenue to “group.” In addition, sources not listed
in this table were not significant enough to war-
rant their own category but could result in totals
that do not equal 100 percent.
For example, 25 percent of CrossFit gyms report-
ed revenue from sources outside of the segments
listed. These sources might include specialty
classes, diversified models including space rental,
punch-card sales and drop-in fees.

For example, a gym owner might have mistakenly Nevertheless, the table still shows clear trends
entered percentages that total above or below and revenue-generation opportunities for busi-
100, or the owner might have attributed “kids” nesses in all categories.

AVERAGE REVENUE BY STREAM

GYM TYPE GROUP PT NUTRITION ONLINE SUPPLEMENTS KIDS HYBRID ACCESS
Access 4.6% 13.6% 0.4% 0.3% 1.9% 3.5% 1.9% 74.8%
CrossFit 80.0% 12.8% 3.2% 0.9% 2.7% 2.7% 3.1% 1.3%
Martial Arts 82.0% 19.5% 1.9% 0.6% 3.4% 34.9% 9.9% 0.1%
Personal
32.5% 51.1% 3.8% 3.6% 2.4% 1.2% 12.3% 4.4%
Training
Strength &
56.8% 24.5% 3.6% 1.8% 2.2% 6.1% 6.2% 5.6%
Conditioning
Other 55.7% 24.6% 2.9% 5.5% 1.2% 2.8% 6.6% 5.4%
Total 61.9% 20.5% 3.2% 5.0% 2.6% 3.7% 5.3% 4.2%

35
SECT I ON 3 :
CLI ENT
R E T ENT ION

36
 LENGTH OF ENGAGEMENT:
CHANGING LIVES
CLIENT RETENTION

20.7
The industry average length of engagement—LEG—
is 7.8 months. That’s too low.
7.8
LEG is our primary retention metric. We measure
other metrics—such as how many clients cancel in
a month—but LEG is important because it tells us if
months
Industry
average
months
Two-Brain clients’
we’re changing a client’s life. Let’s face it: If clients length of average length of
stay for a few months, they might learn something engagement engagement
new—but the period isn’t long enough to build
exercise and nutrition habits that will last a lifetime.
For that, you need about two years. who do personalized programs with a coach in small
groups of about two to four people.
Longer LEG is also good for business. The longer
you keep members, the less you have to market to But LEG drops off in group training classes that have
replace departing members with new clients. between four and seven clients. It’s a little better
with groups of seven to 12. But LEG and all retention
In general, LEG is highest with personal-training metrics drop off sharply when you have more than
clients. Data is starting to emerge that shows LEG 13 in a class. This is another challenge that gyms run-
is also really good with semi-private training clients ning big classes have to overcome—and a few do.
WODIFY: CANCELED USERS
AS A PERCENTAGE OF ACTIVE BY REGION

July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June
2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023 2023

United States Australia/N.Z. Canada European Union United Kingdom Other Total

Month U.S. Aus./N.Z. Canada E.U. U.K. Other Total

July 2022 5.18% 5.60% 4.02% 5.15% 5.60% 3.78% 5.00%
Aug. 2022 5.44% 5.90% 5.05% 5.72% 6.84% 3.71% 5.30%
Sept. 2022 5.02% 5.98% 5.31% 5.78% 8.84% 3.55% 5.08%
Oct. 2022 4.81% 5.68% 4.41% 6.07% 7.14% 4.00% 4.91%
Nov. 2022 4.48% 5.35% 4.51% 4.98% 6.92% 3.81% 4.57%
Dec. 2022 4.62% 5.93% 3.55% 5.80% 5.47% 3.38% 4.61%
Jan. 2023 5.29% 7.13% 3.99% 4.81% 6.82% 3.48% 5.14%
Feb. 2023 4.46% 5.42% 4.21% 4.13% 5.67% 3.40% 4.38%
Mar. 2023 4.62% 6.24% 4.35% 4.82% 5.23% 4.01% 4.67%
Apr. 2023 4.78% 6.41% 4.49% 5.08% 6.17% 4.12% 4.85%
May 2023 4.83% 6.47% 4.28% 4.64% 5.34% 3.49% 4.74%
June 2023 4.82% 6.45% 4.57% 5.10% 5.70% 4.73% 4.95%

