The Small Group Gym Pod

Stuart Aitken
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Health & Fitness

The podcast where gym owners who mainly run a small-group personal training model share their stories, struggles, and strategies so you don’t have to figure it out alone.

  1. 2d ago

    #54 How to Become the Gym Your Community Recommends (w/ Maggie Elliott)

    How do you become the gym that local people recommend... even when they’ve never trained with you? In this episode, I’m joined by Maggie Elliott from Spark Life Movement and Wellbeing, a community-focused studio in Prestwich with 109 members and several different ways for people to get involved. Maggie shares how she’s built a welcoming space for people who feel intimidated by traditional gyms, and how local relationships, social activities and partnerships have become a key source of new members. We explore: • How hiring out unused studio space generates income, and recently brought three new members into small-group PT. • Why a cup of tea, a book club or a social walk can help someone take their first step through your door. • How Maggie adapted her memberships around what her clients actually wanted. • Why people who have never visited Spark Life still recommend it. • Her experience of becoming a Community Interest Company and using grants to make movement more accessible. Find out more about Maggie: Her Instagram Spark Life

  2. Sep 30

    #53 Why JC Vacassin is Simplifying Foundry

    JC Vacassin returns to the podcast to share some of the biggest lessons he's learning from running and evolving Foundry. We talk about why Foundry is deliberately simplifying its product and messaging, why SGPT should be the vehicle rather than the thing you sell, and the question JC thinks every gym owner should ask themselves: if you opened your gym again tomorrow, what would you build? JC also breaks down Foundry's approach to generating referrals, incentivising staff, local outreach and acquisition, why gyms may need to do more offline marketing, and how AI is changing the way he thinks about operating the business. We also get into some of the harder decisions he's made recently — including closing locations, cutting complexity and building a leaner business for the future. If you tune in, you'll learn: Why SGPT shouldn’t be the thing you sell — it’s the vehicle you use to deliver the result.How to spot when your gym, membership and buying process have become too complicated.The simple question JC thinks every gym owner should ask: “If I opened my gym again tomorrow, what would I build?”How to build a more deliberate referral system, rather than simply hoping happy members send people your way.Why gyms may need to rely less on paid digital marketing and get better at referrals, outreach and local marketing. Find out more about JC: His WebsiteFoundry

  3. Sep 23

    #52 How Profitable Should Your Gym Actually Be? (w/ Gareth from Coach Accounts)

    What actually makes a gym a good business? It isn't necessarily the one with the most members or the biggest monthly turnover. In this episode, I'm joined again by Gareth from Coach Accounts to talk about the numbers gym owners should actually be paying attention to. We get into profit margins, how much you should be spending on ads, when hiring another member of staff makes financial sense, and why there are times when the best thing you can do for your gym is stop trying to grow it. We also talk about the personal side of money as a business owner — including pensions, emergency funds, financial security and why so many business owners avoid looking at their numbers altogether. We cover: Why £20k/month turnover tells you very little about the quality of a gym businessWhat healthy profit margins can look likeThe growing problem Gareth sees with gym owners overspending on adsWhy you should understand your ads even if somebody else manages themWhen to invest more money back into your gymWhy one great month isn't enough evidence to increase your spendingThe "push, hold, push" approach to sustainable growthHow much business owners should consider contributing towards a pensionWhy simply looking at your bank balance every day can improve your financial habitsHow AI can help you better understand where your money is actually going If you run a gym and know your monthly revenue but couldn't confidently tell me your margins, this episode is worth a listen. Find out more about Coach Accounts: Instagram

  4. Sep 9

    #51 From £50 CrossFit Memberships to £200 Small Group PT (w/ Jan Westrik)

    Jan Westrik went from running a 200-member CrossFit gym to building a premium small-group personal training facility — losing around two-thirds of his existing members during the transition. In this episode, we talk about why a busy gym isn't necessarily a successful business, making difficult decisions that upset members, charging enough to build a great team, and why Jan believes gym owners need to build the business around the life they actually want. We also get into how gym marketing is changing, why the old Facebook ad → sales call model isn't as reliable as it once was, and what gym owners need to do instead. Find out more about Jan: InstagramHis Gym

