She Made $6K in 60 Days With 1 Hyrox Class Per Week

Gym owner Lauren DiSessa’s weekly HYROX class has generated $6,000 in revenue in just two months, and she’s not even charging members extra for it.

How’d she do it? Two-Brain CEO John Franklin gets the full scoop from Lauren today on “Run a Profitable Gym.”

Lauren walks through her V1 mistakes—treating HYROX as an afterthought with no real launch strategy—and explains what she did differently the second time around: a high-energy open house that drew 40 people, 70% of whom were non-members who paid to train at her gym.

She breaks down her pricing structure for drop-ins, class packs and full race simulations, and reveals the three things every gym owner needs to launch HYROX successfully:

1. Someone genuinely passionate about the sport
2. A dedicated class time that gives the program its own identity
3. The right equipment to attract serious athletes.

Lauren also shares how the program is pulling in a steady stream of prospects every single week and why even converting just one or two of them into full members each month is a bigger deal than it sounds.

Tune in to find out how a single Saturday morning class is quickly becoming one of the smartest revenue moves Lauren has ever made.

Then get "The Complete Guide to HYROX Affiliation for Gym Owners" in Gym Owners United, linked below.

Links

Gym Owners United

Book a Call

0:56 - Gym overview

7:52 - Adding HYROX

16:33 - Open house results

20:37 - Pricing structure

29:46 - Keys to success

Transcript

0:02

Lauren, how long ago did you launch your High Rocks program? I launched my High Rocks program two months ago. And how much revenue have you brought in since then, just from High Rocks? Six K welcome to this episode of run a profitable gym. I'm your host, John Franklin, the CEO of two brain business. And with me today is a very special guest, Lauren de Sessa of Shelton athletics. Lauren, thank you for being here. Thanks, John. Appreciate you. I invited you here because we got to hang out at the two brain business tinker meetup in Phoenix, which is our group of the best gym owners in the program. And everybody was talking about high rocks and the strategies. And there were just crowds of people convening around you because you had just launched your high rocks program and it is off to a phenomenal start. So we're going to talk about exactly what you did, the strategies you did to launch, and maybe you can give the people tips and advice if you got to do it all over again. But before we do that, tell us about Shelton athletics. So Shelton athletics has been around since 2019. I became a part of a co-owner. As a strategic partner in 2021. And most recently in 2025 took over as sole owner. So we are a primarily group class training gym with large group functional fitness classes. We also do small group strength training, as well as personal training and semi-private training and obviously high rocks. Yay. And so were you like a staff member or how did you get involved in the ownership group in 2021? Great question. Yeah. So I actually was leaving another gym at the time that I was working at because I wanted to pursue doing just personal training. So as I progressed through my fitness career and I actually had reached out to someone that I knew that was working at this gym and I was like, Hey, I need a place to come and train my people. Like you think that they would be into that. And so we got connected to talk to the owners at the time I started coming in here and just like renting space basically to bring all my clients for personal training, which was awesome, worked out well. And then I was just kind of like in the background of watching classes and people coming in and out of the gym and how things were running. So I got to see a lot before actually becoming a part of the team. And did you know you wanted to own the gym outright one day? Did you have dreams of gym ownership or was this kind of like an accidental thing for you? I would say my life goal was never to own a gym. However, now that I'm in it, I know that I shouldn't be doing anything else. But at the time it was, they had someone on staff who was leaving and the idea just kind of popped into my head to like offer some help. I was like, Hey, you have this person leaving your team. That's going to leave a huge hole for you guys. They were, they are not in the fitness industry. And I was like, I could really help you build and grow this gym, but I'm not doing it as like a head coach or a manager. I was like, if you want me, I'm coming in as an owner. And that's how that story went. So I bought in to ownership. And then that was in, that was the 2021 or is that when you took over the gym outright four years later, what happened there? Yeah. So it was something that when we actually sat down first as a team, it was always in the long-term plan that they would eventually exit. And I would most likely take over. We didn't really have a clear timeline for that, but 2025, there was just a natural breaking point where things were taking them in other directions. And I was really pouring all of my energy into this. So it was just a natural time for it to, to start. And buying an existing gym, especially