Run a Profitable Gym
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.
Run a Profitable Gym
Hyrox Data Dive: Exact Revenue and ROI Stats on Affiliation
Robin Sowden-Taylor added Hyrox to his gym and credits it with bringing in 30+ new clients and thousands in extra revenue.
In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” host Mike Warkentin talks with Rob, owner of ION Strength & Conditioning in Wales, who opens up his books and shares the exact ROI he’s getting from Hyrox.
He breaks down what he’s paying, what he’s earning and how the program has improved lead generation and member retention—without changing his gym’s core identity.
Rob runs Hyrox classes alongside his existing strength-and-conditioning model, filling underused class times while generating additional revenue and community engagement from Hyrox events.
If you’re considering affiliation or looking for a new revenue stream, tune in to hear exactly what Hyrox delivered for ION Strength & Conditioning.
Links
Hyrox in a CrossFit Gym
Gym Owners United
Book a Call
1:02 - ROI on Hyrox affiliation
6:13 - Rob’s pricing and retention
11:15 - Extra revenue from events
12:52 - Is it difficult to get started?
16:30 - Adding Hyrox to a CrossFit gym
what is the value on hyrox affiliation you're going to get exact numbers from a real gym today this is run a profitable gym i'm your host mike borkman and please hit subscribe wherever you are watching or listening if you spend money on something you should make more money so does it make financial sense to invest in hyrox and offer that sort of training we're going to find out today you're going to get answers from ion strength and conditioning in wales which is owned by robin soden taylor he graciously said he would open his books and give you exact data from inside his business so you can make smart decisions inside your gym. We're going to get right into it. Rob, welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER_00:I'm great, thanks. Good to be on the podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:I am very
SPEAKER_02:excited about this.
SPEAKER_00:It's been a valuable tool for me for over the years. So yes, it's a great, great opportunity to chat about a topic that I think is pretty hot property at the moment.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, this is going to be your chance to pay it forward because you're going to be able to tell people with data how to make better decisions in their business. So I'm going to tell you this right off the top. UK, Hyrox affiliation costs£120 a month or£1,440 a year. That's$160 US or$1,910 US per year. We're Rob, do you see a measurable clear investment on that spend?
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:ROI, pardon me?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, without a doubt. For us, we've been affiliated for just over 16 months now. Initially, when we affiliated, it was£90. We've got two training facilities in the UK and Wales. The one facility we've had for just over 11 years, for a large part of that time, we were CrossFit affiliated. I made the decision about two years ago to not renew the affiliation, just in terms of rising costs, being very keen on building our own brand very set with what we want to achieve. But for me, it was really seeing the Hyrox brand escalating pretty quickly. There's a real buzz about High Rocks and we've certainly seen a bit of a peak in the UK and certainly in Wales where we're based in 2025. We're hosting, like a lot of cities now around the world, we've got a big High Rocks event coming to our capital city here in Wales and it's been held in the National Rugby Stadium which hosts 80,000 spectators. It's going to be a fantastic venue for it and that's happening at the end of the month. So, you know, we've really, you know, seen a lot of growth within our Hyrox leads, certainly over the last six months, which, you know, we can dive into.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So, even with a 25% monthly increase in affiliation fees, you're still seeing a great ROI on this.
SPEAKER_00:A hundred percent.
SPEAKER_02:And so much so that it dwarfed the CrossFit ROI. Is that correct? Is that why you made that
SPEAKER_00:switch? I didn't initially make the decision to de-affiliate or not renew my affiliation with CrossFit to go straight into High Rocks. I felt that we just naturally, for us, had just outgrown the need for an affiliation with CrossFit. But like I said, we don't spend a huge amount of money on our marketing budget with social media, paid ads and that side of things. So for me it's been i've seen the hyrox affiliation as a part of our marketing budget and it's been very worthwhile we've seen the benefits through the the lead generation
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so it wasn't a one-in-one-out switch that you made. You traded one for the other. And to be fair, listeners, CrossFit affiliation is not all that expensive. It's more costly than Hyrox affiliation, but you can certainly do the ROI to figure out. We're not talking about CrossFit today. We're talking about Hyrox. So I'm going to ask you this, Rob, because you told me this before the show. What percentage of leads are asking about Hyrox now, and what funnels have you got to capture these leads?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so for us, as I touched on, you know, we've got an event coming to our capital city later this month. And in 2025, we have just seen the leads coming in through our website and through social media. It's up as high as 42%.
SPEAKER_02:Of
SPEAKER_00:total leads or high rocks? It's just being people interested in trying and sampling Hyrox. For me, I'm very set on, I see Hyrox as being a nice addition for us. I'm not looking to build a whole brand that I own around Hyrox, but it's just, it's fitting in well to, you know, an all-inclusive approach that's great for members to have something to put their fitness to the test in a good community spirit environment.
