How many clients do the top coaching gyms in the world actually have?
And—more importantly—how do they keep them?
These are key questions because if you want a successful gym, you need enough clients. But client count alone is not the goal.
Every client has to be a high-value client.
These two things multiply each other:
- Client headcount.
- Average revenue per member (ARM).
If your ARM is low, you need way more clients. You must become a marketing machine just to survive.
Think 250 clients at $100 per month each vs. 100 clients at $250 each.
If your headcount is too low but your ARM is very high, you become fragile. Lose one client, and you feel it immediately.
Imagine having 25 clients who all pay $1,000 a month—and one cancels and two move away.
You need balance if you want to build a stable, profitable gym.
In general, we want gyms to hit these first targets, which provide an outstanding foundation:
- About 150 clients.
- About $205 ARM.
- Length of engagement of 24+ months.
If you hit those numbers, you’ll have:
- Stability.
- Predictable revenue.
- Solid business systems.
- A path to six-figure personal income.
Then you can scale from a position of strength if you want to. Some Two-Brain clients do that—see below—while others are perfectly happy to put a client cap in place and focus on delivering A+ service to a relatively small number of high-value clients who stay for three years or more.
Want to duplicate your strong business or add more clients? That works.
Want to let your GM run a smaller business while you take your kids to the park after a quick morning meeting? That works, too.
The point? If you hit the targets I listed above, you get to make choices with your time and your business.
What the Best Gyms Are Actually Doing
Every month, we look at our data to create and share leaderboards with you.
When we present client counts, we remove access-only gyms that are playing a different game. (We can help them, too, of course. One Two-Brain gym has more than 1,100 clients.) This leaderboard is for coaching gyms that are multiplying client count by ARM to create strong revenue and long-term stability.
For example, one gym on this list has an ARM of $235. Another has an ARM of $326.
That’s not luck. That’s systems.
Here’s the leaderboard:
Why Volume Alone Doesn’t Work
A lot of people think, “Just get more clients.”
But more clients means:
- More coaching demand.
- More space.
- More equipment.
- Higher insurance rates.
- More complexity.
And if you don’t have great systems, growth will break your business. That’s why so many gyms that once had 200 members are now back to 150—or gone entirely. They didn’t build systems to support growth.
We see it all the time: Gyms reach a relatively large number of clients, then slide back to about 120-150.
Grow, slide back, grow, slide back. You don’t escape that pattern unless you build retention, operations, marketing and sales systems (we can help you do all that fast).
How The Leaders Did It
So how did these gym owners reach these totals?
Here are the answers:
Mentor: Dan Purington
“They run a rock-solid marketing funnel, lead nurture and sales process—almost to a tee of what Two-Brain recommends. They have professional coaches, which allows longer-term relationships with members. They have full operator, director and head coach positions with very specific job descriptions.”
Mentor: Kenny Markwardt
“He does a great job with large group classes.”
Mentor: Jay Rhodes
“They have their onboarding and systems dialed.”
Mentor: Lisa Palmer
“Her retention is strong because she places her community at the center of every decision she makes.
“Everything is intentional—from recruiting outstanding staff to creating a member forum that gives members a voice. She evolves with the needs and trends of her community, such as introducing Hyrox and specialty classes.
“What sets her apart is that she never stands still. She is constantly finding innovative ways to deliver exceptional service without compromising the success of her business.”
Mentor: Liam O’Toole
“His primary role is working with the Welsh rugby team. The fact that this client count was achieved during the busiest time of his season with the Six Nations tournament is testament to the team he has built and the leadership skills that he possesses and continues to work on every day.”
Mentor: Kourtney Brownlow
“His client count is a direct result of prioritizing retention as a strategy for gym and revenue growth. Oftentimes, we think we need to get more members, but keeping members longer really moves the needle on business growth over time.”
Mentor: Brian Strump
“His goal in 2025 was to grow to 280 members—he’s now at 311. In addition to continuing his strong retention strategies, we focused on three specific actions to increase new members: 1. Creating a clearer offer when leads come in for the No Sweat Intro. 2. Using the Two-Brain guide for more successful bring-a-friend events. 3. Asking for referrals more frequently and regularly in general discussions with members and during goal reviews.”
From the Client (Who Is Also a Two-Brain Mentor)
“We focus on retention systems that ensure clients are seen and understand they are progressing. We also have a very strong lead flow and sales pipeline, which we audit regularly.”
From the Client
“We run three distinct offerings, which allows us to leverage a stronger headcount and maintain a strong ARM. We have great systems and a fantastic Help First culture, which allows us to scale our gym.”
The Actual Playbook
This plan is not complicated—but it requires discipline.
1. Start With a No Sweat Intro
Get good at sales, or, better said, get good at coaching people into the right solution for their fitness problems.
2. On-Ramp Every Client Properly
Don’t just throw people into classes. Set them up for success from Day 1 with one-on-one attention.
3. Focus on Retention First
Retention is the foundation. It comes before marketing. Before ads. Before lead generation.
Learn how to keep clients for 24+ months.
4. Build From the Inside Out
Work in this order: sales process, lead nurture process, marketing.
If you skip steps, you create a dysfunctional gym, and then you’re stuck chasing leads forever.
The Hard Truth About “I Need More Leads”
When someone says “I just need more leads,” what they usually mean is “I haven’t fixed the real problems yet.”
Because if your gym delivers results, retains clients, generates referrals and has a solid sales system, you won’t need to constantly chase leads to increase client count.
You’ll keep high-value clients a long time, and they’ll provide referrals who stay for years, too. While you serve these great clients, you’ll nurture a steady stream of high-quality leads and close high-value sales at a rate of 80% or better. Those new clients will stay for years and refer their friends.
Read that paragraph again. Doesn’t it sound like the kind of business you’d want to own?
We can teach you exactly how to build that business quickly. If you’re willing to do the work, we have an exact plan to help you execute.
Over and over, top gym owners say this when asked about their success: “I just did what my mentor told me.”
The key word: “did.”
Not “I thought about it” or “’I’m working on it.”
They did the right things at the right time.
To talk about getting the work done in your gym, book a call here.
