Every gym owner worth his or her salt knows you can't out-train a bad diet. So why are you expecting your clients to? A nutrition program will help clients get better results while increasing average revenue per member and member retention. But starting such a program can be confusing—where do you get the expertise? Who should run it? What should you charge for it? Lindsey VanSchoyck is Two-Brain's nutrition business expert, and she's here to unpack all that and more. She spoke with Mike Warkent...
Jun 15, 2020•42 min•Season 3Ep. 152
Gym owners, you're getting blasted from all sides right now. COVID-19 shuttered your doors. Your clients looked to you for a response to the killing of George Floyd. And just when things seemed like they couldn't get any more complicated, CrossFit Founder and CEO Greg Glassman sent hundreds of affiliate owners packing with his reprehensible comments on Twitter. You feel the weight of a thousand decisions on your shoulders. But you can't take them all on at once. Here's how to focus in the chaos ...
Jun 11, 2020•21 min•Season 3Ep. 151
EDITOR'S NOTE: This episode was recorded before the early June events regarding CrossFit Inc. and the statements made by Greg Glassman. Known for his bushy brown beard, hairy physique and that one time he got naked at the CrossFit Games, Lucas Parker is one of the biggest fan favorites of the CrossFit Games. After making his Games debut in 2011, Lucas returned for five straight years, earning a career-best finish of 14th in 2015. He shared with Sean Woodland how he developed his love for movemen...
Jun 10, 2020•46 min•Season 3Ep. 150
Marketing has always been challenging. Throw in a pandemic, months of closure and murky, varied reopening plans, and it's no wonder gym owners are unsure what to do. Colm O'Reilly is the owner of CrossFit Ireland, a certified Two-Brain mentor and the Two-Brain Marketing team lead. He joined Mike Warkentin to discuss Facebook ads in the post-COVID era: what works, what doesn't and how to decide what to spend on digital ads. Links: The 7 Best Gym Management Software Platforms: Our 2020 Review COVI...
Jun 08, 2020•43 min•Season 3Ep. 149
Have you ever wondered why you haven't been able to achieve your dreams despite how much you want to? Why you just don't do it, even though you know you have the potential? Michael Bernoff calls that your "average"—the force inside you that keeps you from challenging the status quo and actually taking the steps that would bring you success. Michael is the founder of the Human Communications Institute the author of "Average Sucks: Why You Don't Get What You Want (And What to Do About It)." He joi...
Jun 04, 2020•43 min•Season 3Ep. 148
Carolyne Prevost may be one of the best all-around athletes in CrossFit. Not only has she competed at the Games, but she has also won 11 national championships in four different sports. She has competed in soccer, taekwondo and professional hockey, and she currently works as a high-school math, science and physical education teacher. She spoke with Sean Woodland about the benefits of being a multi-sport athlete, her hockey career and how she’s helping students—especially girls—build self-confide...
Jun 03, 2020•51 min•Season 3Ep. 147
What exactly is online coaching? What is it not? And is it as valuable as in-person coaching in the gym? Two-Brain Business online coaching specialist Josh Grenell joined Mike Warkentin to shed some light on the subject. He talked about how true online coaching differs from Zoom group-fitness classes, why it's more valuable and how to sell it. He also shared tips for increasing efficiency as an online coach. Links: Progression Fitness COVID-19 Resources Online Trainer Brad Overstreet on How to D...
Jun 01, 2020•39 min•Season 3Ep. 146
What's easier: getting a new client or keeping a current one? Smart gym owners know it's the latter, but unfortunately, the data shows that gyms are only keeping clients about half as long as they should. If you don't want to stay stuck on the treadmill of constantly seeking new clients, you've got to focus on retention—and that means focusing on the client journey. Here, Chris Cooper explains how motivational interviewing, goal reviews and the "learn, design, deliver, refine" model can help gym...
May 28, 2020•54 min•Season 3Ep. 145
If when all is said and done, Cole Sager is remembered for his character more than his fitness, he's just fine with that. But that doesn't mean he's not fit. Cole has been to the CrossFit Games six times in his career and finished in the top 10 thrice. His best career finish was 5th in 2018. He also received the Spirit of the Games award in 2017. He joined Sean Woodland to talk about his time playing division one college football at the University of Washington, how to beat the odds and overcome...
May 27, 2020•48 min•Season 3Ep. 144
We've always said that microgym owners sell coaching, not access, and never has that been clearer than during the COVID crisis. Your clients aren't getting barbells and cues—so what are they paying for? Certified Two-Brain mentor and Two-Brain Coaching co-founder Josh Martin says coaches need to look at the bigger picture. At his gym, CrossFit For Glory, coaches take the "sleep, eat, move and manage" approach with clients. The true value of coaching, Josh said, is in helping a client move closer...
