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Run a Profitable Gym is packed with business tools for gym owners and CrossFit affiliates. This is actionable, data-backed business advice for all gym owners, including those who own personal training studios, fitness franchises, and strength and conditioning gyms. Broke gym owner Chris Cooper turned a struggling gym into an asset, then built a multi-million-dollar mentoring company to help other fitness entrepreneurs do the same thing. Every week, Chris presents the top tactics for building a profitable gym, as well as real success stories from gym owners who have found incredible success through Two-Brain Business mentorship. Chris’s goal is to create millionaire gym owners. Subscribe to Run a Profitable Gym and you could be one of them.
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Your gym is leaking leads. But you can fix it in 60 minutes with this marketing audit. Get a free copy of the 26-page audit workbook here. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper walks you through a complete one-hour audit of your gym’s marketing funnel—from lead generation to closing sales. He demonstrates the audit live with his own gym, Catalyst, revealing every problem he finds along the way. The audit covers four critical parts of the marketing funnel: Lead generation:...
The median gym owner brings home $61,000 per year, but the owners on Two-Brain’s latest leaderboard earn between $189,000 and $357,000 annually. What’s the difference? In this episode, Mike Warkentin sits down with top earner Ryan McStockard to find out exactly how he secured his spot on the leaderboard. In 2020, Ryan took zero income in some months just to keep the gym alive. Then, in 2021, he invested in Two-Brain mentorship and rebuilt everything. Now he consistently earns over $16,000 ...
The top gym owner on Two-Brain’s leaderboard takes home $29,767 per month. That’s $357,204 per year from a single gym location. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper reveals the Top 10 net owner benefit (NOB) leaderboard—showing exactly what elite gym owners actually take home each month. What sets these owners apart? Chris shares their top tactics, such as nurturing leads, selling high-value coaching services and focusing relentlessly on doing the basics better. Other co...
When your gym is stable and the fires are out, what's next? Two-Brain’s Tinker Mastermind provides an elite level of mentorship for gym owners who are ready to build wealth, scale their businesses, learn to lead and create lasting legacies. This is the fun part of entrepreneurship—the part where you have choices: build investment portfolios, acquire real estate, franchise your concept, create new businesses or simply pick your kids up from school every day. The possibilities are endless. I...
Stop trying to clone yourself when you hire coaches. Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper explains why hiring for personality and training for skill is the smartest path to building a team that lasts. Most gym owners hire based on certifications and technical knowledge. Then they micromanage every rep, correct every cue and watch their coaches burn out within two years. But clients don’t care about perfect squat mechanics; they care about how they feel when they...
Feb. 13, 2026, is Two-Brain’s 10th anniversary—a full decade of solving every problem in the gym business. In this special episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper tells the complete story of how Two-Brain Business became the biggest mentorship practice in the fitness industry. The journey started long before 2016. In 2005, Chris opened his first gym, and by 2008, he was broke, running two struggling locations and looking for part-time jobs in the newspaper. He coul...
Different gym owners need different leadership books. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper shares a simple plan to help you use the contents of any book to improve yourself and your business, and then he recommends specific books in each realm of leadership. Self-Leadership (to go fast, go alone): “Think Like a Monk” by Jay Shetty“The Creative Act” by Rick Rubin“Courage Is Calling” by Ryan Holiday“Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown “The War of Art” by Ste...
Could your gym use an extra $5,000 in revenue this month? In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper shares three proven tactics gym owners can use to generate more revenue from clients they already have: 🏁 Tactic 1: Run a Hyrox simulation or similar fitness race event. 🏋️♀️ Tactic 2: Launch a specialty program, such as weightlifting or running. ⬆️ Tactic 3: Sell upgrades to hybrid memberships with group and personal training. These three strategies combin...
In the last year, three marketing agencies have asked Chris Cooper to buy them out—and dozens of others have disappeared. The average lifespan of a gym marketing agency is 18 months: They churn through gym owners, only to vanish, rebrand and repeat the cycle. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Coop pulls back the curtain on why agencies keep failing, and then he lays out a better marketing plan for gym owners. He explains how agencies exploit gym owners who don’t understand market...
The 10th annual Two-Brain Summit happens June 6-7, 2026, in Chicago, and this year’s theme will change how you think about scaling your gym. Today, Chris Cooper reveals the event’s headlining speaker—bestselling author Mike Michalowicz—and the “Power of 10” theme that will guide every session. The Power of 10 framework covers: How to take your 10 best clients and replicate them.The 10 weekly actions that guarantee business growth.The 10 core leadership skills every gym owner must acquire. C...