37
S E CT I ON 4 :
E X P ENS ES

38
 MONTHLY EXPENSES
HOW MUCH IS THE AVERAGE GYM PAYING OUT?
Are you getting good value on that space GYM TYPE 2022 AVERAGE 2023
you're renting or do you have “dead zones” MONTHLY
that don’t generate any revenue for your EXPENSES
business? Are you generating a return on your Access $25,800 $32,987
investment in staff? Are you warehousing CrossFit $13,958 $18,732
unused equipment? We've all got a dusty set Martial Arts $18,699 $19,814
of jerk blocks or a cobwebbed reverse hyper- Personal Training $15,515 $17,236
extension machine, right?
Strength &
$17,066 $17,263
Conditioning
Every dollar you spend is an investment that Other $17,670 $23,104
should generate a good return. But you won’t
Total $15,465 $19,082
know if you’re getting a return if you don’t
dig into your expenses. What are they getting for that money?

• Expenses were up in all categories.

For example, many gym owners believe • Access gyms had the highest month-
they’re saving money by “trading” member- ly expenses.
ships for coaching, but sometimes those deals • Expenses increased the most in the
actually cost far more than just paying a class Access, CrossFit and Other categories.
wage. Similarly, gym owners often commit to
too much space and then spend all their time
marketing to fill it—and the only one who
profits is the landlord.

Tracking your expenses tells you exactly

where your money is going and if it’s gener-
ating a return for you. If you aren’t getting
ROI, first look for a way to change that before
eliminating the expense.

For example, ask your bookkeeper, “How can

I leverage your service better right now?” I’m
sure they will have an answer; I’m also sure
few people ask.

Sometimes, of course, you will want to cut an

expense. But you’re smart: There’s a reason
you signed up for that service or software in
the first place. Chances are, you don’t need to
$3,617
Average increase in total monthly
cancel—you just need to optimize. expenses from 2022 to 2023

39
 GYM SIZE
EXPENSES
AVERAGE
GYM TYPE SQUARE
The average square On average, Access FOOTAGE
gyms have the most Access 6,906
footage of all gyms space by far. CrossFit 5,639
decreased from Personal Training Martial Arts 4,164

5,220 to 4,899 gyms have the least Personal Training 3,199

from 2022 to 2023. by a significant Strength &

Conditioning
4,134
margin. Other 4,148
Total 4,899

COST OF GYM SPACE

Access gyms paid

$4,885 an average of CrossFit gyms:
Average monthly
real-estate cost
(2022: $4,962)
$7,763 $4,949
(2022: $4,709)
(2022: $8,613)

GYM TYPE AVERAGE MONTHLY REAL-ESTATE COST

Access $7,763
CrossFit $4,949
Martial Arts $3,533
Personal Training $4,085
Strength & Conditioning $4,660
Other $5,616
Total $4,885

40
 REAL ESTATE STRATEGY
EXPENSES
Building ownership is interesting but not
necessarily a key indicator of business
success because many owners might take
their income and reinvest elsewhere. 89.6%
of gyms rent
For example, gym owners will not buy their their space
buildings in Las Vegas even if they’re super
profitable.

GYM TYPE PERCENTAGE WHO RENT PERCENTAGE WHO OWN

Access 73.7% 26.3%
CrossFit 90.5% 9.5%
Martial Arts 86.7% 13.3%
Personal Training 89.1% 10.9%
Strength & Conditioning 87.2% 12.8%
Other 94.4% 5.6%
Total 89.6% 10.4%

BUSINESS DEBT
Predictably, the Access category had the greatest number of gym
owners with debt over $50,000. This is just part of the business
model associated with access gyms: Rent a big space, buy a lot of
37.2%
of survey
equipment and accept early losses until you reach the minimum
viable client count. Many access gyms also pay franchise fees.
respondents
reported no Conversely, many coaching gyms (like Martial Arts and CrossFit)
business debt have no debt. That doesn’t mean they’re more profitable.

2022: 42% Debt is a balancing act: Used wisely, debt can be a tool. But the
gym owner must understand numbers well before taking on debt
to finance a gym or expand a gym.

