Explore every episode of the podcast Behind Gym Doors | A Fitness Business Podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 461: Fitness Studio Member Retention: The 3 Part Community Framework | 05 Nov 2026 | 00:23:17 | |
Gym owners who want to see how we help gyms build toward $100K a month and beyond can start here: Gym member retention at 3% monthly churn: Dave Rafuse of Blended Athletics shares the community framework behind it. Most gyms lose about 10 to 12% of their membership every month. Dave's gym has held a 3% monthly average. The idea started with his grandfather's rule: do what's right for the customer and the money will come. Dave asked what happens when the best thing for the member is also the best thing for the business. His answer is that community is a retention system, and it should never be left to chance. After 13 years of running Blended with his wife Kimberly, the members who stayed the longest were the ones who found their people. At GSDCon, Dave breaks down the three part framework: welcome first, connect daily, and run events always. He also shows the coach scoreboard that turns engagement into a number. This is how to keep gym members on purpose instead of by luck. If you are working on gym member retention, this talk gives you a framework and a test you can run this week. In this episode you'll learn: If your members are leaving faster than you would like, this talk shows you where to start. Timestamps: Connect with Dave Rafuse, Blended Athletics: Train With Us: 100K Plan:
Dave built retention into Blended on purpose, and he walks through every piece of it. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios grow to $100K a month and beyond is right here. Watch the 100K Plan: New fitness studio growth strategy every Thursday. Subscribe so you don't miss it. | |||
| Making Big Money Decisions In Your Business | 30 Oct 2026 | 00:11:12 | |
If you're having a hard time making a call on a gym ad agency, a coaching program, or a mastermind, this one's for you. This episode breaks down how the best make decisions... without letting fear or emotion get in the way. Mike shares the simple filter he runs before he spends a dollar, and the one number that tells you if a program will pay for itself. | |||
| 460: AI for Gym Owners: How One Gym Runs Retention and Ads on AI | 29 Oct 2026 | 00:16:05 | |
AI for gym owners: how one gym runs retention, ads, and insights on AI. Mike Arce and Pav on stage at GSDCON. This AI for gym owners talk starts with a simple idea. Pav says no single change grew his gym. It was 43 different things, and he treats every one of them as a system with inputs, a process, and outputs. The ones that pay off most save him time and keep him from hiring. On stage, Pav walks through his first 100 days system for gym member retention. Every new signup gets a page of steps, either an automated email or a task for a staff member to send a video. The system also compares how often a member comes each week with what they said up front, and flags a coach when it is off. He built it with Claude Code, and his estimate for a beginner is about two hours at the outside. He also covers how AI researches his avatars, builds and launches his ads, and sends a Monday message on every running campaign. Then there is the insight that exposed a discounting problem in his memberships. If your gym is using AI the vanilla way, this talk shows you what a system looks like instead. In this episode you'll learn: Timestamps: 100K Plan: https://100kplan.com Pav shows what it looks like when a gym builds systems on AI instead of using it the vanilla way. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios reach $100K a month and beyond is right here. The discounts were hiding in plain sight until somebody asked. | |||
| 459: Gym Reactivation Campaign Results: What Worked, What Broke | 22 Oct 2026 | 00:11:27 | |
Gym reactivation campaign results: 814 old leads, 3 new members, $0 spent. Here's what to fix before you run yours. A gym owner in our program took the reactivation campaign Mike shared on a Friday call, fed it to AI, and had the whole workflow built. On Tuesday morning the first text went out to 814 old leads. 104 replied, about 12.5%. 12 booked a one week trial, 9 showed up, and 3 became members. He spent $0 on ads and about an hour of front desk time. It did not go perfectly, and that is the best part. The first text landed while his front desk was in a training session, so leads waited an hour. The trial leads also converted harder than his usual referrals, because he brought them in instead of the other way around. He thinks it should have been double digits. In this episode he breaks down what worked, what broke, and what he would fix before running this gym reactivation campaign again. If your gym offer is not working, stay to the end for the one move that brought an offer back after it dropped to 16 leads in a month. If you have old leads sitting in your CRM, watch someone else run the play first. In this episode you'll learn: Timestamps: 100K Plan: https://100kplan.com He ran the play first so you can fix the weak spots before you run yours. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios grow to $100K a month and beyond is right here. The offer was fine. The label was the problem. | |||
| 458: Gym Reactivation Campaign: Your Old List Could Be Worth $60K | 15 Oct 2026 | 00:16:50 | |
Mike's gym reactivation campaign: 3 texts. 2 emails. 11 days. $0 spent. $60K in lifetime value added. Here's the playbook. You have old leads and former members sitting in your CRM right now. You paid to get them and you have not touched them since. Mike's gym sent three texts and two emails to about 2,000 of those contacts over 11 days. No links. No booking pages. No offer in the first message. Just a message built to get a reply. That campaign added $60,000 in lifetime value to Mike's gym. A GSD member gym ran the same sequence, signed 10 new members, and added $24,000 in lifetime value, also with $0 in ad spend. In this episode Mike walks through why this gym reactivation campaign works, the exact text and email schedule, who should never get it, and the rules that make or break it. The full playbook, with word for word scripts, is linked below so you can hand it to someone on your team and run it today. If you want gym leads without ads, start with the list you already have. In this episode you'll learn: If your CRM is full of people you paid for and never followed up with, this episode gives you the sequence to bring them back. Timestamps: 100K Plan: https://100kplan.com Mike's gym turned a cold list into $60,000 in lifetime value with five messages. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios grow to $100K a month and beyond is right here. Your CRM has been holding the money this whole time. | |||
| 457: Gym Marketing Budget: The Formula Most Gym Owners Get Wrong | 08 Oct 2026 | 00:05:11 | |
Stop guessing your gym marketing budget. Mike Arce walks through the exact formula: CAC x Sales Target = what you should spend. Some owners set their gym marketing budget at 10% of revenue. Others spend whatever is left in the bank. Both start in the wrong place. The better move is to pick the result you want first, then work out what it costs to get there. The formula is two numbers: your customer acquisition cost multiplied by your sales target. Add up everything you spend to bring in members, including ad spend, agency fees, videographers, and sales commissions. Divide that by the new members you sign each month. If you spend $5,000 and sign 25 members, your cost is $200 per member. To sign 30 members, your budget is $6,000. This gym ad spend formula takes minutes to run. Mike also points to an AI marketing budget tool that asks a few questions, builds the number for you, and lets you test different scenarios. If you have been setting your gym marketing budget by feel, this is the fix. In this episode you'll learn: If your marketing budget has always been a guess, this episode gives you the two numbers that replace it. Timestamps: 100K Plan: https://100kplan.com Mike keeps the math simple because the plan behind it is simple. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios grow to $100K a month is right here. The bank balance was never a strategy. | |||
| 456: Gym Membership Pricing: The Mistake That Keeps Studios Under $10K a Month | 01 Oct 2026 | 01:14:40 | |