one that you are a part of and you understand is one of my favorite past gym ownership. We just released a full episode with Matt Becker called how to buy a gym step-by-step. So if you are interested and you like Lauren's story and you want to know the nuts and bolts of that, I recommend going and listening to that. How has it been going since you took over as the sole owner? It's been awesome. I mean, I, as most people know who are in partnership teams, sometimes it can be difficult to run the gym with multiple people at the top. And so it's been great to be able to implement a lot of things that I wanted to do that I, when I had partners, my hands were kind of tied being that we needed to have, you know, a majority decision on making certain changes. And so it's been really awesome to be able to fully execute that vision. Obviously it's never done, you know, We're still changing things all the time, but you know, it's been great. And so aside from the High Rocks, which we're going to get into shortly here, what is the primary training you guys do? Is it large group, small group, a little bit of both? Talk to me about the actual in-gym experience when you go to sign up and buy a membership from you. Yeah. So our primary revenue still comes from our large group functional fitness classes, then followed by our newest program, small group strength training, which is a, you know, it's definitely up and coming. And then I would say right now followed by High Rocks. Okay. And you're in Shelton, Connecticut, which how far are you from, like, is that rural? Is it a city? For people who don't know Shelton, Connecticut, tell us about the type of people you train your market. Yeah. So Shelton, Connecticut is about an hour and a half outside of New York city. So we're a part of what's called Fairfield County in Connecticut. And so, but we are the uppermost town in Fairfield County. So over the past few years, especially like after COVID, a lot of people from the surrounding tri-state area started to move up this way, upper Fairfield County. And so Shelton has really been just growing and booming over the past few years. I've actually watched it transform as I've been here since 2021, you know, just businesses coming in and things growing. So, you know, we're definitely in a more upper middle class area. So people are definitely looking for things that are a little bit more high end in the fitness experience and have a little bit more money to spend. And if I walk in your gym as the average person, like 30, 35, 40, 45, how, how, what's your like target demo? Yeah. So our average member, we are really in between thirties to fifties is our like primary demographic. Okay. So we don't, we have, yeah, like a couple of people in their twenties and we do actually more so with personal training. We have a lot of people who are 55 plus, which is really cool because they know they could really use extra coaching and attention, but primarily you're going to see people in between like 35 to 55. So it's going to skew a little older than a place like Stanford, which is right outside the city and has kind of like that younger crowd. Yes. Correct. Okay. Perfect. Perfect. Let's talk about like pricing so we can anchor that before we get into the high rock stuff. So for group and then small group personal training, what are you charging for, for those services? Yeah. So we, we keep our service offerings for a large group, really simple. We only have one type of membership that's our unlimited and it's one 95 a month plus tax. Okay. Small group. Yep. Small group strength training is three 49 every four weeks. And that program is only three times a week. Okay. Awesome. So I'd say it's not as expensive as like a New York city borough gym, but if you're listening to this from some rural middle part of the country, that probably sounds on the, on the higher end. Now let's talk about your journey into high rocks. When did you start doing high rocks and what made you want to launch an affiliate program in your gym? Yeah. So I was actually last year, uh, right around the same time, I was still really active in personal training inside the gym. I'm really have phased out most of that as of this year, but I had athletes inquiring that wanted to get trained for races. And so at that same time, I, you know, was obviously on Instagram. I'm like seeing things about high rocks pop up and I'm like, this seems like it's right up my alley. I had a, I used to compete in CrossFit and I had a as a lot of us do. And so I spent some time really backing away from CrossFit style training. And during that time, one of the things that didn't hurt me was running. So I really just started to dive more into that and running races. And then I was like, perfect. Now there's this thing called high rocks that I can still get that competitive itch scratched. And then again, at that same time, I was getting athletes inquiring to the gym, wanting to train for these style of races. So my first race was last year. It was February of last year in Las Vegas. Oh, wow. So you traveled. Yeah. And what was that experience like for someone who hasn't done a high rocks before? Yeah, it was awesome. And so when you left that, were you