$20,000- $50,000-
GYM TYPE NO DEBT < $20,000 $100,000+
$49,000 $99,000
Access 11.1% 27.8% 5.6% 16.7% 38.9%
CrossFit 39.3% 22.0% 16.3% 11.2% 11.2%
Martial Arts 33.3% 20.0% 33.3% 6.7% 6.7%
Personal
39.4% 25.0% 14.4% 7.7% 13.5%
Training
Strength &
36.0% 21.6% 14.4% 11.2% 16.8%
Conditioning
Other 32.0% 16.0% 22.7% 6.7% 22.8%
Total 37.2% 21.9% 16.4% 10.3% 14.2%

41
S E CT I ON 5:
STA FF

42
 NUMBER OF TEAM MEMBERS
STAFF

12
number
8
number
How many staff members does the average gym
have, and how much do team members make
per year? How are the best gyms making careers
of team of team for others without starving the owner?
members members
Source: PushPress Source: TeamUp

PERCENTAGE OF GYMS BY STAFF MEMBER COUNT

Staff Count

Percentage of Gyms Source: Wodify

FULL-TIME STAFF MEMBERS

Access gyms typically had more full-time staff members. However,

1-2 it’s worth noting that “full time” in a coaching business generally
carries an income that’s more than double that of the average
“full-time job” in an access gym.
Average full-time
team members
for gyms in all In some cases, though, gym owners refer to themselves as full-time
categories employees. Indeed, gym owners shouldn’t concern themselves with
Same as 2022 paying anyone full time until they’re making a full-time wage
themselves. Consider the numbers in the table at the top of the fol-
lowing page to be a little higher than reality.

43
 NUMBER OF FULL-TIME
TEAM MEMBERS
STAFF
AVERAGE NUMBER
GYM TYPE OF FULL-TIME STAFF
Access 1.6
CrossFit 1.2
Martial Arts 1.9
Personal Training 2.3
Strength & Conditioning 1.7
Other 1.1
Total 1.5

PART-TIME STAFF MEMBERS

Staffing accounts for

31.3%
of expenses in
the average gym
2022: 33%

Most staff members in gyms consider themselves part

time. While part-time coaches can bring a lot of energy
and enthusiasm into the gym, it can be challenging to AVERAGE
operate with a large staff composed only of part-timers. GYM TYPE NUMBER OF
Keeping part-time staff updated on policies, educated on PART-TIME STAFF
procedures and accountable for excellence is incredibly Access Only 5.7
tough. CrossFit 6.0
Martial Arts 5.6
But the real reason most staff members in gyms are part
time is because there’s no opportunity to make a good Personal Training 3.2
income as a full-time coach. A balance seems to be ideal: Strength &
4.6
an owner, a full-time staff person and a few passionate Conditioning
part-timers to keep the energy high. Other 7.0
Total 5.5
In our survey, the responses varied widely, from “I’m the
only person working at my gym” to “we have 14 part-
time coaches doing 1-2 classes per week each.”

44
 COST FOR COACH
TO RUN CLASS
STAFF
We saw two significant changes in 2023:

1. The average cost to staff a class across all gyms

increased $4.46, from $22 to $26.46.
$26.46
Average pay for a coach
2022, 2021
and
2. The average cost to staff a class in a CrossFit to run a class 2020:
gym increased by $6.36, from $21 to $27.36. (regardless of size) $22
Increasing staff costs make it even more important GYM TYPE AVERAGE
to run your numbers and analyze your group rev- COST
enue stream: Access $21.78
• If the average gym now pays $26.46 to staff a CrossFit $27.36
class and the average class contains 6.9 members Martial Arts $24.75
(according to PushPress), the gym is paying around Personal Training $24.67
$4 per head for coaching—that’s up about 33 Strength & Conditioning $24.93
percent from 2022. Recall that the median price of
Other $27.70
group training only increased 3.1 percent from 2022
to 2023 ($160 to $165). Total $26.46

• If the average gym is charging $165 for an unlimit-
ed membership and the average client attends 3.4x
per week (with 4.3 weeks per month), then the gym
is only grossing $11.29 per attendee or $77.90 per
class. That’s $51.44 after 2023 staff costs.
For your gym, you should do the same calculation
for any class with fewer than six attendees on aver-
age. Once you have the numbers, you can decide
if it’s wise to keep the classes or do something else
with that time.

HIGHEST-EARNING STAFF MEMBER

AVERAGE WAGES OF

$30,408
GYM TYPE HIGHEST-EARNING
Personal STAFF MEMBER
Training gyms:

$35,193
Access $29,239
Average wage of CrossFit $28,009
highest-earning staff
Highest average Martial Arts $30,337
member across all segments
among categories Personal Training $35,193
2022: $28,709 Strength &
$35,095
Conditioning
Other $30,884
Personal Training and Strength and Conditioning gyms Total $30,408
posted the greatest numbers: Both were just over $35,000.