Amy charges $49 a month at her Omaha fitness studio. Mike shows her live why to raise prices, who to charge more, and how to sell it. Amy opened Bounce Culture Fitness in Omaha in March 2025. She has 120 members and does about $9,768 a month in revenue. The average boutique fitness studio in America charges $164 a month. At that same gym membership pricing, Amy's same 120 members would be worth closer to $20,000 a month, with no new ads and no new leads. Mike visited in person and walked through a full pricing and sales overhaul on camera. They build Amy's customer avatar from her favorite member, run two live phone sales role-plays with real-time coaching, and rebuild her pricing structure using the decoy effect, pushing her toward a $150 to $199 price point for new members instead of $49. They also cover why giving away intro classes at no charge works against a studio's pricing instead of for it, and what Mike calls CPT: conviction, process, and training, the three things that separate gyms that can sell their price from the ones that cannot. If your fitness studio has ever been afraid to raise prices, this gym membership pricing session shows you exactly how it is done. In this episode you'll learn: If you have ever been afraid that raising your prices would cost you members, this session shows you what actually happens when you do it right. Timestamps:
Mike rebuilt Amy's pricing, her sales process, and her avatar on camera, the same system behind how GSD Gyms helps studios reach $100K a month. The plan is right here. Turns out a gift bag works better than a sales pitch. | |||
| 455: Gym Churn Rate Under 4%: The Systems Behind a CrossFit Gym That Runs Itself | 24 Sep 2026 | 00:34:37 | |
CrossFit Elkhorn keeps gym churn under 4% with 233 members. Here's the weekly scorecard, class standard, and coach scoring system behind it. The average CrossFit gym churns members far faster than that. Trevor Baxter has run CrossFit Elkhorn in Omaha, Nebraska for 12 years, and his gym churn rate sits at 3.85% for the year, which means his average member stays close to 29 months. Mike visited the gym in person and walked through every system behind that number. Trevor's weekly scorecard takes 10 minutes to run and tracks revenue, member count, paid versus pending accounts, holds, cancels, and attendance. His coaches are scored on retention, referrals, and upgrades instead of opinion, so underperformance is a number, not a feeling. They also cover the minute-by-minute class standard Trevor built with his head coach, and the AI guardrails running his ad campaigns, where spend only increases 15 to 20% at a time and shuts off automatically when cost per lead crosses a set threshold. If your gym churn rate has been stuck for a while, this is what a CrossFit gym member retention system actually looks like in practice. In this episode you'll learn: If you have ever wondered what it actually takes to lower your gym churn rate for good, this is the exact system to copy. Timestamps:
Trevor built one of the most complete operational systems Mike has seen at this size, and it shows in a gym churn rate most owners would love to have. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios build systems like this is right here. Turns out a clean sink says more than a mission statement. | |||
| 454: How to Grow a Fitness Studio: Hitting Record Months and Opening a Second Location | 17 Sep 2026 | 00:40:58 | |
Stephanie Swanson's boutique fitness studio growth story starts with a simple problem: she did not know her own numbers. Stephanie owns Oxygen Yoga and Fitness in Burlington, Ontario, and just opened a second location in Alder Shot, already at 50 pre-sales in under two weeks. In her first 60 days working with GSD Gyms, her revenue grew 15%, hitting close to $73,000 in a single month. In this episode, GSD's Director of Operations Ash Wimble sits down with Stephanie to unpack exactly what changed. For a year and a half, Stephanie ran her studio without fully understanding her own KPIs. Once she started reviewing her data regularly and translating it for her team, small changes started compounding into real results, including a simple congratulations card system that turned member milestones into a recurring source of referrals and social proof. They also cover how Stephanie built her team culture around education instead of authority, why she believes every member joins a gym or studio for either transformation or belonging, and what it actually took to open a second location while still running her first. This is what boutique fitness studio growth looks like when the numbers finally get tracked. In this episode you'll learn: If you have ever felt like you were working hard on the wrong things, this conversation shows what changes once you finally understand your own numbers. Timestamps: — 40:11 Closing thoughts and thank you Connect with Stephanie Swanson, Oxygen Yoga and Fitness: Stephanie turned a year and a half of guesswork into a 15% revenue increase and a second location already selling out pre-sales. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios build systems like this is right here. Turns out a congratulations card can outperform a marketing budget. | |||
| 453: Gym Facebook Ads Using AI: $3 Cost Per Lead in a 9,000-Person Market | 03 Sep 2026 | 00:19:39 | |
This is part of how we help gym owners build ad systems like Joel's. See the plan here:
Joel Holland never ran a gym ad in 14 years. He used AI to build his first campaign. $3 cost per lead. 84 leads in 10 days. Here's how.
This gym Facebook ads using AI breakdown starts with Joel Holland, who runs 902 Athletics, a 17,000 square foot CrossFit and commercial gym in a 9,000 person market in Nova Scotia, Canada. In 14 years of business he had never run a paid ad. Everything was organic and referral based.
Ten days before this conversation, Joel taught himself how to run gym ads using Claude, an AI tool, and built his entire campaign from scratch. No agency. No prior experience. The result was a $3 cost per lead, compared to the $20 to $35 most gyms are paying right now, and 84 leads in 10 days.
Mike and Joel walk through the exact setup: the lead objective, the offer, the 34 second video ad, and why Joel wanted to learn ads himself before ever handing the account to an agency. They also cover why most agencies get bad results even when the technical setup is correct, and what the Meta algorithm actually does to gym ads that lose attention in the first two seconds.
If you have been told paid ads do not work for your gym, this look at gym Facebook ads using AI might change your mind.
In this episode you'll learn: — Why Joel never ran a paid ad in 14 years of business, until now — How he used Claude to build his entire ad campaign from scratch, no agency — The lead objective, offer, and 34 second video ad that got him $3 leads — Why he chose a two week trial with no charge instead of worrying it would devalue his gym — The 70 to 75% trial-to-paid conversion rate that made the offer make sense — Why increasing ad budget by more than 15 to 20% at a time can hurt performance — What the Meta algorithm actually does to ads that lose attention in the first few seconds — Why most agencies get blamed for bad creative instead of a bad account setup — Why Joel is running his own ads for 30 to 45 days before handing it to an agency — Why referrals built his gym to 1,000 members before he ever ran an ad — What to say the next time an agency tells you they have never seen this before
If you have been putting off paid ads because you assumed you needed an agency first, this episode shows you what is actually possible on your own.
Timestamps: 0:00 $3 cost per lead, 84 leads in 10 days 0:50 Welcoming Joel and setting up the story 2:30 Inside Joel's 17,000 square foot gym 3:17 Why Joel wanted to learn ads before hiring an agency 3:57 The lead objective and the sign up flow 4:14 The two week trial offer that started it all 5:17 The 70 to 75% trial to paid conversion rate 6:20 Building the video ad and the first few seconds that matter 9:20 The $15 daily budget and why Mike called immediately 10:21 What happens the moment someone clicks the ad 12:29 How referrals built the gym before any paid ads 13:32 The biggest lesson Joel did not expect 15:00 What the Meta algorithm actually does to bad ads 16:30 Why a 9,000 person market is not an excuse 18:10 What Joel took away from the A-Class retreat
100K Plan:
Behind Gym Doors Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnwaMl7Us7dAkfE6idQW56EYkEEQ2E5eE
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Joel used AI to build a $3 cost per lead campaign from scratch, in a market smaller than most gym owners would even try. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios build systems like this is right here.