like, I'm going to launch this in my gym or did a little time go by? Like, what was the thing that made you be like, okay, this is a thing I enjoy doing to this is a thing I want to share with my members. Sounds like a nightmare. Yeah. So it was kind of like treated as like this afterthought basically for the two people who knew exactly what it was in your gym and then everybody else was just confused. Okay. So you, you sunsetted that and you decided you're going to do like an official launch. Walk me, walk me through that. How did you go about, like, When did you reinvigorate the program and what did you do differently this time around? DC would be the other one. Yeah. I'm all about vibes and a good time. You know, you're doing a good job selling it. So, so for those who aren't familiar with seasons, when you say season, it's just basically coordinating the training around a race in your Metro. So if you're in the New York city area, the New York race is like last week in May, first week in June, it's turned into like this 10 day festival now with 50,000 people doing it. And so most people get going for that about, you know, maybe four or five months out. Right. Does that sound right? Okay. So then, and then kind of dies down for a little while. And then there's a second season on the second half of the year and the fall event for your area would probably be the Boston one, right? So you'll, you'll probably take a break after the New York one and then pick back up going into Boston. So the high rocks brings people in and then it supplements the core thing you do because you need aerobic capacity, you need strength, you need to do all the stuff that happens in your regular group class, what I'm hearing. So you made I see here you made your first announcement post at the end of January. What did you say? And, okay, so that was, like, two, three weeks before this open house, the official, like, kickoff of the High Rocks season, the High Rocks program, V2 in Shelton. So, uh, explain what the open house was. So it was a free trial, basically. Like, you don't know what this is, maybe you're curious, just come here and I'll show you. I'll show you what high energy and vibes and a good time looks like. Okay, and how many people showed up to that first one? Okay. And how many of those were members of your gym? And that's one of the things that blows my mind as I talk to successful Hierox affiliates is just the sheer amount of non-members who turn up for this stuff. Where do these other 70% come from? And so the 7.30 jam sesh, is this an hour, 90 minutes? It's what's going on in that. So everybody comes you turn out we have a good time now what do you sell them on when that's all said and done after after this open house we're just talking about the initial launch here. And what are you charging for these? So 40 a session for one, 30 a session for five, 25 if you're committing to 10. And if you are a member in your gym, do you make them pay for these as well, or is that included in the membership? And so if somebody has come to any of the sessions since then, so let's see, we're eight weeks in, so you've run eight sessions so far. Does that say 8, 7, 30 a.m. Jam sessions? Okay. All right, we'll hold off on that. So we'll explain what that is. So people who are unfamiliar, we don't drop too much at them. So they show up, they drop in for the class. Anytime after that open house, they're paying, right? It's 40 bucks if you want to come. And then if you want to sell these people into classes or some type of process where you reach out to them after the fact, hey, do you have a good time? Do you want to do a five-pack? How do you talk with the other people who are non-members who attend these one-off classes? And so how many packs in total have you sold so far in the first two months since the launch? Which doing back of the envelope math here, that sounds like a little over$4,000 in incremental revenue. A little bit more than that. So a little closer to five. Okay. And then it sounds, and then you had like the one-offs, right? And so how much of one-off revenue did you do in on top of that? Yeah. So from just the drop-ins alone, because we get at least two drop-ins per class. So we're at a little over, I think 600 just in drop-ins from the high rocks. And then we also had additional revenue from the full simulation, because if you didn't, if you had a class pack, that would be included where you could use one of your classes towards the full simulation. But then if you didn't, you had to purchase a, for a solo, a $50 ticket or a doubles, you had to purchase a hundred dollar ticket. Okay. So, all in so far, we're averaging about $3,000 a month in incremental revenue. And the only thing we've done is add a class at seven 30 on Saturday. That is it. And you said 40 people showed up for that initial one. Is it still around 40 people every weekend or has it died down or gotten bigger? Like what's typical attendance like now? Yeah. So right now, typical attendance for a class is around 25 to 30 people. Okay. So it's like a little bit smaller than the free class, but it's larger than a average Saturday class for you. Yes. Yeah. Much larger than our average Saturday classes. And we're