The average wages of the highest-earning staff member at

CrossFit gyms increased from $26,973 to $28,009.

45
SECT I ON 6:
OW NER
BENEFIT

46
 NET OWNER BENEFIT
OWNER BENEFIT
2022 MEDIAN 2023 MEDIAN
GYM TYPE MONTHLY NET
OWNER BENEFIT
MONTHLY NET
OWNER BENEFIT $3,967
Median net owner benefit per
Access $2,900 $3,250 month across all categories
CrossFit $3,500 $3,500
Martial Arts $1,750 $3,160
2022: $3,787
Personal
$4,000 $4,040
Training
Half of survey respondents
Strength &
Conditioning
$4,000 $4,450 take home less than $4,000
Other $4,000 $3,715
a month (same as
Total $3,787 $3,967 2021 and 2022)

$4,763
Average Two-Brain client
A business that doesn’t pay its owner isn’t
a good business. Nobody wins if you’re
broke. To really change lives, you need to
monthly NOB from be around for a long time, and you won’t
March 2022 to July 2023 be able to last in the fitness industry if you
don’t earn a good income.

We measure your total income as net owner

benefit (NOB): the full amount your busi-
ness pays you, including salary, dividends
and perks.

Making $100,000 in NOB per year isn’t

complicated—you just have to build a
business that will produce it.

Most importantly, a higher NOB for owners

doesn’t mean a lower income for staff. And
it doesn’t mean that owners are greedy. It
means they’re growing the pie for everyone,
not taking larger slices for themselves. And
the same business model that provides for
owners will provide better for staff mem-
bers, give clients a better experience and
actually change lives.

47
 EFFECTIVE HOURLY RATE
OWNER BENEFIT
In general, your time should be worth more
as an owner than it would be as a coach.
Because when you open a gym, coaching is
no longer your job; you’re an owner first.
We measure the value of your time by cal-
culating your effective hourly rate (EHR)—
your monthly net owner benefit divided by
the hours you worked. This is how much
you earn for the time you spend working.
The best way to improve your EHR is to
work with a mentor, offload low-value roles
and focus on growing your business.
When calculating average EHR for survey
respondents, we excluded outliers—not
because their data was invalid but because
their numbers were so large that they
skewed the results.
For example, some Two-Brain clients have
valid EHR scores of $900 or more. They
spend little time working on their gyms but
have very high net owner benefit numbers.
In total, 1.7 percent of survey respondents
listed EHR scores of $500 or more, and less
than 1 percent entered $1,000 or more.

Of note in 2023, the average EHR of Two- The numbers you see below are free of outli-
Brain clients is still significantly higher than ers—but it’s worth remembering the num-
the survey average: $48.55 vs. $38.88. bers entered by outliers are achievable with
mentorship.
This is because our mentors teach gym own-
ers to earn more and still work fewer hours,
creating a sustainable lifestyle.

$38.88
Average EHR across
all survey categories
2022: $30

$48.55
Two-Brain client
average EHR from
March 2022 to July 2023

GYM TYPE Average EHR

Access $38.68
CrossFit $37.73
Martial Arts $48.24
Personal Training $38.23
Strength &
$43.40
Conditioning
Other $37.31
Total $38.88
48
 NET OWNER BENEFIT
AND MENTORSHIP
OWNER BENEFIT

73.5%
of top-earning
survey respondents
work with a mentor.

The effects of mentorship compound

over time. The longer a gym owner
works with a mentor, the greater their
result—not just in revenue and clients.
The gym owners who have a mentor
earn more than those who don’t.