SPEAKER_02:So if I lay it out for you like this, you're paying 120 pounds a month for High Rocks affiliation and that is generating essentially 42% of your leads, correct? Yeah, correct. Yeah, so that's a no-brainer. If you could spend, you know, 120 pounds or 160 US or whatever it is to get half your leads, that's going to be a huge ROI. So, this is kind of looking like a no-brainer, but let's get further in. Let's dig into ROI. How many new members have you acquired this year because of High Rocks? What is that number?
SPEAKER_00:So on average, we get around 30 to 35 leads a month. This is in our facility. So we've got our model at ION. We're a class-based training facility. We have a higher membership base. So we've got 450 members in our one facility. In our second facility, that's only two years old. So that's in the growth stage. That's in around the 160 mark. But for us, talking about our older facility, we're generating around 30 to 35 leads a month. In two 2025 alone we've had 31 new members that have joined from initial hyrox inquiries like we don't run a specific hyrox membership um from a membership perspective you know that that's the hyrox classes are just included in our full membership our unlimited membership that we we have and also our our 10 class pass which is also our higher value membership option should people be interested in that
SPEAKER_02:okay so now i looked at your website it says your full rate for your full pass is 85 Is that accurate?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so full membership is£85. Yeah, we keep it very simple with our approach. We have a full membership and then a basic membership, which is for our main models of classes. We run a 30-minute class, a 45-minute bootcamp-style class, and then a 60-minute strength and conditioning class, which is the most popular class. Our full membership includes all those classes alongside some speciality classes like barbells, our Olympic lifting class, our ladies-only strength class, and our high rocks classes.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so I just did some math while you were talking here. And if you've got 31 new members from High Rocks and each of them is paying 85 pounds a month, that is 2,635 pounds, pardon me, in monthly revenue one month, right? And you're paying 120 pounds a month. So again, listeners, we're just laying out some obvious ROI that Rob is getting at his gym. If these members, the 31 that he acquired, spend just six months in his business, He's looking at 15, almost 16,000 pounds. Now, I know this is even crazier. So, Rob's asked about his length of engagement. He holds people for 26 to 28 months. So, this is great. So, now we're talking about force multipliers. So, he gets a new member through High Rocks, 85 pounds, pardon me. He's going to hold them for 26 to 28 months. You're looking at over 70,000 pounds. Have you done this math, Rob? No.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so it's something that we track hard, obviously being part of Two Brain as well. The metrics for me is something that I look at hard each month. For me, obviously, the new leads that have come in this year, the new clients that we've had, yes, it's around the 75k mark that is of the value to the business, but obviously there's a churn. We have members that's leaving each month, so it's not like it's just adding 75k to the top line, but it obviously has been of extremely valuable for us you know we have a decent churn rate it sits around 33 3.5 percent so it's something again a big focus for us is is working on our retention but you know i can certainly see at this moment in time the hyrox wave is certainly flying well um and you know it's it's it's been a great addition to us as a business and also as a community as well so it's uh you know i i do see that it's been very valuable and you know seeing this more and more gyms getting part of it, being part of the High Rocks brand as being beneficial.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but you look at this, listeners, even if everyone he acquires stays for just one month, he's still winning on the annual fee. If everyone stays for six months, he's big time winning. If people stay for his length of engagement average of 26 to 28, this is like a lottery win, right? So again, these fees are very small. They don't ask for a lot in return. And Rob's making a ton of cash on this. The ROI is pretty incredible if you look at this. Now, again, your churn might be worse. You might not be able to get this exact numbers, but these are real numbers from inside a real gym. So I want you to see them. Now, talk to me. So that's just membership stuff. Talk to me about special events. What else do you do to capitalize on that High Rocks affiliation?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So as I think a lot of High Rocks affiliated gyms are doing more and more of, they run High Rocks simulation events. And there's been a big growth of these events popping up all around the place. I think probably the challenge High Rocks have a little bit at the moment is in they're in such high demand. It's actually quite hard to get places in some of the events. Yeah, they sell out. They sell out so quickly. So... You know, what we've been trying to do is, certainly over the past couple of years, we run quarterly High Rocks style events. Some of them are High Rocks simulation events that replicate the event themselves. We also run similar events in terms of probably not the exact same, making it, you know, less running based. But one of the things we always focus it around is more the partner workout, the pairs workout, the team workouts, because for me, as I touched on, it's not just about from a business perspective, it's also about what it brings to the community. And, you know, we, our last high rock simulation workout or event we ran was last month where we had over 110 competitors taking part. You know, my approach to it is I really want to make a bit of a spectacle for our members and our area by partnering with local brands, having vendors coming in and really trying to make a good competition, an event out of it, a real good community day. So, you know, it's something that we, we do charge for, we mix it up a little bit. We've done a number of events which have been all the money raised has gone to charities. We've done ones that have been free events just to really drive an in-house team environment. And we've done a number of events which have also been paid events, which also brings some good income into the gym that allows us to reinvest into what we're doing on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_02:Did you say to me before the show that in one of your events, a paid one, you took in about£2,000?