May 25, 2020•34 min•Season 3Ep. 146
Over the last few weeks, Chris Cooper has talked about how to rebuild your business post-COVID and how to repackage your services to your clients' individual needs. Now it's time to talk about how to bring these new services to your clients. In this live webinar recorded on May 17, 2020, Chris discussed motivational interviewing, how to structure goal reviews to improve length of engagement, how the prescriptive model differs from upselling and why you should be expensive or free. You'll also ge...
May 21, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 142
Steph Hammerman is one of the most well-known adaptive athletes in the CrossFit world. She is the first Level 2 coach with cerebral palsy. She's a cancer survivor and has completed a hand cycle marathon. She also owns Hammer Driven Fitness in North Carolina. Here, she talks with Sean Woodland about growing up with cerebral palsy, beating cancer, how she uses her voice to advocate for others, how she got into CrossFit and why the societal perception of adaptive athletes still has a long way to go...
May 20, 2020•43 min•Season 3Ep. 141
If you've been watching your leads plummet during COVID-19, you're not alone. Certified Two-Brain mentor and sales expert Jeff Burlingame says it's normal right now to see a conversion rate of 25 percent or less. But that doesn't mean you can't sell. Here, Jeff shares what's working and what's not when it comes to sales during the coronavirus crisis. You'll get inside the mind of the consumer and learn how to use affinity marketing, social media and the Help First philosophy to close more sales ...
May 18, 2020•51 min•Season 3Ep. 140
Last week, we talked about evaluating your business: Where it is and where you want it to go. Now it's time to talk tactics. In this live webinar recorded on May 10, Chris Cooper walked a group of gym owners through the steps in Two-Brain's Your Gym 2.0 Worksheet Part 2. You'll learn how to create service packages that are perfect for your best clients, what to charge for them and how to integrate nutrition coaching, personal training, group coaching and online programs into hybrid packages. Lin...
May 14, 2020•57 min•Season 3Ep. 139
You might know that Jacob Heppner is a CrossFit Games veteran, but did you know he's also a nerd? While his friends partied in college, Jacob holed up in the library. And after requesting the "hardest major you have" of his guidance counselor, he chose math. He was pretty good at it, too—his first internship was as a mathematics technician at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. That's also where he discovered CrossFit. At first, he thought it was a cult. Now, he's a four-time Games athlete with a career...
May 13, 2020•49 min•Season 3Ep. 138
The coronavirus crisis has changed everything, and that includes advertising. Digital-marketing expert Mateo Lopez went down the rabbit hole to discover what successful gym owners and sales gurus are doing to make sales during lockdown. Here, he and Mike Warkentin of Two-Brain Media examine real fitness ads from clients of a fitness sales guru, discovering some key patterns along the way. Links: COVID-19 Resources Free Tools Join the Gym Owners United group on Facebook Book a Free Call Contact: ...
May 11, 2020•48 min•Season 3Ep. 137
The coronavirus crisis isn't just a crisis—it's an opportunity. An opportunity to evaluate your business: what you do and don't miss about how things used to be, what worked well, what you'll never do again and where you want to go moving forward. In this live webinar recorded on May 3, 2020, Chris Cooper took a group of gym owners through Two-Brain's "Your Gym 2.0" worksheet to hash out all the above and more. The worksheet will guide you step by step as you reflect on your business and re-envi...
May 07, 2020•54 min•Season 3Ep. 136
Michele Letendre understands competition from all angles. She's a former top-level athlete with six individual CrossFit Games appearances and a career-best finish of 4th in 2014. Now, she's a business owner and a coach to elite athletes such as Pat Vellner. In this interview with Sean Woodland, Michele gets real about the mental toll of competition, the pressure of being compared with Camille Leblanc-Bazinet and how she shifted her mindset after retiring from competition. Links: COVID-19 Resourc...
May 06, 2020•50 min•Season 3Ep. 135
For Eric Siegel, owner of CrossFit 781, the COVID crisis is more than a crisis—it's an opportunity to learn. Though retention was good after he pivoted his gym to online training, Eric wanted more: He wanted to grow. So he completed Two-Brain's online coaching course and began the Facebook marketing Incubator. Then, he implemented what he'd learned. He began offering online training, assigning each client to one of his coaches for workout customization and regular check-ins. He also launched a 2...
May 04, 2020•36 min•Season 3Ep. 134
COVID-19 has changed the fitness industry. The most successful gym owners have pivoted to online training—and some of them might not want to go back to bricks and mortar. Even those who do have recognized an opportunity for a valuable new revenue stream. In this live webinar recorded on April 26, 2020, Chris Cooper will teach you how to move completely online in 11 steps—and how to add value to your bricks-and-mortar business even if you don't want to leave your building behind. You'll learn how...