GYM OWNER WORKING WITH NOT WORKING

INCOME MENTOR WITH MENTOR
< $2,000 62.1% 37.9%
$2,000-$3,999 63.7% 36.3%
$4,000-$5,999 64.4% 35.6%
$6,000+ 73.5% 26.5%

49
 HOW MANY HOURS DO
GYM OWNERS WORK EACH WEEK?
Number of Survey Respondents OWNER BENEFIT

Hours Worked Per Week

PROFITABILITY BY HOURS WORKED

More work does

not always equal
more money.
As in 2022, respondents who
worked more than 50 hours
per week had the lowest
representation of
profitability

39
Average hours worked
per week by survey
respondents
2022: 39
50
 PROFITABILITY BY
HOURS WORKED
OWNER BENEFIT
Working harder won’t make your gym
more profitable. We tend to believe that
working more, or working harder, will earn
us more money. That’s how it works in the
coal mines, but entrepreneurship is really
about working better. That means optimiz-
ing output in the time you have instead of
working as many hours as possible.
to do whatever they want. Some jump
back into coaching, even if they don’t
need to. Some take a few 1:1 clients.
Others pursue other interests. Use your
time any way you want—but if you’re work-
ing 60 hours per week at your gym, you
won’t be able to sustain that business for
long.

Of course, nobody wants to be an When survey respondents are grouped

absentee owner—that’s not why we
opened gyms. But there’s a sweet spot:
Owners who work 20-40 hours are run-
ning efficient businesses, growing their
gyms, and using the rest of their time
by hours worked, respondents who re-
ported working more than 50 hours per
week had the lowest representation of
profitability: Fewer than 66 percent of
those gym owners reported profitability.

PERCENTAGE WHO PERCENTAGE WHO

HOURS WORKED BY 2022-2023
RUN PROFITABLE RUN UNPROFITABLE
OWNER PER WEEK CHANGE
GYMS GYMS
0-20 73.0% 27.0% -9.2%
21-39 75.9% 24.1% -2.7%
40-49 75.0% 25.0% -2.0%
50+ 65.6% 34.0% +12.5%
Total 71.9% 28.1% +0.5%

PROFITABILITY BY MONTHLY EXPENSES

MONTHLY PERCENTAGE WHO PERCENTAGE WHO 2022-2023
EXPENSES ARE PROFITABLE ARE UNPROFITABLE CHANGE
Less than $6,500 59.3% 40.7% -6.6%
$6,500-$10,999 62.9% 37.1% -11.4%
$11,000-$19,999 74.4% 25.6% -2.7%
$20,000 or more 84.1% 15.9% +7.0%

51
 PROFITABILITY BY
FACILITY SIZE
OWNER BENEFIT
Remember the 150-member target:
As in 2022, gyms with 4,500-6,499 square
It’s easy to train 150 people in 4,500
square feet. feet of space are most likely to be profitable.
In 2023, a larger percentage of larger gyms
But many gym owners take on high are profitable.
expenses because they don’t have a
clear plan or assume they will get over GYM SQUARE PERCENTAGE PERCENTAGE 2022-2023
250 members. FOOTAGE PROFITABLE UNPROFIT- CHANGE
ABLE
“If you build it, they will come” is a Less than 2,500 57.1% 42.9% -9.1%
fairy tale. Big facilities don’t attract 2,500-4,499 72.5% 27.5% +1.0%
new members to a coaching business. 4,500-6,499 81.2% 18.8% +3.2%
6,500 or more 80.0% 20.0% +4.0%
Build for 150 first, then expand later if
you have to.
This is interesting data. Either gyms are opening with more
square footage or they’re just not opening at all. The
optimism is great, even if the numbers show that the
“sweet spot” for coaching gyms is around 4,000 square feet.

PROFITABILITY BY YEARS IN BUSINESS

7
Average and median 66.8%
years in business for of survey respondents
survey respondents have been in business
fewer than 10 years
2022: 6 (median)
PERCENTAGE WHO ARE
TIME IN BUSINESS 2022-2023 CHANGE
PROFITABLE
0-4 years 57.3% -9.0%
5-6 years 76.2% +3.0%
7-9 years 79.4% +2.8%
10+ years 80.0% +3.6%

52
SECT ION 7:
I N D UST RY

53
 TRENDS, OPINIONS AND
ANALYSIS
INDUSTRY

While the data in the former sections is objective and quantifiable, most of
the data in Section 7 is qualitative—it’s based on opinion. As such, I’ll share
my take on the poll numbers, and I’ll review industry trends that can affect
your gym from a macro view. As CEO of the largest mentorship practice in
the fitness business, I’m fortunate enough to have a “lifeguard-chair view” of
the industry.

I am a 15-year CrossFit affiliate, and just over 50 percent of our survey re-
spondents are CrossFit affiliates. I still love the CrossFit method and seminars
but take a more objective view of its affiliation program. So I’ll dive deeper
into CrossFit than I will into franchises (like 9Round, F45 and others), for
whom we also track data.

