Best Books of 2022 for Gym Owners

A closeup of the pages of a thick book open against a red background.

Every year, I read around 50 books.

They’re not all new books. Many of the most valuable books I own contain lessons that I miss (or forget) the first time through.

The Mentor Team at Two-Brain is also full of readers. So this year I asked them to help me pick the best.

I also asked them a question: “What specific action did you take after reading this book?” I’m mostly interested in application over information, so I don’t want to give you 30,000 more pages of knowledge. I want to give you 20 great actions you can take right away.

A quick note: You might notice that the links attached are Amazon affiliate links. If you click through the link and buy, we make .50 cents to $1. We donate that money to causes that teach entrepreneurship and financial literacy to kids through BusinessIsGood, our giving platform.

Here’s our list for 2022 from the team of Certified Mentors at Two-Brain:


“Measure What Matters” by John Doerr

The cover of "Measure What Matters" by John Doerr.

Get it here.

Russell Francis recommends this book. He said, “After reading this book, I set very specific goals by revenue/membership category to take us to $1 million in revenue by the end of 2022, and (I created) a path to get there. I have revenue goals for each product/membership, along with how many of each we need to achieve those goals. The head of each ‘department’ will produce a monthly report for me to track progress.”


“Built to Sell” by John Warrilow

The cover of "Built to Sell" by John Warrilow.

Get it here.

Kaleda Connell recommends this book. She said, “Building simple systems creates a valuable business but also makes staff and clients happy.”


“Extreme You: Stand Up. Stand Out. Kick Ass. Repeat” by Sara Robb O’Hagan

The cover of "Extreme You: Stand Up. Stand Out. Kick Ass. Repeat" by Sara Robb O'Hagan

Get it here.

Joleen Bingham recommended this book. She said, “The book pushed me to say ‘yes’ to stepping outside of my comfort zone a lot more and being confident that if I fail, I can get back up and keep pushing forward. It’s one of those books I have read multiple times and has shifted my mindset on failure and weaknesses from being bad to being part of the growth process.”

Sara was the keynote speaker at our 2022 Two-Brain Summit—and Joleen was one of our best speakers there, too.


“The Dip” by Seth Godin

The cover of "The Dip" by Seth Godin.

Get it here.

Andrea Savard’s top recommendation for 2022. Andrea said, “In this book, Seth says ‘have you stopped evolving in the eyes of the people who matter?’ Also, the opposite of quitting is rededication.

“We had three new large franchise competitors start up in the same month and another in town copy everything we were doing. Revenue was declining from previous years and we were losing energy. Our action was to rebrand ourselves, innovate new programs in our market and recommit to fight for the business in a competitive landscape.”


“Fanatical Prospecting” by Jeb Blount

The cover of "Fanatical Prospecting" by Jeb Blount.

Get it here.

Greg Strauch’s recommendation is a powerful one. Greg said, “You need to stop waiting around for leads and go get them.”

This book helps people adopt the attitude they need to get more leads.


“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Steven R. Covey

The cover of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Steven R. Covey.

Get it here.

Rickard Björnekärr said: “I’m gonna be boring… but it requires an annual read. ‘Starting with the end in mind’ always gives me clarity in my priorities.

“This book changed my direction of life to put myself first, fix my health, open a gym and always look for the higher win in relationships.”


“The Daily Stoic” by Ryan Holiday

The cover of "The Daily Stoic" by Ryan Holiday

Get it here.

Recommended by Karl Solberg, who said:

“This is the only book that makes me take action every day. On my fifth year reading it every day.”


“Making Numbers Count” by Chip Heath

Get it here.

Oskar Johed loved this book: “Way better at using examples to communicate numbers/data to people who aren’t the best of friends with numbers… (Example: We currently have 400 members and our 10-year goal is 3,000. Instead of saying we are at 13 percent, I used a clock analogy with a staff member: ‘The goal is to get to one hour. We are currently eight minutes in.’ That visual representation helped the coach understand the number better.)”

The cover of "Making Numbers Count" by Chip Heath.

I also loved this book, but I recommend getting a hard copy instead of the audio version. Chip Heath’s books are always amazing. Unfortunately, the narrator in the audio version of this book doesn’t really fit the message.

Oskar also recommended “Nudge” by Richard Thaler and “The Elements of Choice” by Eric Johnson .


“Everyone Communicates, Few Connect” by John Maxwell

The cover of "Everyone Communicates, Few Connect" by John Maxwell.

Get it here.

Jay Rhodes loved this book. He said: “This book teaches the mindset of making other people important. A lot of young entrepreneurs could likely benefit from this, competitive gyms looks to change culture, etc. This parallels a lot of lessons I’ve learned that have led to a lot of personal and business growth.”

What’s really interesting from this list is that it contains very few new books. That was a bit of a relief to me because I’ve struggled to find great new books that were published this year. But it’s also a reminder that “new” isn’t always “best.” So from my personal library this year, here are two I recommend:


“Who Do You Want to Be A Hero To?” by Dan Sullivan

Get it here.

This was a great book in the theme of “The Pumpkin Plan” but in Sullivan’s short and concise style.


“The Conversion Code” by Chris Smith

The cover of "The Conversion Code" by Chris Smith

Get it here.

This book was highly recommended in our Growth program, and when a Two-Brain gym owner makes a recommendation, I jump right on it.

It’s a very useful book, especially if paired with “Fanatical Prospecting,” listed above.


“Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing” by Robert Kiyosaki

Get it here.

The cover of "Rich Dad's Guide to Investing" by Robert Kiyosaki.

Jay Rhodes and I both read this book again in 2022.

Jay said, “It’s a little different every time you go through it, depending on where you’re at. It’s leading me to a more gradual understanding that my business isn’t just here to make money but to build and acquire other assets.”


Take Action!


Any one of these books will give you a specific action you can take to improve your business.

But here’s my rule on books: I buy them when someone recommends them, but I don’t start reading them until I take one action on the book I’ve just finished. That way, I remember the lesson better and always get an amazing ROI on the books I buy!

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One more thing!

Did you know gym owners can earn $100,000 a year with no more than 150 clients? We wrote a guide showing you exactly how.