still getting new people in every class, which is crazy. What percentage of the people in the, you know, Saturday class are new on average. So new meaning like not a member of your gym. Okay. Yeah. Again, anywhere between like 60 to 70% of the people in that class are new to the gym. So, prospects just, just 70% of that 25 to 30 people are prospects and they're paying to show up to your gym to work out and get a taste of, of the food you're cooking. Absolutely. Those vibes. Okay, good. I love that. I love that. And so you talked about a simulation, uh, for someone who's not familiar, explain the difference between a class and a simulation. So in our regular High Rock Saturday classes, the formats and the movements will vary. Even sometimes we're doing movements that you won't necessarily see in a race, but we know that translate into movements that you do in High Rocks. So different than a full simulation, we're in a full simulation. We are actually doing the race as you would on race day, as close as obviously given our space, given that as close as we possibly can to a full race format. So if you come into a regular Saturday class, it's probably going to be a little more circuit, but you're doing the High Rocks movement. It's going to be, you mentioned, 40 to 50 minutes long. A simulation is going to be like an actual High Rocks or as close to an actual High Rocks as you can get. And so that's going to take two hours versus an hour, and that's why it's more expensive. Yep. And just the infrastructures of the whole thing takes a lot more effort for us to set up and to do. And the execution of it. So we really wanted to create a high level experience for people coming in, looking to really test themselves before race day. So we felt like that justified an increase in price. And it also gave us, again, another incentive for people buying the packs that, hey, if you buy one of these packs, you can sign up for the full simulation. So you're saving like 40% off of what it would have cost. Yeah, saving money. People love that. And so is the idea to do a simulation once every eight weeks, or is it just kind of, you wanted to test it out and then decide from there when you're going to do it again? What's the plan for that? Yeah. So the way that we've decided we're going to do it is that about, like you said, about eight, every eight weeks. So we're looking to target about halfway through the training block of the particular race that we're targeting. So that's why we chose this particular date for New York City. Then we're going to choose a date prior to Boston to target that. So right now we're looking at end of July, beginning of August for the next one. And then we have a lot of people who are also interested in doing Tampa. So we're also going to plan a simulation halfway through that block as well, because it's actually really close to Boston. So maybe there'll be one for both. Not sure, but yes. Awesome. So it's $6,000 in incremental revenue without charging your existing members an extra dollar, which I've heard people going either way on that. And so there's retention benefits there that you're saying that we haven't really classified or looked into yet. Have any of the people who bought drop-ins or packs or anything, have they become members of the gym as a result of that? So right now it's very few, but that's really our next target. So I think right now we have one or two with actually a couple more prospects that we're zoning in on this week who have expressed interest. So that's really what we're working on in terms of shifting the marketing of not just being race ready by doing the higher ups classes, but being race ready by having a coach and a comprehensive training plan with Sheldon Athletics. Well, you say one or two, if it's two, that's an extra member a month. Like our state of the industry data shows that the average group training gym only gets around five or six new members a month. So that's a 20% improvement. If you gave me something that gave me a bump on my revenue and increased my sales by 20%, you'd be my best friend, Lauren. So I don't think you should downplay that. It may sound small in total numbers, but when you look at it in the grand scheme of things, that's awesome for something that only takes an hour, right? For me to go out and get a member, get the lead, do the lead gen, bring them in, do a trial, whatever. They just came in, they paid you for that, and then they just happened to say, hey, I want to do what you do, which I think is awesome. Now, in terms of marketing it since the open house, what are you doing to get people to show up on Saturday? What are you doing to draw people in? What is the secret to keeping the program vibrant once that initial launch happens? So we have really worked on the past probably, let's see, since really the beginning of this year, worked on revamping our social strategy. So we are, we did very strategic, three strategic posts on our Instagram about the actual program itself and about the simulation, but then we're always posting, we're taking videos during these classes, posting it on our stories constantly. I'm also tying it into like my personal brand and my Instagram since I'm really active in