Watch the 100K Plan:
New gym growth strategy every Thursday. Subscribe so you don't miss it.
Turns out horses and Facebook ads mix better than you'd think. | |||
| 452: The Gym Sales Process That Creates Members Worth $30,000 | 27 Aug 2026 | 00:28:21 | |
Matt charges $600 a month, keeps under 2% churn, and earns $30K per member. Here's his exact gym sales and referral system. This gym membership sales case study starts with the math. The average gym member in America is worth $1,400 over their lifetime. Matt's average member is worth $30,000. Same math, completely different numbers: under 2% monthly churn, more than 50 months of average retention, and 15 competing gyms within five minutes of his Costa Mesa studio. Matt runs Recoup Personal Training with his wife Stevie and business partner Beau, and joined Mike at the A-Class retreat to break down the sales process behind those numbers. This is not about closing harder. It is about everything that happens before the close. They walk through how to build real rapport without relying on small talk, the discovery questions that get a prospect to sell themselves, and a live role play of Matt's actual $600 a month consultation. Matt also breaks down his gold gift card referral program and why giving away a month at no charge makes sense when a member is worth $30,000. If you have ever been afraid to raise your prices, this gym membership sales breakdown shows you what is actually possible. In this episode you'll learn: If you have ever wondered whether raising your prices would cost you members, this episode shows you what happens when the sales process actually earns it. Timestamps: Connect with Mattison Fetters, Recoup Personal Training: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/recoup_personal_training Mike breaks down the exact sales math and referral system behind a $30,000 lifetime value member. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios build systems like this is right here. Turns out the golden gift card is not for show. | |||
| 451: Part 2 - Saving a Struggling Pilates Studio: Live Coaching With Mike Arce | 20 Aug 2026 | 01:25:45 | |
Mike coaches a struggling Pilates studio owner on phone sales live: avatar building, referral strategy, and a real walk-in prospect. This pilates studio sales coaching session picks up where Part 1 left off. In Part 1, Mike walked through Jess Landar's churn, lifetime value, and pricing. In Part 2, they build her customer avatar, run a full gym sales role play on her actual phone script, and design a gym referral program built around feeding children. Halfway through filming, a real prospect walked into Jess's studio while the cameras were rolling. Mike coached her through that conversation live, in real time. It has never happened on this podcast before. The gym membership sales tips in this pilates studio sales coaching session are not Pilates-specific. The same principles for how to sell gym memberships, plant a belief before price ever comes up, and control a sales call apply to any boutique gym. This is Part 2 of a continuing series. Jess has 30 days of ads running before she and Mike reconnect for Part 3. In this episode you'll learn: If you have ever fumbled a walk-in prospect or lost control of a sales call, this live session shows you exactly what to do differently. Timestamps: Connect with Jess Landar: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereformerlibrary Mike builds Jess's entire offer and sales script live, the same way GSD Gyms helps studios everywhere sell what they already have. The plan behind how we get gyms to $100K a month is right here. Turns out a $39 trial can do a lot of talking. | |||
| 450: Saving a Struggling Pilates Studio: Live Coaching With Mike Arce | 06 Aug 2026 | 01:32:06 | |
Struggling pilates studio owner goes viral asking for help -- Mike Arce coaches her live on numbers, retention, ads, and pricing. Jess Landar runs a struggling pilates studio in Auckland, New Zealand. She posted on Instagram that she needed help, so Mike reached out and turned it into a live gym business audit. This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Her studio peaked at $15,000 NZD a month and had dropped to $10,000 when they sat down. Mike walks through her gym churn rate, her lifetime value, her ad data, and her pricing structure, and shows her the exact math that would triple her book of business without adding a single new member. This episode is for any struggling pilates studio owner, or any boutique fitness studio owner who feels like they are doing everything right and still losing ground. Mike coaches her live the same way he coaches the studios inside GSD Gyms, using real numbers instead of guesses. Part 2 covers her retention plan and her sales process. In this episode you'll learn: If you have ever felt like you are doing everything right and still losing ground, this live audit shows you exactly where to look first. Timestamps: 100K Plan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMPx7b3_LOA Mike walks Jess through the same math and process he uses with the $100K a month studios inside GSD Gyms. The plan behind how we get gyms there is right here. Turns out her ads were never the problem. | |||
| 449: Why Gym Ads Optimize for Leads (Not Members) | 30 Jul 2026 | 00:08:37 | |
Fixing gym Facebook ads conversion tracking is part of how we get studios to $100K a month. Your ads manager sees fifty leads on one ad and six on another, calls the fifty-lead ad the winner, and kills the other one before ever checking what happened next. That is the blind spot behind most gym ad optimization strategy decisions. When your CRM and your Meta ads manager never talk past the lead stage, nobody actually knows which ad produced a member. The six-lead ad that closed two members just got cut so the fifty-lead ad that closed zero could get double the budget. Mike walks through the Meta CAPI setup gym owners can hand straight to their agency, the gym CRM Meta integration naming translation between lead, book, show, and close, and why fixing this one setup matters more for gym owner paid ads in 2026 than any new ad creative. If your team has ever asked how many leads did we get instead of how many members did we get, this gym leads vs members breakdown is for you. In this episode you'll learn: — Why the fifty-lead ad might actually be your worst ad — The exact CAPI setup Mike tells every agency to put in place — Why your ads manager and CRM need to talk past the lead stage — The naming translation between your CRM and Meta so nothing gets lost — Why lead volume is the weakest metric to optimize for and the most common one used — What happens when you optimize for closes instead of leads — The one line to tell your agency if they say CAPI is not necessary — Why $100K a month gyms track every ad past the show stage — What to do if your agency will not set this up If your agency has been optimizing your gym ads for lead volume, this episode gives you the exact fix to hand them today. Timestamps: — 0:00 Demanding this from your agency — 0:59 What CAPI actually stands for — 1:23 The checklist Mike is giving away — 1:58 Lead, book, show, close: the real funnel — 3:09 Why fifty leads can still be your worst ad — 4:27 How ads manager and CRM connect past the lead — 5:39 The real winners hiding in your numbers — 5:56 Why lead volume is the weakest metric — 6:36 Handing the checklist to your agency — 6:52 The CRM to Meta naming translation — 8:00 Why $100K gyms track this differently 100K Plan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMPx7b3_LOA Behind Gym Doors Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnwaMl7Us7dAkfE6idQW56EYkEEQ2E5eE CAPI Setup Checklist: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qFHmXVI56EjG6SVgK5-jCu7birtD8g7_/view Turns out the fifty lead ad was never the winner. | |||
| 448: Why Gym Ads Fail (It's Not Your Ad Agency) | 23 Jul 2026 | 00:34:51 | |