Tickets to the Two-Brain Summit are $200 off until Feb. 1. Get yours via the link below! This year's headliner: Mike Michalowicz, entrepreneur and author of multiple bestsellers, including “The Pumpkin Plan,” “Profit First,” “Clockwork” and “Get Different.” Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Mike joins Two-Brain CEO John Franklin to explain why most gyms are swimming in a sea of sameness, invisible to potential clients. And of course Mike has a clear plan to make a fitness business stand out ...
CrossFit taught the world how to move, and now through MetFix, Greg Glassman wants to teach them how to eat. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper sits down with Peter Shaw, former CrossFit flowmaster and current head of the MetFix Seminar Team. The pair explore how MetFix is building on top of CrossFit rather than competing with it by shifting the focus from fitness alone to overall health. Peter explains that MetFix emphasizes metabolic health education so trainers can ...
Twenty years of gym ownership will teach you things no course ever could. Chris Cooper’s gym, Catalyst, recently turned 20, and today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain's founder is sharing 22 lessons he’s learned over the last two decades as a fitness entrepreneur. Chris reveals the early mistakes that nearly cost him everything and the systems that finally gave him stability and freedom. He also explains how mentorship and self-improvement helped him acquire critical skills and avoid e...
Hyrox affiliation gives Rob Sowden-Taylor 25 to 40% of his gym’s leads and creates long-term members who stick around for an average of 2.5 years. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin sits down with Rob, owner of Ion Strength and Conditioning in Wales, to break down exactly how he uses Hyrox as a client-acquisition tool. Rob shares how he structures Hyrox simulations to maximize participation and revenue, running more than 120 people through them in just four hours...
If you put all your clients on podiums and celebrate their achievements, they'll stay longer and you'll earn more. Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper breaks down the in-house competition he’s refined over 15 years: the Intramural Open. The four-week event can be run completely on its own or combined with the CrossFit Games Open. Two-Brain's signature fun competition is a win for everyone: Clients get podium moments they can’t get anywhere else, and gym owners see measurable impr...
In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper explains why gym owners need to stop consuming clickbait speculation about CrossFit’s sale and start working on what actually matters: their businesses. Stop paying the “distraction tax”—hours spent watching videos, scrolling comments and worrying about things you can’t control cost you opportunities to generate revenue, build client relationships and preserve decision-making capacity. To give you a concrete plan to i...
Industry data reveals that 2026 could be the best year gym owners have ever seen. Revenue is up across every gym model, average revenue per member is rising, and even the lowest-performing gyms are earning more than they were a year ago. In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Chris Cooper presents data from Two-Brain’s latest “State of the Industry” report and highlights 10 reasons gym owners should be optimistic for the year ahead. He explains why personal training and small-group tra...
Colby Knepp's gym revenue more than doubled in fewer than 12 months. In this video, he explains exactly how he did it. So how did he generate incredible growth at his PT studio in Colorado? According to Colby, Step 1 was hiring a mentor, and Step 2 was doing everything she told him to do. Of particular note, Colby researched mentorship as part of his business plan to open a gym. Instead of flying solo and making mistakes, he used Two-Brain's data, resources and tactics to open with members...
About 65% of small businesses fail by Year 10, so very few gym owners get to see what works across two decades of ownership. But Bill and Staci Russell have endured to achieve something rare: Their gym, CrossFit Cleveland, has been their sole source of income for nearly 20 years. In this episode, Bill shares hard-earned lessons learned from surviving multiple economic cycles, overcoming staff challenges, adjusting to market shifts and making personal pivots in the fitness industry. Bill an...
Why do most gyms plateau at 122 members? The answer: leadership. In this episode of "Run a Profitable Gym," Two-Brain CEO Chris Cooper explains how your leadership skills determine whether your gym grows, stalls or shrinks. Your gym will rise to the level of your leadership and fall to the level of your worst staff members. To take your gym to increasingly higher levels, you must evolve as a leader. Chris presents the four phases of leadership for gym owners and lists the skills required ...
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To run a profitable gym, prioritize member satisfaction, offer diverse fitness programs, maintain top-notch equipment, and employ skilled trainers. Focus on customer retention, marketing strategies, and operational efficiency. Regularly assess and adapt offerings to meet evolving fitness trends and member needs for sustained profitability.
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Good stuff. Thank you 👍
I can totally relate. I am making the shift from trying to build my credibility by flaunting my knowledge to building an emotional connection with my clients.
Do you have any resources for how to implement Habits Based coaching for nutrition? This sounds good but I am having a hard time picturing exactly how this might look in practice.