doing the races right now, which I think personally, it really helps to have someone in your community. It doesn't necessarily have to be the owner. It just so happens it's me, but we also have tons of coaches and members who are now invested in it too. But someone has to be passionate about this. I feel like with any program, if you don't have someone who's really excited about it and then you try to go push it, like that excitement just isn't there. So let's go a little deeper on that. So that's one thing you would recommend is that you need somebody who's like done a race and actually likes this stuff. Like that's, that's the first piece. What other, you know, because sometimes we'll get people who maybe tried like your V1 version is like, oh, this thing that's kind of an afterthought and it flopped. What other things do you think are important if you want to launch High Rock successfully in your gym? I think giving it a dedicated space, like in terms of class time. So we knew that we weren't going to sandwich it in with other classes. We're like, this is its own thing. Again, it's a different energy than our other classes. And we want it to be distinguished as a different offering than our other programs. So I feel like that was really key of like giving it its own spotlight. And the other thing, which I've talked to a lot of the other like owners and tinker about is having the equipment. So that is a lot of what we hear of why people are coming into the gym is like, oh, I don't have a skier or access to a skier. I don't have sleds or I don't have the room to push a sled in my garage. So having the right equipment is definitely key in, I think, executing this at like a high level. And when you say the right equipment, do you have the actual like center High Rocks branded stuff, or do you have like sleds, concept twos, like the core pieces, but maybe not the High Rock specific ones? So a little bit of both now. So we decided to invest some money back into this program. So we had a smaller sled fleet, and then we just increased it by buying three of the center High Rocks branded sleds, which is cool. Like people are like, oh, wow, this is awesome. Like this is actually what I'm training with on race day. Do I think that part is necessary? I don't think it's necessary to have the branded equipment. However, I do see that in the future, definitely being a draw for people who are doing the races that they get to train on the actual equipment. And we will definitely use that in our marketing now. Yeah. And that's what I've heard from people who are maybe two years into it. They keep reinvesting into the center stuff because then, you know, if the gyms around them start offering high rocks programs, the people who are most serious about it are going to go with the people who have the actual equipment. And I know there, there've been talks in the tinker group where someone's like, Oh, I don't want to invest $8,000 into equipment. Fine. I understand that that's probably a lot for, for some people, but you know, one of the, like I talked to that specific tinker and said, hey, think of it this way. This stuff is pretty high value. There's like a high demand for it. So let's say you do this, it flops, you don't want it. Like you're not out that $8,000. Like center equipment is hot right now. So you can probably, if you spend eight, you can probably sell it for seven after beating the crap out of it for two years. And I think that's a better way to look at it when you're thinking about reinvesting into the opportunity. Yeah, I would agree with that. You know, it's even been, I've been creative, right? Obviously I've tried to increase our, you know, sleds and stuff like that by looking on marketplace. And I will tell you a year ago when I was looking, I could find like one-offs where I like picked up a couple sleds. And now when you go on there, you can't find them or they disappear very quickly. So I agree. It's, if you purchase that type of equipment, you'll probably end up returning on your investment in very much the same way. As with, if you invest into concept to like, obviously we use concept to skiers concept to rowers, those you could almost sell at their value. If you keep them looking nice, if you want to resell it at any point. So it's totally worth it. And most gym owners, especially ones coming from like a group training background, instinctively know this. If they bought rogue equipment as well, like rogue equipment holds its value so well. And so whatever reason you bought too many barbells or you bought too many, whatever, as long as it's not like a big commercial rig, it's going to be pretty easy to offload some of that stuff. If for whatever reason you don't need it anymore. So we talked about doing a race, caring about high rocks, giving it its own dedicated time and having the right equipment. So you can attract people from these run clubs, garages, other gyms that don't necessarily have the equipment or the environment for that. Anything else we missed or is that the starter checkbox? I would say those are definitely the three starter check boxes for sure. Okay, awesome. And so we have our sim now we have our weekly class, you know, that's doing great