Corey has run his gym for 12 years and expanded twice.
He now has an 11,000-square-foot gym with 16 staff members, and the average time of service is an incredible eight years.
Corey Lewis opened his business with three partners in 2012 but bought them out within 18 months to become sole owner of the gym in St. Louis, Missouri.
Over the next years, he built an impressive team that now includes a full-time GM, a full-time client success manager and 14 part-time coaches. An impressive 95 percent of coaches are developed through a comprehensive internship program. One coach has been on staff for 12 years, and the average time of service across the team is eight years.
Once just offering group CrossFit classes, Xtra Mile now focuses on group classes, personal training, semi-private training and nutrition coaching.
Corey followed Two-Brain and Chris Cooper for years but didn’t consider mentorship until the COVID crisis.
“COVID cut my membership base in half, and I reopened thinking they would all come back,” Corey said. “I kept trying to do the same things we had always done, and after a year we still had not grown back to profitability. So in October 2021, I joined Two-Brain.”
Things improved quickly after that, and Corey ascended to the Tinker level about 18 months later. Now he has time to give back—something that’s important to him.
“I have a passion for helping people,” he said. “I see the impact I have made on so many lives through my gym, and I want to continue to help people and share my knowledge with other gyms so they can impact the lives of as many people as possible.
“I went from working 12-plus-hour days every day and being on the verge of burnout to spending about five to 10 hours a week in my gym and living my Perfect Day most days. I never believed that was a possibility, and now that I have experienced it, I want to share that with others.”
Corey is on the board of Lift for Life Gym, a nonprofit that provides youths with a safe place to train, receive tutoring and enjoy a warm meal. He’s also an ambassador for Brace for Impact 46, a nonprofit that serves Haiti and St. Louis. With that experience, Corey has a special interest in working with owners of service-based gyms.
Additionally, Corey has experience with partnerships, opening and closing second locations, buying gyms, developing staff, and adjusting business models for greatest profitability.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, with a focus on exercise science, business and communications.
He enjoys spending time with his family—especially hiking, kayaking and seeing the world. A diehard fan of the Cardinals and Blues, Corey loves watching all sports and collecting memorabilia. And he’ll never say no to hanging out with a bunch of good people at a small brewery.