In 2026, we’re celebrating 10 years of the Two-Brain Summit.
That’s 10 years of bringing the best minds in the fitness business into one room for two days in Chicago. Every single year, I leave thinking, “That was the best one yet.”
I’ll do the same thing this year.
The 10th edition of the Two-Brain Summit happens on June 6 and 7 at the Hyatt Regency in Rosemont, Illinois, right outside Chicago, and early bird pricing is in place until April 1 only (get tickets here).
Without doubt, the 2026 event features the best speaker lineup we have ever had.
Let’s talk about who’s coming.
Owners Room
Mike Michalowicz
Mike had built and sold two multi-million-dollar companies by 35. Then he became an angel investor and lost everything. Not some of it—everything. The money, the confidence, almost his mind. That breakdown became the turning point.
He came back with a mission: Create simple systems that actually generate wealth, not just revenue. And the system he’s most famous for—Profit First—has helped over a million business owners stop “just surviving” and start accumulating real profit.
His books are bestsellers: “Profit First,” “The Pumpkin Plan” and many others. His approach is anti-guru, anti-jargon and absolutely no-nonsense.
In Chicago, Mike’s session is called “Get Noticed: How to Attract Customers.” It’s perfect for every gym owner who’s doing great work but can’t get the right people in the door. Mike is going to give you a framework for differentiation that doesn’t require a big ad budget. Just a clear strategy.
Corey Lewis
Staff turnover is one of the most expensive and demoralizing problems in gym ownership. You find someone great, you train them, they get good, and then they leave.
Corey Lewis doesn’t have that problem at Xtra Mile Fitness. Here’s a number that stopped me cold: The average length of service for his staff is eight years.
Eight years. In an industry where the average coach tenure is counted in months.
At the summit, he’s going to break down exactly what creates that kind of loyalty and longevity in a team. If you’ve ever lost a great coach, you need to be in this room.
Joleen Bingham and Lisa Palmer
Mentors Joleen Bingham and Lisa Palmer lead our Tinker program for upper-level gym owners, and they’ll address one of the most honest truths in this business: Your gym cannot outgrow you. The business will hit the ceiling of your leadership, your mindset, your personal development—every single time.
Where are you the bottleneck? How do you need to improve yourself before your gym can get to the next level? You’ll find out in this session.
Rick Mayo
Rick Mayo founded Alloy Personal Training in 1992, and he and his team licensed training systems to over 2,500 clubs worldwide. In 2019 they pivoted to a full franchise model: They now serve 400 locations.
Rick has built systems that work at massive scale, across hundreds of locations with different owners, different markets and different clients. That means the principles he’ll share are bulletproof. They’re not “worked in my one gym.” They worked across hundreds of gyms. That should make you listen very carefully.
Dan Trink
Dan Trink is the co-founder and co-owner of The Fort—a small-group personal training gym with five locations across New York City. He’s also the author of two books, a former Men’s Fitness advisory board member, and a longtime contributor to Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, T-Nation and The New York Times.
In other words, Dan knows content. He’s been creating it professionally for years across multiple platforms. At the summit, he’ll tell you how to use AI to create content that actually sounds like you. This session is your shortcut to content that connects.
Matt Souza
Matt Souza has been the owner and head coach of CrossFit Livermore for over 12 years, but he’s also a media wizard. Matt is the producer of “The Sevan Podcast” and the host of “Souza’s Show;” he’s produced livestreams for CrossFit competitions; and he’s a co-founder of Media Launch, an agency and educational platform built specifically for CrossFit affiliates and coaches.
Matt knows how to tell a story in a way that attracts clients and builds a brand. He’ll show you how to tell your tale in a way that converts.
Brian Bott
Two-Brain mentor Brian Bott is the founder of Aspire Fitness, a personal training business with two facilities in New Jersey that bring in a combined $1.3 million a year.
Brian’s specialty is semi-private training, and his track record is remarkable. Semi-private training—two to four clients training at the same time with individualized programs under one coach—is one of the highest-margin services a gym can offer. Our data shows you can generate $200 to $260 per hour or more, and clients get better results.
Brian has built systems for launching a program, and he’s going to walk you through the process step by step. If you’re not running semi-private training yet, this 45-minute session could produce incredible ROI.