Want to see how we help gyms get to $100K a month? Here's the plan the best gym owners are following right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMPx7b3_LOA Your ad agency did not lose you that member. Something else did, and it happened long before the ad ever ran. Paid ads get blamed for problems they did not cause. A great ad still fails if your Google reviews look shaky, if leads sit for hours before anyone calls, or if your team has no script for the close. More than 80 percent of consumers research a company before they ever click through on an ad, and gyms that respond to a lead within five minutes are nearly 900 times more likely to actually reach that person. In this episode you'll learn: — Why more than 80 percent of consumers check you out before clicking your ad — The Google review numbers that make a gym look credible instead of shaky — Why 1 in 9 gyms miss the easiest fix on their entire Google listing — What to put in your three pinned Instagram posts, and what to leave out — Why community now beats results as the top reason people join a gym — The five numbers every $100K gym tracks after a lead comes in — What the MIT five minute rule actually means for your close rate — Why asking a lead when works for you is costing you the sale — The double call trick that gets more leads to actually pick up — How booking two for one can add 20 more leads to every 100 you generate — Why your ad agency might not be the problem at all If you have been blaming your ads for a while now, this episode might show you where the real leak is. Timestamps: — 0:00 Cold open, the weakest link problem — 1:13 The quarterback analogy for paid ads — 3:20 Reputation, the first weak link — 3:34 Why 80 percent of consumers check you out first — 6:19 The Google review numbers that build trust — 7:00 Why 1 to 2 new reviews a week matters — 8:49 The Google listing update most gyms skip — 11:04 Adding case studies and proof to your Google listing — 12:35 Why community now beats results — 12:42 Building an Instagram profile people trust — 16:20 What to put in your three pinned posts — 17:33 Posting cadence and stories that actually convert — 18:42 Tracking, the second weak link — 20:11 Contact rate, booking rate, and show rate targets — 22:44 Close rate benchmarks for $100K studios — 24:07 Referral rate and the math behind 100 leads — 26:47 Sales process, the third weak link — 27:02 Speed to lead and the five minute rule — 29:04 Why you should always book today — 31:57 The double call trick — 32:32 Booking two for one — 33:11 Daily and weekly sales training — 34:22 Scripts and the price presentation transition Weakest Link Checklist Marketing budget video Competitor Creep ———————————————————————— Mike walks through the exact numbers behind every $100K a month gym, from reviews to close rate to referrals. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios hit those numbers is right here. Watch the 100K Plan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMPx7b3_LOA He still cannot play the drums. | |||
| 447: How to See Every Ad Your Gym Competitors Are Running | 16 Jul 2026 | 00:16:13 | |
Curious what it actually looks like to build with us? Start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMPx7b3_LOA Mike found a competitor a mile and a half from one of his gyms. She has no idea he is watching. Studying competitors sounds like copying. It is actually the fastest way to find out where you already win and nobody else has noticed. One studio in this breakdown has 458 five star reviews, and not a single competitor ad in the market uses reviews as proof. In this episode you'll learn: — Why Mike is against competitor focused marketing, except for this one use case — The exact AI prompt Mike uses to run a full competitor ad breakdown — How to pull real time data from the Meta Ad Library instead of guessing — What a live price split test reveals about what your market will actually pay — Why running more ad creative is healthier than running less — The gap nobody in this market is advertising — Why 458 five star reviews beats any headline about results — The percentage of GSD's $100K a month gyms that run paid ads versus the ones that do not — Why watching a competitor's split test can tell you what to test next — What 98% of GSD Gyms members say is the number one value of the program If you have never looked at what your competition is actually running, this episode gives you the exact process to do it. Timestamps: — 0:00 Cold open, spotting a competitor — 1:03 Why Mike is not pro competitor focused marketing — 2:26 Two reasons competitor research still helps — 3:18 Picking a random studio to analyze — 4:41 Building the competitor breakdown prompt in AI — 6:01 A quick note on the Meta connector — 6:47 The sweep results start coming in — 8:02 Reading a competitor's ad account and offer angle — 9:01 The live $0 versus $10 price split test — 9:26 Where two competitors are falling short — 11:04 What percentage of $100K gyms actually run paid ads — 13:01 What to watch for over the next two weeks — 14:00 Why competition drives innovation — 14:37 What 98% of GSD members say is the real value Whisper trial link Competitor Creep prompt breakdown / Meta connector training link ———————————————————————— Mike breaks down a real competitor's ad account start to finish and shows exactly where the openings are. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios find those same openings is right here. Watch the 100K Plan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMPx7b3_LOA She still has no idea any of this happened. | |||
| 446: AI Systems This Gym Owner Uses to Retain 856 Members | 09 Jul 2026 | 00:56:51 | |
Curious what it actually looks like to build with AI instead of just talking about it? Start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMPx7b3_LOA
856 members. Under 3 percent churn most months. One hire changed how this gym runs everything.
Everyone assumes AI adoption means fewer people on payroll. Dave Rafuse spent more, not less, because the tool only pays off when someone builds it into the business first.
Blended Athletics grew 23 percent, then 25 percent, then 28 percent over the last three years, and Dave says the systems that got them to 150 members never would have gotten them to 856.
In this episode you'll learn: — Why Dave hired an AI architect instead of cutting payroll — The interview question Dave asks every single candidate about AI — How health scores catch members before they silently churn — Why visit frequency, not price, predicts who cancels — How AI rebuilt Blended's event calendar around real attendance data — Why 40 percent of their members were being ignored by every event they ran — The weekly 45 minute meeting that keeps their team sharing AI wins — Why using AI like a search engine wastes what it can actually do — How a morning brief pulling from 12 sources sets Dave's whole day in 10 minutes — The systems that took Blended from 150 members to 856 — Why community, not results, is now the top reason members stay
If your team is still guessing who's about to cancel, this episode shows you exactly how to stop.
Timestamps: 0:00 Dave Rafuse returns, GSD record holder recap 1:45 Going all in on AI early 4:42 Hiring for AI instead of doing it all himself 6:19 Why AI architect is the fastest growing job in the industry 8:21 The interview question that filters for AI mindset 11:13 AI cleans and uploads an ad list in 7 minutes 12:54 Building a 4 day visit itinerary in 10 minutes 15:54 Meet Victor, the AI running Mike's day 19:44 Dave's morning brief, broken down 24:30 Train With Us and the shift to community 28:02 Health scores and catching silent churn 30:57 Rebuilding events around real attendance data 34:48 Going from 150 members to 856 41:16 The biggest mistake gym owners make with AI 44:09 The weekly meeting that keeps their team sharp 49:10 Victor managing payroll, sales, and vendor deals 55:48 How to connect with Dave
Connect with Dave Rafuse: Email: dave@blendedathletics.com
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Dave Rafuse turned Blended Athletics into a business most gym owners only think is possible on paper. The full plan the best gyms are using to get there is one click away.