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so the last one that we ran was a big success. We had good numbers. And they're events that run pretty smoothly. We're very set in terms of if we put on events and if we put paid events on, that we want to make sure these events run professionally at a high level that gives members and also we open it up externally to non-members, that it gives them a real taste of the competition environment. It allows them to put their fitness to the test. So I think people do see that it's worth the spend and everyone has a great day and enjoys the environment
SPEAKER_02:so listeners High Rocks events the official ones the big deals they are selling out very fast I know I'm in Canada I know people are lining up already to figure out when the announcement or when registration is open for the Canadian event this is the case all over the world right now that means these one-off events that Rob's running which are they're not the big official High Rocks events but they're simulations and so forth there is a huge market for stuff like that and Rob is acquiring 110 people in his last one and again now here's Here's the cool part, he ended up with£2,000 of revenue out of that. annual affiliation fee for High Rocks is 1,440 pounds. So, he already covered that with one event. He could run four of those a year. And then at that point, if he does the same thing and partakes in 2,000 pounds, that's almost 5X revenue on the affiliation fee to say nothing of his recurring monthly revenue. So, again, we're looking at clear and obvious ROI. Are you getting return on your investment? The obvious answer here is yes. So, Rob, give me the quick breakdown. Is– and I just want to know in terms of like the ease of this hyrox affiliation is it hard to set up and get get approved or how does that go is it a pretty greasy thing or is it very like complicated and annoying
SPEAKER_00:it's very straightforward it's simply signing up to the affiliation and it's as simple as that you're affiliated within you know probably half an hour with a credit card
SPEAKER_02:swipe and you're done
SPEAKER_00:with a with a credit card swipe and you're done so it's it's you know is it regulated could it be done a little bit better in that regard potentially but you know certainly for us we need know how to you know to the the way we want to do things and you know it bringing bringing high rocks into our training facilities has been has been beneficial i think i i am very keen on saying that it's it's i just see it as you know an opportunity for us that's been really beneficial from a marketing perspective you know it's really helped that you know it's really added something to our our community for a time being but i'm very set that i don't want to build a whole model at ion around um an affiliation or a brand like High Rocks because I think it is in the fitness industry there are peaks and troughs with certain training modalities and you know for me it's very much we're keen on building our own brand and you know that's the priority first and foremost but I mean it's you know how we run the classes how we run the program as such it's been very easy to integrate into our class environment as I touched on we're a class based training facility you know our peak times probably like a lot of other gyms our early mornings earlier evenings where our 6.30 classes were a little bit quiet that's where we've changed them more to speciality classes where we run a on Mondays we run a barbell class an Olympic lifting class on Tuesday and Thursday that's where we run our high rocks class Thursday we run a ladies only strength club and then on the weekend we also run the high rocks classes but also it's actually I'll drop this in because for me it's our morning classes we've got the luxury you have an indoor class and then we've got a small outdoor training area outside the gym which you know we put in post post covid and you know we're able to run our iron 60 our strength and conditioning class inside and then outdoor in the small training area we run the high rocks classes and it is pumping we've got tomorrow morning we've got 64 people booked in to take part in the outdoor high rocks class which is like I said we were always run it as pairs pairs workouts it brings a great feel but as you touched on it's it's low skill exercises it's easy to manage the high numbers and it's it's a great workout there's no getting away from that and that's why people really enjoy the the high rock style of training
SPEAKER_02:so i'll ask you this you gave me the exact breakdown of how the program runs at your gym you've obviously you're branding yourself as ion and you are a thing and you offer training and coaching but you've also got this high rocks affiliation where you can offer additional programming streams and outside of what else you're doing but again you're not hyrox ion you are ion strength and conditioning and hyrox is just a thing that you do you can always change that and not renew if you see fit the roi ever changes you can pump that out and do something else you are building your own brand because there is a cost to changing your brand so if you build a strong brand you may not want to tie it on to someone else but you've got this great program that's filling up other places or low volume areas we have that kill it or fill it mentality if your classes are dead you either have to get rid of them or fill them you're filling them with some hyrox options you having a great time with it. And all of this sounds like a complete no-brainer. Again, let me ask you this. You were a CrossFit affiliate and there are many CrossFit affiliates out there. How easy is it if you're a CrossFit affiliate to just start doing high rocks training?