Miranda and Julian Alcaraz of Street Parking
Street Parking built something remarkable: a massive, loyal community of home gym athletes who train together virtually, show up for each other and pay monthly—for years.
Miranda and Julian Alcaraz did that without a physical facility, and they’ll give you tools you can use immediately to build the connections that keep clients coming back.
Dane McCarthy
Dane McCarthy is the founder of The Athletic Clubs, a team-based training concept with seven studios in New York City, and he has new locations opening this year in New Jersey, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Dane is a former semi-professional rugby player, and he built his business around the way team sports actually work: Members show up at the same times each week, train with the same people, and are led by the same coach.
In his session, he’s going to challenge some assumptions about group fitness. If your group classes feel interchangeable—if clients come and go without much connection—Dane has a model to fix that.
Daniel Purington
Daniel Purington is the founder of Woodslawn Fitness in Portland, Oregon. Here’s what he’s built: a gym that grosses over $500,000 a year in about 3,000 square feet, with 170 members, $350 average revenue per member and 36-month average length of engagement. He doesn’t run paid ads, and he accepts just four new members per month because he’s at his client cap.
Daniel has figured out that growth isn’t always “more”—more members, more space, more marketing. Sometimes growth is “better.” But better can be challenging and scary. In this session, Daniel will help you address your fear so you can fix the owner and fix your business.
New for 2026: Move Breaks
Gym owners sitting for hours? Nope.
We’ve booked Street Parking, HWPO and Power Monkey to pop onstage and keep you limber with quick movement sessions!
Coaches Room
Bill Parisi
Bill Parisi founded Parisi Speed School, a global performance training system with over 120 affiliate locations. Before that, he built and managed a four-facility chain, with each location averaging over $1.5 million in annual revenue.
His 2025 summit session for coaches was a hit, and we brought Bill back to teach you how to get your clients to train smarter and move better. Movement quality isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a retention strategy.
Coaches will leave this session with tools to improve client results and boost retention for the business.
MetFix: Emily Kaplan, Peter Shaw and Dale King
Emily Kaplan, Peter Shaw and Dale King bring decades of experience in coaching, business development and community building. With MetFix, they help gyms move beyond workouts to deliver real results through metabolic health, nutrition and behavior change.
Their work equips coaches and gym owners with practical systems that improve retention, increase member value and drive measurable outcomes.
This is the missing piece for a lot of gyms. You can run great classes all day, but if you’re not addressing what’s happening outside the gym, you’re leaving results on the table. And when results slip, so does retention.
HWPO: Michele Letendre and Frankie Russo
Michele Letendre is a household name in the CrossFit world after years as a top athlete and coach to elite competitors such as Patrick Vellner.
Now with HWPO, she’s teaming up with Frankie Russo to connect with coaches for a hands-on two-hour block. Don’t miss this one.
Eric Conner
Eric Conner owns CrossFit Reform, located just outside Los Angeles, in one of the most competitive fitness markets in the country. His gym grosses over $50,000 a month, he’s increased gross revenue by more than 100 percent since 2016, and in 2022 and 2023 alone he added 20 percent to his revenue. He pays two full-time staff members $60,000 to $80,000 a year with retirement benefits. And he’s done all of it without running paid ads.
His presentation for coaches is called “Keep Members for 1,000 Sessions.” That’s the long game. Not just getting someone through the door—building a relationship that keeps them training for years.
Power Monkey: David Durante and Chad Vaughn
Gymnast David Durante was an NCAA All-American at Stanford, a multiple-time U.S. national champion and a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. After his elite career, he co-founded Power Monkey Fitness to coach and mentor athletes in technical mastery and long-term performance.
Chad Vaughn is a two-time Olympian, nine-time U.S. national champion and American Record holder. You might recognize Chad from CrossFit’s fantastic super-slow-motion lifting videos.
This session will offer world-class technical coaching from two athletes who represent the pinnacle of their disciplines. Whatever training your gym sells, your coaches will be better after this workshop.
Don’t Miss the Summit!
What a lineup!
If you’re serious about your gym—if you want 2026 to be the year things actually change—be in Rosemont on June 6 and 7 for the Two-Brain Summit.
And I’ll say this one more time: Early bird pricing ends April 1.
After that, prices go up. There is no extension.
Go to TwoBrainSummit.com right now to lock in your ticket.
See you there!