Watch the 100K Plan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMPx7b3_LOA
Turns out the secretary never left. She got a lot better at her job. | |||
| 445: 9 Meta Ads Mistakes Gyms Make (And It Costs Them Tens of Thousands of Dollars) | 02 Jul 2026 | 00:37:15 | |
Want to see how we help gyms get to $100K a month? Here's the plan the best gym owners are following right now: Your ads aren't failing because of your audience. You are probably paying your agency to do things that should never be their job. Strategy. Budget. Offer. Reporting. At $800 to $1,500 a month, they're a vendor built for execution, not decisions. The gyms spending the same money on ads but getting far better results have figured out where the line is. Mike sold his own ad agency two years ago after working with over 4,000 gyms worldwide. What he saw from the inside is exactly what most gym owners are still getting wrong on the outside. In this episode you'll learn: If you've been blaming your agency or your market for results that are actually in your control, this episode is the mirror. Episode chapters: ———————————————————————— The gyms growing past $100K a month aren't guessing on ads. They know their customer acquisition cost, they track per ad, they run a true campaign, and they make offers that scare them a little. That's the standard. Watch the plan behind it here. Your agency probably isn't the problem. You might just be asking them to do the wrong job. | |||
| #444: A Gym Owner's AI Playbook: How BFT Tysons Is Running on AI in 2026 | 25 Jun 2026 | 00:54:17 | |
Here's the plan the best gym owners are following right now: The gyms winning with AI right now are not using it to write emails. Pav spent 20 years in Fortune 500 companies before opening BFT Tysons. His financial planning background and tech instincts put him in a different category than most gym owners touching AI right now. In this episode, Mike Arce sits down with one of the most advanced operators in the GSD community to break down exactly what they've built, how they built it, and what's coming next. In this episode you'll learn: If you think you're using AI because you asked it to rewrite an email, this episode will show you how far behind that really is. Episode chapters: ———————————————————————— If you want to understand where the gym industry is actually heading, the operators doing what Pav is doing in this episode are already three moves ahead of everyone else. Watch the 100K Plan: | |||
| #443: The Hidden Reason Your Gyms Ads Aren't Converting (It's Not the Ad) | 11 Jun 2026 | 00:14:42 | |
🔥 Fire Your Ad Agency — LIVE Workshop for Gym Owners — June 16th, 1pm PT Learn why most gym ad agencies are costing you more than they're making you — and what to do instead. Limited seats. Register → GSDlive.com —————————————————— You're spending money on ads. The targeting is right. The creative is solid. 82% of people who see your gym's ad don't call. They go do homework first. They check your Google reviews, your Instagram, your website. And if what they find doesn't give them enough certainty to move forward, they're gone. You never knew they existed. You never had a chance to close them. Mike Arce filmed this one from Aruba, and it might be the most overlooked lead generation conversation in the gym industry. Not one thing in this episode requires more ad spend. In this episode you'll learn: — Why 82% of prospects research your gym before ever contacting you and the three places they go If your ads are running and your leads are flat, this is where to look first. —————————————————— ⏱ Timestamps: — 0:00 — The leads you lost before they ever opted in —————————————————— 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com | |||
| #442: 10 Ways to Make Your Gym More Valuable | 04 Jun 2026 | 00:14:30 | |
🔥 Fire Your Ad Agency — LIVE Workshop for Gym Owners — June 16th, 1pm PT Learn why most gym ad agencies are costing you more than they're making you — and what to do instead. Limited seats. Register → GSDlive.com —————————————————— Two gyms. Same city. Both doing $1 million a year. Most gym owners have no idea what their gym is actually worth. The number they think they'd get if they sold tomorrow is probably way off. And the reason almost always comes down to the same ten factors, none of which have anything to do with how many members you have. Mike Arce has watched gyms sell for far more than their revenue would suggest, and he's watched gyms that look great on paper struggle to get a single offer. Whether you plan to sell someday or never want to leave, these are the ten things that determine what your gym is actually worth, and every single one of them also makes your gym more profitable and easier to run right now. In this episode you'll learn: — Why buyers don't care about your revenue and what they actually look at instead If someone offered to buy your gym tomorrow, would they be buying a business or buying your job? Your answer to that question is the most honest assessment of where your gym stands today. —————————————————— ⏱ Timestamps: — 0:00 — Two gyms, same revenue, completely different sale outcomes Presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OBm0fFWGim1niP6nGfrGBGYbOOv7OlQ9/view?usp=sharing —————————————————— 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com | |||
| #441: The Decoy Effect: How to Structure Your Gym's Pricing to Close More Members | 28 May 2026 | 00:26:21 | |
🔥 Fire Your Ad Agency — LIVE Workshop for Gym Owners — June 16th, 1pm PT Learn why most gym ad agencies are costing you more than they're making you — and what to do instead. Limited seats. Register → GSDlive.com —————————————————— Your pricing sheet is losing you sales every single day.
— Why "I need to think about it" is almost never about value — and what it's actually about If your team is struggling to close or prospects keep leaving to "think about it," this episode is the fix. —————————————————— ⏱ Timestamps: — 0:00 — Why your pricing sheet is the real reason prospects say "I need to think about it" —————————————————— 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com | |||
| #440: Gym Instagram Marketing Playbook 2026 | 21 May 2026 | 00:41:23 | |
🔥 Fire Your Ad Agency — LIVE Workshop for Gym Owners — June 16th, 1pm PT Learn why most gym ad agencies are costing you more than they're making you, and what to do instead. Limited seats. Register → GSDlive.com —————————————————— Your gym's Instagram is probably growing the wrong audience. The more you post, the worse it gets. The likes feel good but the results don't lie. Most gym owners have been optimizing for the wrong metrics for years — and the algorithm has been learning exactly the wrong thing about who your gym is for. Mike Arce spent 16 years doing it wrong, then had 90 days that eclipsed all of it. In 90 days, GSD Gyms added 34% more followers than the previous 16 years combined and generated more leads and sales in the last 30 days than in the entire history of their Instagram account.
— Why your gym's "best" posts are training the algorithm to show your content to the wrong people If you've been posting consistently and wondering why it's not converting, this episode is the answer. —————————————————— ⏱ Timestamps: — 0:00 — Why most gyms think they crush Instagram but are actually hurting their results —————————————————— 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com | |||
| #439: How Gyms Owners are Using AI in 2026 | 14 May 2026 | 00:19:11 | |
🔥 Fire Your Ad Agency — LIVE Workshop for Gym Owners — June 16th, 1pm PT —————————————————— Right now, some gym owners are waking up to leads already followed up, books already closed, ads already optimized, and payroll already processed. They didn't hire more staff. They just stopped doing it themselves. In this episode, Mike Arce breaks down exactly how gyms and fitness studios are using AI in 2026 — not the basics like writing email copy, but the real stuff. The things that are quietly replacing ad agencies, bookkeepers, and hours of admin work — while freeing up owners to actually run their gyms. Here's the thing most people miss: AI isn't coming to take your gym. It can't replace community. It can't replace human connection. It can't replace the reason people are choosing boutique gyms over big box clubs in the first place. What it can do is take away everything that's pulling you away from that. You're Bill Russell in the 60s — doing everything yourself because that's just how it's done. The gyms winning right now are LeBron James — and someone else is handling everything that isn't basketball. In this episode you'll learn:
If AI feels murky or scary — this episode will clear that up fast. —————————————————— ⏱ Timestamps:
—————————————————— 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com | |||
| #438: 9 Sales Mistakes Your Gym is Making | 07 May 2026 | 00:32:49 | |
🔥 Fire Your Ad Agency — LIVE Workshop for Gym Owners — June 16th, 1pm PT —————————————————— 80% of gyms are making at least half of these mistakes. And the brutal part? They're subtle. You won't catch them on your own. But once you see them, you can't unsee them — and you'll feel it every single time you're about to make one. In this episode, Mike Arce breaks down the 9 sales mistakes gyms make that quietly kill close rates, drain leads, and keep studios stuck at $15k, $20k, 25k a month — while the gyms that fix them are the ones hitting $80k, $90k, $100k and beyond. These aren't big obvious blunders. They're the small, subtle habits that get baked into your sales process and never get questioned. The words your staff uses. The way they handle objections. The stories they tell themselves about whether someone can afford it. The gap they're creating instead of closing. In this episode you'll learn:
If your close rate is stuck and you can't figure out why — the answer is probably in this episode. —————————————————— ⏱ Timestamps:
—————————————————— 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com | |||
| #437: Identifying Your Gyms A, B, and C Players | 23 Apr 2026 | 00:25:02 | |
🚨 LIVE AI Workshop for Gym Owners — April 30th, 2pm PT / 5pm ET —————————————————— Think about your team right now. If someone quit today and you felt relieved — that's a C player. Most gym owners already know which is which. They just haven't done anything about it yet. In this episode, Mike Arce breaks down exactly how to identify the A, B, and C players on your gym team — and more importantly, what to do with each of them. Because keeping the wrong people isn't just a performance problem. It's a culture problem. C players don't just underperform. They drag your B players down with them. And they quietly push your A players out the door. The cost of tolerating a C player isn't just what they're not doing. It's the A player who can't get hired because that seat is taken. In this episode you'll learn:
If you've been tolerating someone you shouldn't — this episode will give you the clarity and the confidence to act. —————————————————— ⏱ Timestamps:
—————————————————— 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com | |||
| #436: Your Gym is Leaking Money (12 Metrics You MUST Track for Max Profitability) | 16 Apr 2026 | 00:41:03 | |
🚨 LIVE AI Workshop for Gym Owners — April 30th, 2pm PT / 5pm ET Limited seats. Register → GSDlive.com —————————————————— Most gyms are leaking money. They just don't know where. And the reason isn't bad marketing or a weak sales team. It's that most gym owners are working on the wrong things, while the real problems go completely undetected. In this episode, Mike Arce breaks down the 12 metrics every gym and fitness studio must track. Not vanity numbers. Not what your ad agency tells you to look at. The actual numbers that tell you what's working, what's broken, and exactly where to focus next. When you don't track these, you end up overpaying for leads, underspending on what's actually working, keeping the wrong people, firing the wrong people, and losing members faster than you can replace them — without ever knowing why. When you do track them? You stop guessing. You stop burning out. You make decisions like a CEO. 📲 Want the free cheat sheet with all 12 metrics? In this episode you'll learn:
If you're tired of working hard and not knowing why your gym isn't growing — this episode will change that. —————————————————— ⏱ Timestamps:
—————————————————— 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com | |||
| #435: Behind the Scenes Gym Sales Training with The Collective | 09 Apr 2026 | 01:00:26 | |
🚨 LIVE AI Workshop for Gym Owners — April 30th, 2pm PT / 5pm ET Learn how to use A.I. to get more leads and members at your gym — without being a tech person. Limited seats. Register → GSDlive.com —————————————————— Most gym owners think the sale happens at the close. It doesn't. By the time you're showing the pricing sheet, it's already done — or it's already lost. In this episode, Mike Arce sits down with the sales team at The Collective — a fitness studio in Gilbert, Arizona that went from $35K to over $100K/month — and walks them through the entire sales process end to end. Live. With real role plays. This isn't theory. You're listening to it happen in real time. The biggest thing holding your sales team back isn't their script. It's ego. The moment a salesperson starts worrying about how they sound, whether they should follow up again, or what the prospect thinks of them — they've already lost the sale. The best salespeople forget about themselves completely and focus on one thing: the person in front of them. In this episode you'll learn:
—————————————————— ⏱ Timestamps:
Click to View the Complete Board Graphic: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QvQtoOxp_MzazXvdFGR5DpV0rdBy7FCd/view?usp=sharing —————————————————— 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com
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| #434: Why Gym Employees Can't Sell - And How to Fix It (The CPT Sales Machine) | 02 Apr 2026 | 00:37:56 | |
Your gym staff isn't bad at sales. You just never gave them what they actually need to close. In this episode, Mike Arce breaks down the CPT Sales Machine — the 3-part framework behind the gyms GSD works with that consistently hit 80%+ close rates, even as they raise prices. Here's the hard truth most gym owners miss: you're great at sales because you have conviction no employee will ever naturally match. Your gym is your baby. Theirs is a job. But conviction can be built — and when you pair it with the right process and the right training rhythms, your staff starts outselling you. One of our member gyms went from 15 new members a month to 35–40 — not by hiring better people. By fixing these three things. In this episode:
If you're tired of being the only one who can sell at your gym — this one's for you. 🎯 Ready to grow your gym faster? See how GSD Gyms helps fitness studios reach $100K/month → 100kplan.com ⏱ Episode Timestamps:
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| #433: Gym Owners Are Practicing the Wrong Sales Skill | 24 Mar 2026 | 00:44:05 | |
You just lost another sale. The lead came in, they seemed interested, and then you got hit with one of these ... "let me think about it," "it's a little out of my budget," "I need to talk to my spouse." So you did what most people do. You went to YouTube, practiced your rebuttals, maybe bought a book on closing. And the next lead sat down...and you got the exact same objections. Here's what nobody is telling you: the problem isn't your objection handling. Those objections aren't even the real problem. They're just the smoke. And you've been so focused on the smoke that you never actually found the fire. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike breaks down the 5 stages of the gym sales process and shows you exactly where sales are really being lost...and it's not at the close. We walk through how to turn your thank you page into a sales asset, why your best leads are doing homework on you before you ever call them, what your Google reviews, website, and social presence are doing to your close rate, and why objection handling is the last 5% and the 95% before it is where the real game is won. If you want to spend less time selling and almost zero time overcoming objections...this episode is your playbook.