This is the section some will want to skip—but others will enjoy it most.

54
AVERAGE COST TO
OPEN A GYM
INDUSTRY

$66,257 $50,120
CROSSFIT PERSONAL
TRAINING

$80,807 $120,981
STRENGTH & OTHER
CONDITIONING

$71,000 $319,460
MARTIAL ARTS ACCESS

55
 BUSINESS PARTNER
INDUSTRY

Only PERCENTAGE WITH

GYM TYPE
A PARTNER
34.1%
of respondents
Access
CrossFit
36.8%
38.5%
reported working Martial Arts 26.7%
with a business
Personal Training 25.2%
partner
Strength & Conditioning 28.0%
2022: 32.3% Other 31.1%
Total 34.1%

MERGER AND ACQUISITION ACTIVITY

PERCENTAGE WITH
GYM TYPE MERGER/ACQUISITION
8%
of gyms were part Access
ACTIVITY
10.5%
of a merger or CrossFit 9.6%
acquisition in the
Martial Arts 6.7%
last year
Personal Training 5.8%
2022: 8% Strength & Conditioning 4.8%
Other 6.8%
Total 7.9%

56
 BUSINESS COACHES
INDUSTRY
This figure increased year over year, and it has in-

66.4%
creased dramatically since 2012 (when I began to offer
mentorship to gym owners myself) and 2016 (when I
began certifying Two-Brain mentors).
of survey
respondents work Many—but certainly not all—survey respondents are
with a business Two-Brain clients. That might have a spillover effect on
coach or mentor revenue, EHR, NOB and other numbers because the
data clearly shows that gyms working with a business
2022: 65% coach or a mentor have better metrics. If your numbers
are currently below the average in any category, a men-
tor can help you reach—and exceed—those averages.

GYM TYPE PERCENTAGE WITH COACH

Access 57.9%
CrossFit 65.8%
Martial Arts 53.3%
Personal Training 68.9%
Strength & Conditioning 72.8%
Other 59.5%
Total 66.4%

WILLINGNESS TO SELL

Most numbers in the table to the right PERCENTAGE

remained consistent from 2022 to 2023. PERCENTAGE PERCENTAGE
WILLING TO
GYM TYPE UNWILLING TO WILLING TO
CONSIDER
• The percentage of gym owners who are SELL SELL
SELLING
unwilling to sell increased by 0.5 points.
• The percentage of gym owners who are Access 61.1% 5.6% 33.3%
willing to sell decreased by 3.3 points. CrossFit 49.0% 18.1% 32.8%
• The percentage of gym owners who would Martial Arts 93.3% -- 6.7%
consider selling increased by 2.7 points. Personal
60.9% 14.7% 24.5%
Training
One data point changed significantly:
Strength &
Far fewer owners of Access gyms are willing 59.2% 14.4% 26.4%
Conditioning
to sell in 2023. The percentage decreased
from 57.1 in 2022 to 5.6 in 2023. Other 50.0% 18.9% 31.1%
Total 53.7% 16.4% 29.9%
Only 18.1% of CrossFit gyms reported
willingness to sell this year, as opposed to
20.7% last year.

57
 CROSSFIT APPROVAL
INDUSTRY

Analysis
It’s encouraging to see CrossFit HQ’s approval rating
1%
of respondents said
on the rise. they do not feel confident
about the future of the brand
While some early initiatives didn’t dramatically increase
affiliate value, it was obvious that the new guard at CrossFit
HQ was trying. Affiliate roundtables offer good peer 9%
of respondents were unsure,
support, and the larger CrossFit Affiliate Summits feature
apathetic or hopeful for the
qualified speakers on stage. We’re proud to sponsor them.
return of Greg Glassman
Next year, this question might be moot, but the story will still
be interesting to follow. It’s clear that CrossFit’s
popularity is growing in some parts of the world even while
competition grows, and I hope that affiliates in those
areas—Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, etc.—can learn from the
mistakes we all made through trial and error a decade ago.
28%
of formerly affiliated gym
owners are confident in the
future of the brand

89.7%
of gym owners in the
CrossFit category who
are currently affiliated
feel confident about the Strength and Conditioning gyms
future of the brand had the highest rate of former
CrossFit affiliation:

23.6%

58
 CONCLUSION
INDUSTRY
One of the most interesting things I see
in the data—and empirically through
calls with the hundreds of gyms in our
mentorship program—is the flow of
trends across the globe.
For example, from 2010 to 2014 in the
U.S., it was pretty easy for a CrossFit gym
to get clients: They just needed to hang a
sign. Then, as competition increased and
the “early adopter” clients left for the next
thing, many affiliate owners had to get bet-
ter at business to survive. By 2018, most af-
filiate owners in the U.S. were talking about
marketing regularly.
The same pattern could be seen in Austra-
lia a few years after it was seen in the U.S.:
early adoption from 2013-2018, then a
steady dropoff that forced gym owners to
get serious about being owners.
Then the pattern appeared in Western
Europe: When I was running a seminar
for gym owners in France in 2018, many
owners told me “we’re about three years
behind you guys.”
Right around the time of global lock-
downs, many gyms in the U.K., France,
Ireland and the Nordic countries were
getting serious about business and saying
“the easy days are gone.”
The trend continues: Gyms in Spain, Portu-
gal and Western Asia report very high client
counts in CrossFit gyms but also very high
churn—just as we saw in Canada and the
U.S. a decade ago.
59
History leaves clues. And we can predict the
future by looking at what’s happening in
other areas of the world.
For example, when COVID lockdowns start-
ed in Asia and then spread west, we saw the
trend in the data. When Italy shut down,
and then France, and then the U.K., we were
able to formulate a plan and test it. When
lockdowns began on the Eastern Seaboard
of North America, we already had a plan
because we saw the challenge coming and
knew how to confront it.
Now the challenge for microgyms seems to
be commoditization.
In Australia, new HIIT-style gyms like Revel
and F45 are selling group functional
fitness for $99 or less. Commoditization
is starting to appear on the West Coast
of North America, where Nike and others
are doing the same things. To the con-
sumer on the outside, most group training
looks the same; should they pay the Nike
brand $99 per month or the neighborhood
CrossFit gym $139?
Luckily, the solutions are also in the data.
Aim for 150 members first, and build your
business around that target. Invest heav-
ily in your media to establish a presence.
Charge a premium amount for a premium
service—you’re better to charge far more
than Nike than to be almost equal in price.
Make people ask why you’re worth so much
more—and be worth it.
Mentorship for Gym Owners.
Learn how to build a resilient fitness business:

https://twobrainbusiness.com/book-a-call/

Scan me.

Copyright © 2023 Two-Brain Business Inc.

C O L L AB OR ATOR S

61
 PUS HP R ESS
W EBSIT E : PUS HPR E SS .CO M

PushPress is the No. 1 rated gym management software, offering a full suite of prod-
ucts to help you run your fitness businesses better.

Founded and run by a team of gym owners, PushPress uses our collective 150+ years
of combined ownership experience to not just help you manage your gym but to
grow and scale it as well.

Thousands of gym owners around the world trust PushPress for the tools they need
to succeed.

Primarily, this means we’re laser focused on your gym’s growth. We know your
struggles because we’ve experienced them in our own gyms. Therefore, our products
and expertise give you the tools you need and the team you trust. And, quite simply,
we love helping gym owners succeed!

In addition, our dedication to customer service is unparalleled in the industry. This

means we’re available around the clock to provide help when you need it.

PushPress offers tools to help with member billing, class and appointment scheduling,
workout tracking, third-party integrations, lead generation, new-member nurture,
social media scheduling, automation, and more.

We understand that you simply don’t have enough hours in the day. So we’ve created
these tools to manage your gym better and give you back your time.

In addition, our software is designed to grow with your business. From starting a gym
to having years of successful gym ownership under your belt—and every stage in
between—we have the products to help.

Welcome to the future of gym ownership. Welcome to PushPress.