Apr 30, 2020•57 min•Season 3Ep. 133
If you think Fran is tough, try hell week on a broken foot. And that's not even what Sean Sweeney is most famous for. Dubbed the CrossFit Cowboy, Sean is known for sporting a cowboy hat during competition, riling up the crowds and being a jokester in general. But he's also a serious competitor and three-time CrossFit Games athlete. He joined Sean Woodland to share some of the toughest lessons he's learned from competition and military training—along with the origin story of his famous hat. Links...
Apr 29, 2020•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 132
Gym owner Brendon Collins had zero online training experience before Strong Tower CrossFit was forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic. Within 30 days, he'd generated US$2 thousand in front-end revenue from virtual training and nutrition sales while retaining 97% of his client base—without spending a dime on ads. Here, he reveals the secret sauce. You'll learn how a commitment to core values ensured a seamless transition in product delivery, how Brendon used affinity marketing tactics to...
Apr 27, 2020•38 min•Season 3Ep. 131
Many trainers are in brand-new territory right now. They're used to group classes and whiteboard briefings; to cues and countdowns. But that's not the reality we're living in. Coaches need to add a few more tools to their toolkits to keep clients happy, improving and coming back for more. Here, Two-Brain Coaching co-founder Josh Martin joins Chris Cooper to talk about what coaches need to do to meet their clients' needs during the coronavirus pandemic. Links: Two-Brain Coaching course: How to Co...
Apr 23, 2020•43 min•Season 3Ep. 130
Amanda Barnhart is a rising star in the Sport of Fitness. She took 15th at the 2018 CrossFit Games, her rookie year, and followed that up with a 7th-place finish in 2019—despite a bum ankle. She joined Sean Woodland to talk about her collegiate swimming career and how that led her to CrossFit, the ankle injury that nearly took her out of the Games last year and her memorable showdown with Tia-Clair Toomey in the one-rep-max clean event. Links: COVID-19 Resources Join the Gym Owners United group ...
Apr 22, 2020•39 min•Season 3Ep. 129
You've moved your fitness business online. Your coaches are checking in with clients daily, helping them get fit from home. It's strange, but maybe it also feels kinda good. Maybe you're enjoying working from 9 to noon, then spending the rest of the day with your kids. Maybe you're realizing you don't need to pay rent to get people healthier. Maybe you don't want to go back when all this is over. Ashley Mak didn't. When Ashley closed the doors of Hudson River Fitness on March 14, he closed them ...
Apr 20, 2020•43 min•Season 3Ep. 128
The coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to shift to a new way of life and work. It's difficult and stressful, and people are scared. Good leadership is more important now than ever. In this webinar recorded live on April 12, Chris Cooper explains the CALM model of leadership (clarity, assurance, leadership and movement) and how gym owners can use it to guide their communities and continue to build trust during this crisis. He also answers the tough questions about how to deal with staff and...
Apr 16, 2020•37 min•Season 3Ep. 127
Pat Vellner made his individual debut at the CrossFit Games in 2016 and proceeded to take third overall. Since then, he has become one of the most popular athletes in the sport and a perennial favorite to finish on the podium in Madison. He joined Sean Woodland to talk about how competing in gymnastics and lacrosse helped prepare him for competitive CrossFit, how he managed to finish third at a Regional competition despite tearing his biceps and what he thinks about the new structure of the Cros...
Apr 15, 2020•51 min•Season 3Ep. 126
Good advertising has always been about tracking data: Try something, track it, revise it, and track it some more. That hasn't changed just because we're in a pandemic. What might change, however, is your ad strategy. Two-Brain Business is constantly collecting data on what's working and what's not in the microgym world. Here, digital-marketing expert Mateo Lopez shares what he's learned so far about advertising and lead conversion in the time of COVID-19. Links: COVID-19 Resources Join the Gym O...
Apr 13, 2020•33 min•Season 3Ep. 125
If you're a gym owner, you've likely found yourself suddenly thrust into a whole new way of doing business with no time to prepare. Your clients need your help now more than ever, but you know next to nothing about how to effectively move your business online. Here's someone who does. Brad Overstreet has been a trainer for decades. When his gym was unexpectedly forced to close due to permitting issues, he had to go digital. But what began as a short-term fix turned into a thriving business that ...
Apr 09, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 124
Noah Ohlsen has been one of the most consistent CrossFit athletes in the field since he made his Games debut in 2014. Across six Games appearances, he has finished inside the top eight five times, taking second last year. Here, he and Sean Woodland talk about the bold prediction he once made to Dave Castro, his memorable first career Games event win in Mary last year, and how he has changed as an athlete and a person since his rookie season six years ago. Links: Join the Gym Owners United group ...
Apr 08, 2020•35 min•Season 3Ep. 123