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| #432: OHM Fitness - Why Your Studio is Losing Members and How to Fix It | 12 Mar 2026 | 01:02:36 | |
Most gyms think their retention problem is a marketing problem. It's not. | |||
| #430: Top 5 Global Fitness Studio Gets 200-400+ Leads Per Month | 25 Feb 2026 | 00:47:42 | |
Most gym owners think growth comes from better marketing. The reality? Most are ignoring the systems and data that actually drive predictable results. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike sits down with Lindsay Greenlee a former Texas Tech University professor turned owner of one of the top-performing Pure Barre studios in the franchise to break down how data-driven decisions, structured marketing processes, and strong execution helped her generate consistent lead flow and industry-leading conversion rates. Instead of constantly chasing new tactics or relying on agencies to "figure it out," Lindsay explains how understanding your numbers, tracking lead quality, and staying actively involved in marketing strategy creates real momentum inside a gym. If you feel like you're working harder but growth still feels unpredictable, this episode will change how you think about marketing, retention, and scaling your business. Want help applying this to your gym? See how we help gym owners grow profitably without chasing more leads. DM "GSD" to @GSDGyms on Instagram. | |||
| #431: Top Performing Gym Owner Reveals How She Turned Slow Months Into Record Breaking Revenue | 20 Feb 2026 | 00:25:42 | |
In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike sits down with top-performing F45 owner Grace to break down the systems, mindset, and operational decisions that helped her turn seasonal dips into record-breaking revenue. We dive into how elite gym owners plan revenue dips before they happen, why comparing month-to-month data can lead to bad decisions, how integrating Hyrox strengthened community and lead flow, and what it really takes to build a high-performing fitness business that compounds over time. Instead of reacting to slow periods or constantly changing strategies, Grace focused on understanding her numbers, identifying seasonal trends, and building predictable systems that create long-term growth. Want help applying this to your gym? See how we help gym owners grow profitably without chasing more leads. DM "GSD" to @GSDGyms on Instagram. | |||
| #429 Small Gym Breaks Record: $321K in ONE MONTH! | 12 Feb 2026 | 00:46:52 | |
Most gym owners think they have a marketing problem. What they actually have… is a retention problem. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike sits down with Kim and Dave to break down the systems, mindset, and relationship-driven approach that helped their gym reach record-breaking growth, including a $321K month and multiple record months throughout the year. Instead of constantly chasing new leads or switching marketing strategies, they focused on building a business that compounds through strong retention, deep member relationships, and consistent operational systems. We dive into what most gym owners misunderstand about growth, why retention is often the hidden driver behind revenue expansion, how marketing and retention must work together, and what it actually takes to create predictable momentum inside your business. If you feel like you're always trying to "fix marketing" but growth still feels unstable, this episode will completely change how you think about scaling. Want help applying this to your gym? See how we help gym owners grow profitably without chasing more leads. DM "GSD" to @GSDGyms on Instagram. | |||
| #428: The Control Problem Killing Gym Growth | 10 Feb 2026 | 00:39:39 | |
Most gym owners don't struggle because of marketing. They struggle because they can't let go of control. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike sits down with Caitlin Bovee to break down the leadership shift that changed everything inside her business. Instead of trying to control every decision, meeting, and outcome, she focused on developing leaders, building systems, and stepping out of daily operations, allowing the business to grow in a completely different way. We dive into the real challenges gym owners face when transitioning from operator to leader, including why control often becomes the hidden bottleneck preventing growth, how leadership development impacts retention and team performance, and what it actually takes to scale without doing everything yourself. If you feel stuck managing every detail or struggling to move from operator to CEO, this episode will help you rethink how growth actually happens. Want help applying this to your gym? See how we help gym owners grow profitably without chasing more leads. DM "GSD" to @GSDGyms on Instagram. | |||
| #427: Path to $100k per month | 05 Feb 2026 | 00:22:14 | |
Reaching $100,000 per month in your gym isn't about luck. It's about understanding the math, solving the right problems, and building a model that actually supports scale. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike breaks down the real path to hitting $100K/month, including the revenue structure, pricing strategy, and operational shifts required to grow beyond the plateau most gym owners hit. We walk through the exact numbers behind membership revenue, ancillary income, pricing sweet spots, and the strategic decisions that separate gyms that scale from gyms that stay stuck chasing more members without real profit. Want help applying this to your gym? See how we help gym owners grow profitably without chasing more leads. DM "GSD" to @GSDGyms on Instagram. | |||
| #426: The Leadership System Behind a $1.7M Pilates Studio | 03 Feb 2026 | 00:37:59 | |
The biggest reason most gyms don't grow isn't a lack of leads. It's a lack of leadership and systems. Too many gym owners believe more ads, more sales scripts, or more hustle will fix their plateau, when the real issue is their inability to build a team and environment that can actually scale. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike sits down with Ahme Bovee, Owner of Bovee Pilates, who built a $1.7M business largely through leadership, culture, referrals, and systems, not massive ad spend. We break down why most gyms hit a ceiling, what high-performing gym owners do differently, and how leadership becomes the ultimate growth lever once the basics are in place. Want help applying this to your gym? See how we help gym owners grow profitably without chasing more leads. DM "GSD" to @GSDGyms on Instagram. | |||
| #425: How Should Gyms Work With AD Agencies | 29 Jan 2026 | 00:37:26 | |
The biggest mistake gym owners make with ads isn't choosing the wrong agency. It's not knowing how to work with an ad agency in the first place. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike breaks down how gyms should actually partner with ad agencies so results are predictable, profitable, and scalable, not lucky, short-lived, or dependent on guessing. We walk through what separates gyms that win with ads from gyms that churn through agencies, burn cash, and stay stuck. If you want ads to support real growth (not just activity), this episode is your playbook. Want help applying this to your gym? See how we help gym owners grow profitably without chasing more leads. DM "GSD" to @GSDGyms on Instagram. | |||
| #424: What It Really Takes to Scale a Gym Business | 27 Jan 2026 | 00:43:56 | |
The fastest way to scale your gym isn't working harder. It's building systems that work without you. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike sits down with the founder of The Hot Room, a fitness brand that grew from 1 studio to 7 locations, stayed profitable, built a cult-like culture, and is now expanding into franchising. We break down the real systems, discipline, and leadership decisions that allowed her to scale without burning out, without breaking culture, and without losing control of the business. Most gym owners get stuck in chaos: More tasks → More stress → More fires → Same results. This episode shows you how to build a gym that actually scales, with people, systems, referrals, culture, and discipline doing the heavy lifting. If you want a gym that runs with or without you, this episode is your playbook. Want help applying this to your gym? See how we help gym owners grow profitably without chasing more leads. DM "GSD" to @GSDGyms on Instagram. | |||
| #423: 3 Ways Gyms Grow Revenue (Part 3: Retention) | 22 Jan 2026 | 00:24:21 | |
The fastest way to grow your gym isn't more leads. It's keeping the members you already have. In this episode of GSDGYMS, we breaks down Part 3 of the 3 Ways Gyms Grow Revenue series: Retention, the most overlooked, most profitable, and most misunderstood growth lever in the gym business. Most gym owners are stuck in a cycle of: More ads → More leads → More churn → Same revenue. If your gym is growing but your bank account isn't, this episode explains exactly why. | |||
| #422: You Don't Need More Gym Members to Make More Money (Here's Why) | 20 Jan 2026 | 00:23:33 | |
Your gym might be busy…and still not making as much money as it should.
Most gym owners think increasing revenue means getting more members. That's usually the slowest, hardest, and most expensive way to grow. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Mike Arce breaks down the second of the three real ways to grow your gym and the one most owners avoid:
👉 Increasing revenue per member. Most owners believe: • Raising prices will cause cancellations • Members won't buy add-ons • Selling higher tiers will hurt the culture
But the truth is the opposite. The members who pay more: • Stay longer • Show up more • Get better results • And are far less likely to cancel In this episode, you'll learn: • The only three ways to increase revenue per member • Why this actually improves retention instead of hurting it • And why avoiding it is one of the main reasons gyms stay stuck
This is the same framework used by gyms doing $30k–$100k+/month with strong margins. If you want to grow without relying on more leads, more ads, or more chaos, this episode is required listening. Want help applying this to your gym? See how we help gym owners grow profitably without chasing more leads. DM "GSD" to @GSDGyms on Instagram. | |||
| #421: 3 Ways to Get More Gym Members (That Aren't Ads) | 15 Jan 2026 | 00:38:07 | |
Your gym doesn't have a lead problem. It has a leverage problem. Most gym owners think growth only comes from running more ads. In reality, that's just one of three levers you can pull and it's usually the weakest one. In this episode, I break down the three real ways to get more gym members (and more revenue) without just lighting money on fire with marketing. You'll learn:
This is the exact framework used by gyms that consistently grow month over month while everyone else stays stuck or burns out. If you want more members, more revenue, and more profit without guessing, this episode will change how you think about growth. | |||
| #420: The Only 2 Gym Metrics That Predict Profit (Not Leads or Sales) | 13 Jan 2026 | 00:17:19 | |
Your marketing might look great… …and still be losing you money. Most gym owners track leads, cost per lead, close rate, and show rate... then wonder why their bank account tells a different story. In this episode, I break down the only two numbers that actually determine whether your marketing is profitable, and why gyms that understand them make better decisions around ads, discounts, retention, and growth. This framework is used by gyms consistently producing $30k–$50k+ per month in profit. If you're running ads, working with an agency, or making marketing decisions without knowing these two numbers cold, this episode is required viewing. Want the AI tool that calculates them for your gym automatically?