SPEAKER_00:I think that's been the challenge over the years. And, you know, when we, our natural progression has probably been post-COVID. That's the period in terms of our brand that's really kicked on, helped us kicked on, because it was really that time that I really identified who our target market was, time-precious individuals, busy work lives, busy family lives. So we very much built our timetable around it, having the 30, 45 and 60-minute classes to allow members the opportunity to get regardless of how much time they have available and have an effective workout. You know, we also have probably moved away over the years from a lot of the high-end gymnastics, high-skilled exercises associated with CrossFit, and we're very basic in our approach in terms of strength and conditioning. It's built around the fundamentals, like in our Iron 60 class, on a Monday we squat, on a Tuesday we upper-body push-pull, on a Thursday we have our upper-body volume day, Friday we pull from the floor, we hinge. And for me, and also with the High Rocks, it's about educating people as well. And, you know, a lot of people, you know, join ION to take part in the High Rocks classes. And it's about trying to educate them to the benefit of, you know, introducing strength and conditioning to their training regime, which is really going to, you know, help them develop as, you know, for their High Rocks training and their events, rather than just thrashing through, you know, continually doing simulation, High Rock simulations all the time. So, you know, our core program is our strength and conditioning, um, classes um and you know for me it's the high rocks has just been an excellent feeder into the uh the the the main the main core core classes that we have at ion
SPEAKER_02:and there it is it becomes part of your funnel where maybe people join for high rocks and they start doing something else like you've got additional programs if they want to take that further because high rocks is the same thing every time which is not a bad thing but it is the same thing every time if someone wants to expand their fitness journey other options in your program work here's what i believe rob you're going to tell me if you agree with this or not i believe that if you run a crossfit affiliate it or a strength conditioning gym, I believe that you can offer high rocks training without getting any additional equipment because you could just start doing, like if you have kettlebells, dumbbells, a few other things, you could offer the training style. Even if you don't have every single thing in high rocks or if you don't have sleds that you like to have distance, you can still figure out a way to do this in your facility even if it's not the official thing because again, we know you don't train to run a race by running the race over and over and over again. You do various different things to prepare you for that race so that's my belief Rob do you agree with me?
SPEAKER_00:Totally and that's where we've seen it's just been such a smooth transition into our daily program it's you know it's a style of program that's like I said it's low skill exercises so the coaching aspect it makes it easier to manage the higher numbers in class environments you know the energy that it provides around the facility is fantastic but also you know as you touched on all the equipment most functional fitness CrossFit style gyms will have this, the equipment already available to them. So it's not like there needs to be a huge amount of investment into buying new kits and other bits and bobs. It's almost, as you said, you're there ready to go. And like I said, it's been very much for us a no brainer. And as we've seen the return of investment, you know, from the get go.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so we just laid out how to run a High Rocks program at your affiliate or gym and now we're just going to close this off by going over the numbers again. High Rocks affiliation costs, Rob, about 120 pounds a month or 1,440 pounds a year. That's 160 US or 1,910 per year. He has 31 new members this year from High Rocks. He's getting close to 40% of his leads who are asking for High Rocks. They are staying at his gym for 85 pounds a month and his length of engagement is 26 to 28 months. Rob, am I correct again in summarizing this? This is a 100% no-brainer for you to add Hyrox at your gym.
SPEAKER_00:100% and I think that the numbers speak for themselves really, don't they?
SPEAKER_02:They absolutely do. Thank you so much for opening your books and sharing, you know, confidential data to help other people make great decisions. I really, really appreciate it and so will our listeners.
SPEAKER_00:not a problem at all. Like you said, to the start is two brains had a big influence over me over the past years. And, you know, I, I feel strongly about helping others in, uh, in our space and our industry to, uh, yeah, find ways of improving their, their overall business.
SPEAKER_02:And you've given them an incredible tool to do that today. Thank you so much. That was Robin Soden Taylor. This is run a profitable gym. Thank you for watching and listening. Please hit subscribe wherever you are. And now here's to brain founder, Chris Cooper with a final message.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, it's Two Brain founder Chris Cooper with a quick note. We created the Gym Owners United Facebook group to help you run a profitable gym. Thousands of gym owners just like you have already joined. In the group, we share sound advice about the business of fitness every day. I answer questions, I run free webinars, and I give away all kinds of great resources to help you grow your gym. I'd love to have you in that group. It's Gym Owners United on Facebook or go to gymownersunited.com to join. Do it today. Hey!
