WTF Gym Talk

Marissa West create a new workout concept out of her garage that combined pilates, HIIT, boxing, cardio, etc... A few years later, she met Heidi. Together, these two women have taken the boutique fitness scene in Charlotte, NC by storm and created a cult-like following. Their high-end, high-cost boutique workout experience has braved the pandemic of 2020 and they are currently moving into a larger, new facility. The girls stopped by Urban MVMNT (my microgym in Charlotte, NC) and I got to know their background and how their brand has maintained such an exclusive rate - charging more for remote services than Peleton, $30/class and $100/hour for personal training....even with Charlotte being so saturated.  https://westkeptsecret.co @westkeptsecret 

So for everyone in the CrossFit realm, you fell in love with the belief in fitness that GG created. Perfect. You found a match. You affiliated. The rest is history. For those of you who went down the de-affiliating/rebranding route - my question to you is this.. What is your belief in fitness? If your belief in fitness is an exact replica of your previous model, that's fine...as long as your 'rebrand' was meant to simply change the naming convention away from CrossFit. But for those who wanted to create something their own...you need to develop your own belief in fitness. Look at Functional Bodybuilding by Marcus Filly Or Level Method... They all created their own belief in fitness and people have flocked to their charter. When I rebranded to Urban MVMNT we created a new belief in fitness and one that we genuinely believe in. So find your new belief in fitness if you're going to create something new and actually fucking believe in it.

John Briggs owns Incite Tax, a CPA firm that handles the bookkeeping and annual taxes for variety of businesses, specifically - microgyms. They utilize an accounting strategy called Profit First. In fact, John recently wrote a book called Profit First For Microgyms that I highly recommend you grab. In this episode we discuss some of the more pertinent topics surrounding money and microgyms during the pandemic. 

Mike Jones is no stranger to my audience.   He's a colleague and friend whom I have the upmost respect for as an industry leader and it was great to chop with up with him again regarding the specifics around the Torpedo - a truly unique device in the fitness industry that was created to alleviate his operational capacity issues with Alchemy 365. We also catch up with how his microgym brand is handling the current 2020 pandemic.  www.alchemy365.com @alchemy365 

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

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

Chuck Bennington has an impressive story that takes him from DUI's, substance abuse and hitting rock bottom - to finding salvation within fitness - and now is one of the key figureheads for The Gymnastics Course that has historically been one of CrossFit HQ's premiere training arms. While I typically can't stand Kool-Aid drinkers of any variety, Chuck is a guy that I could get stuck in a car ride with for hours and be grateful. His perspective on CrossFit's current conundrum, the microgym industry and life in general is practical and refreshing. Check him out at @chuckbennington and https://www.thegymnasticscourse.com/ 

Hear me out...

This has been one of my main mantras for years now.... You can't control your community.  You can only control your culture. So many microgym brands want to jerk themselves off about how amazing their community is...and I'm not doubting their claim.  But when they realize that community and culture are two different things and that community is actually the item you want to spend the least amount of effort on (as it should just be a direct consequence of your culture that requires little to no work)...that's when the light bulb starts clicking and your brand's culture can really start doing it's magic.

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