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| #419: Gym Owners: Your Real Marketing Job in 2026 (It's Not What You Think) | 08 Jan 2026 | 00:30:13 | |
Most gym owners think marketing is about getting more leads. Last week, a gym owner told me he spent $8,000 on Meta ads and got 147 leads. His agency sent charts, graphs, the whole victory lap. So I asked one question: How much revenue did it produce? He didn't know. And that's the real problem in 2026. It's not the owner. It's not the agency. It's that almost nobody knows what the job actually is. In this episode, I break down the gym owner's real job as the head of marketing, the only three ways revenue can grow, and a simple framework to identify which lever your gym should focus on right now. If you're running ads, posting content, and staying "busy" with marketing, but your revenue isn't moving the way it should, watch this all the way through. Want the AI tool that calculates which revenue lever matters most for your gym? Listen to the audio version on the Behind Gym Doors Podcast. | |||
| #418: $1.6M Gym's Marketing Playbook | 06 Jan 2026 | 00:27:43 | |
Most gym owners think marketing means ads, posts, and promotions. That mindset is exactly why most gyms stay stuck. In this episode, we go inside the actual 2026 marketing playbook of MTK Muay Thai Kickboxing, a gym business doing roughly $140,000 per month, to show what real marketing looks like when it's built to scale. This isn't theory. You'll see how marketing touches product, pricing, retention, events, culture, and team structure—and why gyms that understand this grow differently. If you own or manage a gym and want to build something that lasts longer than a single coach or location, this is one you'll want to watch closely. | |||
| #417: LIVE Gym Owner Marketing Training | 01 Jan 2026 | 00:10:23 | |
Most gym owners think higher competition means higher risk. In this episode, we walk through real numbers from Crowned Boxing to show why that belief often leads to missed growth, stalled momentum, and unnecessary caution. This conversation breaks down ad spend, retention, lifetime value, and decision-making in a way every gym owner can understand... without hype or theory. If you've ever paused ads because "it felt like the wrong month," this episode will challenge how you think about growth. | |||
| #416: Lessons From the Best | 22 Sep 2025 | 00:25:16 | |
In this final episode of the season, Mike Arce reflects on a fun and successful season of interviewing exceptional gym owners. He highlights the impressive statistic that 40% of the gyms he works with now generate over $1 million in annual revenue, a significant achievement given that less than 0.5% of gyms typically reach that milestone. The episode dives into the key factors that differentiate the most successful gym owners, focusing on three core areas: Customer Experience, Sales and Revenue & Team Building. This episode also features a special sponsored message from Inception Telehealth and Wellness, a company that partners with gyms to provide members with access to concierge-level functional medicine, hormone optimization, and advanced lab testing at no cost to the business. Gyms partnering with them can earn a 10-15% lifetime commission on referrals. Don't miss the exciting announcement that this podcast, has been rebranded to "The GSD Show" and will now focus on business in general, featuring a mix of solo episodes and interviews with high-achieving individuals from various industries. Ready to GROW your GYM? Schedule a free call to learn how we can help: https://loudrumor.com/discover Get Mike's Book... The Standard Is You: The Gym Employee's Guide to Winning in Work, Life, and Leadership: https://a.co/d/atZ70dA | |||
| #415: High Ticket Sales For Gym Owners With Scott Carpenter | 02 Sep 2025 | 00:51:24 | |
Scott Carpenter turned six failing gyms into a multi-million dollar fitness business and he did it without competing on price or workouts. His secret? Selling transformation, not just training, and building a model that keeps clients committed for years. In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on the high-ticket sales systems, mentorship approach, and retention strategies that gym owners can put into play right now. You'll see exactly how to position $2K–$10K memberships, deliver results in the "165 hours" outside your gym, and use price to filter for the most committed clients. Scott also shares the wealth-building strategy that grows your money while you grow your gym, plus the leadership safeguards every owner needs to protect their business. If you're ready to raise your prices, grow your profit, and build a gym that runs on purpose, this conversation is your blueprint. Chapters Ready to GROW your GYM? Schedule a free call to learn how we can help: https://loudrumor.com/discover Get Mike's Book... The Standard Is You: The Gym Employee's Guide to Winning in Work, Life, and Leadership: https://a.co/d/atZ70dA More From Scott Carpenter More From Loud Rumor | |||
| #414: Communication Secrets to Improve Your Sales & Marketing with Michael Bernoff | 26 Aug 2025 | 00:54:19 | |
If you're still giving tours, dropping prices, and hoping people sign up, you're leaving money on the table. Michael Bernoff, one of the best communicators in the world, shows you how to flip the script so prospects sell themselves on joining your gym. Using his Human Interaction Technology (HIT), you'll learn how to lower resistance from the very first hello, control the direction of the conversation, and get people excited to take action without discounting or chasing. In this episode, Michael breaks down exactly how to match your prospect's energy, use language that keeps you in control, and create "pattern interrupts" that make them pay attention. You'll leave knowing how to turn "I'll think about it" into sign-ups, handle price questions like a pro, and keep members engaged long after they join. This is the playbook for gym owners who want more conversions, higher retention, and a sales process that works every time. Chapters Ready to GROW your GYM? Schedule a free call to learn how we can help: https://loudrumor.com/discover Get Mike's Book... The Standard Is You: The Gym Employee's Guide to Winning in Work, Life, and Leadership: https://a.co/d/atZ70dA More From Michael Bernoff More From Loud Rumor | |||
| #413: Building A $6M Gym With Culture & Purpose with Doug & Thea Wood | 19 Aug 2025 | 00:43:22 | |
They didn't just build a gym, they built a movement. Doug and Thea Wood are the powerhouse couple behind The Hive, Scottsdale's most talked-about gym and a hub for high-performing entrepreneurs. But that's just the surface. In this episode of Behind Gym Doors, Doug and Thea share how they turned personal transformation into global impact, building a $6M gym, launching an international online school, and funding orphanages around the world… all while being unapologetically bold about their faith, brand, and message. We dive deep into building niche communities, creating content that actually converts, and why most gym owners play too small. If you're afraid of standing out, raising prices, or showing up authentically, this episode is your wake-up call. Chapters Ready to GROW your GYM? Schedule a free call to learn how we can help: https://loudrumor.com/discover Get Mike's Book... The Standard Is You: The Gym Employee's Guide to Winning in Work, Life, and Leadership: https://a.co/d/atZ70dA Connect With Doug & Thea Wood More From Loud Rumor | |||