  5. Sep 2

    #50 The Gym That Gets 50 Referrals Every Month (w/ James Pratt)

    James Pratt has built one of the most unusual small-group PT models I've come across. His 7,200 sq ft headquarters has around 950 members, can coach 30 people an hour and still gives every member individualised programming. We get into the systems that make it possible, why Pratt Personal Training only offers ONE service, how they generate around 50 referrals a month, why their free trials convert at 83%, and James' obsession with creating an "unreasonable amount of customer satisfaction." An absolutely fascinating look inside a small-group gym operating at serious scale. Find out more about James: InstagramHis Gym

  6. Aug 26

    #49 Is This The Most Underrated Marketing Tool for Gym Owners? (w/ Mike Samuels)

    Nick Winkleman's Sept 26th Edinburgh Seminar Details (4 spots left) Most gyms barely use email. And the ones that do often send stuff nobody particularly wants to read. In this episode, copywriter and marketer Mike Samuels explains how gym owners can use better stories, stronger messaging and simple emails to build relationships and ultimately bring in more members. We get into: Why your message matters more than the marketing platformHow to write emails people actually want to openWhy you should write to ONE ideal memberHow often your gym should emailWhere your offers should fitWhy storytelling is such a powerful marketing skillHow Mike uses AI without letting it write his contentWhy your email list should get your best content first If your gym has an email list gathering dust, start here. Find out more about Mike: Instagram

  7. Aug 19

    #48 How TBH Cut Churn From 9% to 5.5% (w/ Tom Buckle)

    Nick Winkleman's Sept 26th Edinburgh Seminar Details (8 spots left) Tom Buckle thinks about his gym a little differently from most gym owners. Within a year of opening TBH, he'd fired himself from coaching. Now, he tries to fire himself from another role every three months. The result is a 183-member group training gym that can run without him - and Tom has just secured funding to open another three locations. In this episode, we get into: Why TBH runs sessions with up to 24 membersWhy your coach-to-member ratio shouldn't necessarily be your USPHow Tom reduced churn from around 9% to 5.5%The 180-day system TBH uses to catch members before they leaveWhy they film and review entire coaching sessions as a teamWhat Tom looks for in the "modern coach"How their latest referral campaign turned 15 trials into 13 membersWhy Tom deliberately tries to make himself redundant from his own gymThe lessons he's learned turning TBH from a gym into a scalable business Find out more about Tom: InstagramHis Gym

  8. Aug 12

    #47 How to Make Your Coaches Better at Coaching (w/ Nick Winkelman)

    Nick's Sept 26th Edinburgh Seminar Details Nick Winkelman is one of the world's leading experts on coaching communication and the author of The Language of Coaching. In this episode, we explore his work through a very specific lens: How can group training gym owners help their coaches become better at the actual craft of coaching? We talk about why coaching quality isn't separate from retention and business performance, how the language your coaches use shapes the experience members have in your gym, and why great coaching shouldn't simply be left to chance. Nick explains how to spot the subtle "echoes of understanding" that tell you when a cue has landed, why different clients respond to different types of language, and how coaches can move between managing the energy of an entire group and giving one individual exactly what they need. We also cover: Why "if they're laughing, they're listening"How to create better and more personalised coaching cuesThe difference between global and local communicationWhy asking more questions can improve your coachingA simple way to discover how your clients prefer to be coachedWhy filming one session could dramatically improve a coachThe one question every coach should ask when watching themselves backHow gym owners can build coach development into their businessHow AI could eventually provide coaches with personalised feedback on how they communicateIf you own a small-group gym and care about making the coaching inside it genuinely world-class, you'll get a lot from this one. Find out more about Nick: InstagramHis BookEdinburgh Seminar

See All (53)

About

The podcast where gym owners who mainly run a small-group personal training model share their stories, struggles, and strategies so you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Information

  • Creator
    Stuart Aitken
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    53
  • Rating
    Explicit

You Might Also Like