62
 TE A MUP
W EBSIT E : GOT E AM UP.CO M
TeamUp is the most recommended
fitness management software for
independent gyms, studios, boxes and
PTs—and their in-person, online and
on-demand services.
Launched in 2012, TeamUp quickly built
a reputation for reliability and willing-
ness to adapt to its customers’ needs. Its
dedication to customers drives every-
thing, which makes TeamUp stand out
from other platforms on the market.
Its all-in-one software offers bookings,
payments, customer relationship man-
agement, access control for facilities,
online and on-demand classes, a custom
branded app, community happiness
reputation management, and a rich fea-
ture set of business management tools,
including valuable insights and reporting
specially designed for fitness business
owners.
TeamUp also integrates with powerful
platforms including Zapier, Zoom, Box-
Mate, Kisi, Gympass, ClassPass and more
to offer fitness entrepreneurs everything
they need to run the best version of
their business in one place.
With TeamUp, your voice is heard. From
the moment you make a request, you
have full transparency as it moves to
development and launch.
63
TeamUp works with some of the lead-
ing independent fitness businesses
and franchises across the globe, and
it’s well known and has market share
in the CrossFit community. TeamUp is
trusted by the biggest names in fitness
as the most flexible software designed
to eliminate business complexity and
enable you to focus on your customer
experience and thriving community.
Fitness clients love it, too—especially
the ability to manage their accounts on
the go via their member app, receive
perfectly timed communication and
engage with your business at all times.
With all features included right from the
start, affordable pricing that scales
with your business, a free import ser-
vice to migrate your data for you, and
unlimited support from a team who
cares about your success, TeamUp
has it all, and its ability to help you
manage your business goes beyond
its software. If you want great busi-
ness oversight, quick and easy class
management, and pain-free payments
but you don’t want to pay increasing-
ly hefty bills, TeamUp is the manage-
ment software for your business.
Contact TeamUp today to redeem an
exclusive offer for Two-Brain Business
clients: https://learn.goteamup.com/
two-brain-business
 WOD I FY
W EBS IT E : WO D I FY.CO M
Wodify is the industry’s first Customer Retention Plat-
form, with 5,000+ of the world’s top fitness owners
trusting Wodify to run their businesses.
We know that you want to be an influential success
story. In order to do that, you need a truly custom-
izable fitness platform.
The problem is there are too many software tools,
which makes you feel restricted and inefficient. We
believe you shouldn’t hate your software.
For business owners relying on outdated software
and manual processes, Wodify provides a welcome
alternative.
Wodify’s intuitive platform helps gym owners like
you run your business the way you want, gain
confidence with technology, and save time with a
single platform.
Wodify Core tracks and automates running a fitness
business so that owners can scale their member-
ship base and increase profitability. Wodify Retain
gives you predictive insights into member behavior,
helping you identify which clients are likely to can-
cel their memberships, so you can prevent churn
and increase your revenue.
With Wodify’s easily accessible insights, owners
can quickly access reports on everything from
attendance rates to lead conversion rates to gain
more clients, reduce revenue leakage and increase
client retention.
64
Wodify and Two-Brain Business have partnered to
bring a new, easy-to-use business dashboard to
Wodify. This business dashboard includes a section
of essential metrics that Two-Brain tracks monthly
for its customers and many other business health
stats that Wodify customers know and love.
In addition to the Core product, Wodify has multi-
ple add-on services to help you grow your business
further—including automated programming from
their trusted partners in the Workout Marketplace,
integrated websites, real-time heart-rate tracking
and more. Not to mention the Perform add-on,
which is a world-class performance-tracking feature
used by millions of athletes around the world and
is proven to increase retention and engagement.
The Wodify Client App for members can be tailored
to look and feel like your brand while also providing
a seamless experience that will keep them en-
gaged with your business in person and on the go.
Wodify’s appointment feature allows your clients
to book time based on your calendar availability
for personal training, nutrition or any customizable
meetings.
To make sure that you are utilizing everything Wod-
ify has to offer your business, there are plenty of
resources available, including Live Chat, email sup-
port with their Customer Success Team, the Help
Center, and YouTube playlists to provide guidance
on powering your business to its fullest potential.
“I can’t imagine using three different pieces of soft-
ware,” said CrossFit Mayhem owner Rich Froning Jr.,
“when one does it all.”
Kilo helps gyms grow.
It works on three levels: a Kilo website gets you more leads, marketing
software turns leads into sales, and gym management software
improves retention.

GYM WEBSITES
MORE LEADS

MARKETING AUTOMATION
MORE SALES

GYM MANAGEMENT
SOFTWARE BETTER RETENTION

Plus, it only takes a few days to get set up and our customer support
team always has your back.

Book a call at UseKilo.com to grow your gym.

65
 Find out how
a mentor
can help you
grow your gym.
Book a Call
https://twobrainbusiness.com/book-a-call/

Scan me.

Copyright © 2023 Two-Brain Business Inc.