things for you. What's next? Are you going to scale this out? Are you going to do more than one class? Are you just chilling? You're happy with what's going on? You're going to just let it ride for a while. Yeah, I've been debating about this for a little bit. I think we are going to jump into adding an additional class. I am I'm happy how we started because I think, you know, with anything, sometimes, as gym owners, we get a little too excited. And we're like, man, I love this. Let's just create this whole program, we're going to do all these days. And then you've invested all this time, this money and making it happen. And then it doesn't end up working out. So this is clearly proven that it works. So I would like to create, again, a way for people who are training for the races, give them a little bit more comprehensive training and a way to like use those packs a little bit faster and then see how potentially adding in one more class goes. So that's our, that's our fourth check box right there. Start small. Yes start small for sure start small sell it out add from there yes awesome and so you know you mentioned you're going to have a bunch of people in your gym or a bunch of people did. Las Vegas how many people from your gym your classes are going to be doing New York which is the next major one area man so people so existing members in the gym I want to say we have between solo and doubles teams I think we have like at least eight teams and solo but then of the people who have then been participating in the classes I think we're it's like 90 percent of those people are also signed up for New York City so we're gonna make them rep Shelton Athletics loud and proud what is that what is that in people I can't do the are we talking 40 50 people here what's the we're talking about like 15 to 20 15 to 20 people going to new york from the gym and the classes to do it all together yeah yeah and what's that do from a community standpoint having you know 20 people training towards the same goal and working towards the same thing have you noticed a difference in the broader community or is it still too much of a subset to really notice any for the change no it really has permeated our community in a positive way because I think again it's giving people another avenue to express their fitness have goals to work towards you know I think some people have been kind of let down by the direction that CrossFit has gone in terms of kind of accessible competing and so I really feel like this has been something that. That has really sparked a lot of fire for those people that have competitive spirit and who want to do it on a higher level and really higher level. I just mean like go to a competition that's really well run and like have an awesome time because High Rocks does that excellently. Yes. Like one of the things that I just did my first one, one of the things that was crazy for me is just, you know, when you're a newbie, the experience that you have on race day is the same as a world champion. And as someone who also, you know, went to some local CrossFit competitions and didn't compete well, like I can say the difference you have at like a local CrossFit competition is vastly different than somebody competing on the main stage at the games or Wadapalooza or whatever. And so having that environment is what makes it special in a way that like, you know, if you were a gym who is heavy in the open, kind of was reminiscent of those like early days of the open competing. And it was just a very cool vibe. So I'll wrap this up by asking you for gym owners who may be a little skeptical about High Rocks, who may think High Rocks is a fad, who may be kind of like putting their head in the sand when it comes to what's going on over there. What would you say to that demographic of owners? Yeah, I would say you should definitely jump in. And the thing is, it might be a fad. We were actually having a good discussion about this on our hike on the last Tinker meetup. But the thing is, it's not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Think about the trajectory of other things like CrossFit and like the lifespan of those things and where they went. I really feel like High Rocks is just kind of climbing that hill right now. And we haven't even seen the full kind of culmination or explosion of it. And I think it's going to continue to build in popularity. And you'll be missing out on a really large subset of people who could potentially be interested in your gym and services. Well, I'm personally looking forward to following your journey as an athlete and your journey as a business owner. And we'll do a follow-up show in six months to a year to see how the program has developed. And for those of you listening, you can go creep on Lauren's gym. And if you want more information on how to launch a High Rocks program in the show notes, we'll link to how to launch a High Rocks program in your gym step by step. So go grab that guide. It'll give you the playbook. But, you know, Lauren covered the meat and potatoes here. Now, if you're a gym owner out there and you got value from this episode, please subscribe and like, and we'll catch you next week on Run a Profitable Gym. Thanks, Lauren.