Seven of the 10 highest-revenue gyms using Wodify are HYROX affiliates.
That stat comes from Brendan Rice, CEO of Wodify—one of our data partners for the 2026 State of the Industry report.
I sat down with Brendan to dig into the HYROX numbers, and he shared a lot. Wodify now has more than 700 HYROX affiliates on its platform, up from about 40 three years ago. Brendan estimates about two million athletes will race HYROX this season.
When I opened my first gym, you could hang “CrossFit” on the door and people would just show up. HYROX feels a lot like that right now.
But as Brendan put it, paying the affiliation fee and adding a page to your website isn’t a plan. The gyms making real money treat HYROX like a new product launch.
Below are the biggest takeaways from our conversation.
1. Run Sims (They’re Worth 5x)
Gyms that run HYROX simulation events make five times more HYROX-specific revenue than gyms that don’t.
A sim gets outsiders in the building, gives them a taste of race day, and gives you a chance to sell.
One Two-Brain gym ran its first sim recently and made $8,000. Another used a free open-house workout to sell 13 packages on the spot. The owner then followed up with every attendee and added about $6,000 in HYROX revenue in 60 days.
Brendan’s advice: Invest in the production. Music, heat scheduling, prizes, a finish-line photo spot. The top gyms make their sims feel like events.
2. Build Your Calendar Around the Race Calendar
HYROX hands you something every coach dreams of: clients with a specific goal and a date circled on the calendar.
So use it. Track which members are racing where, then schedule events in the 12 weeks leading up to each race. That doesn’t just mean sims. Brendan’s gym in Denver ran a rowing clinic two weeks before the local race. They hosted member meetups. They even ran a hair-braiding workshop for women getting ready to race.
The result? A morning class capped at 16 had 30 people show up because race day was a week and a half away.
Clinics for rowing, sleds and the SkiErg are easy wins. Charge a one-time fee and teach people the station.
3. Put HYROX Classes in Prime Time
Brendan sees this mistake all the time: A gym owner commits to HYROX, then sticks the classes in dead time slots. Then they wonder why nobody comes.
Wodify’s data shows HYROX classes are fullest on weekend mornings, with Sunday the most packed. Weekends are great for longer 60- to 90-minute sessions and bring-a-friend classes.
On weekdays, don’t bury HYROX at 2 p.m. If you’re committing to it, give it real estate in your popular time slots.
4. Treat HYROX Leads Like a Real Funnel
Two-thirds of the gym owners in our survey said more leads is one of the biggest benefits of HYROX affiliation. But many don’t follow up on those leads like they would any other.
Have a plan before the race:
- Educate: Explain how your programming will prepare people for race day. There’s often a learning curve.
- Check in: After the race, ask how it went.
- Set the next goal: Another race? A marathon? Another fitness race? Have a prescription ready.
Here’s the good news: Our State of the Industry data showed no meaningful difference in retention between HYROX affiliates and other gyms. These aren’t six-week-challenge leads who vanish. If you follow up, they stay.
5. Measure Before and After
How do you know if HYROX is working? Compare your core metrics before and after affiliation: top-line revenue, client count, retention and average revenue per member.
Then track every HYROX event like a lead source: attendance, leads generated, conversions and lifetime value. If you can’t say how many sim attendees became members, you’re guessing.
Get the Full Data
HYROX is one example of a bigger shift in this year’s State of the Industry report: The gym is no longer one thing.
Eighty-seven percent of gym owners now run two or more service models. And the median gym with four models earns nearly three times as much per month as the median gym with one: $33,678 vs. $12,307.
The report also shows:
- What owners actually take home: The median owner earns $60,000 a year, or about $33 an hour (less than many gyms pay a coach for a personal training session).
- Where leads leak: Data from Kilo shows about seven of 10 leads never book a sales appointment.
- What discounting costs you: Gyms that don’t discount earn about $2,900 more per month at the median.
- The retention blind spot: Only 19.2% of owners named retention as a top pain point. But Wodify data shows the typical gym loses about seven of every 100 clients each month.
- What everyone else charges—median prices for group classes, small-group training, personal training and open access.
The report combines data from our partners at Wodify and Kilo, our own Two-Brain dashboards and our annual survey of gym owners. This is the seventh edition, and it’s the piece of content I’m proudest of every year.
Get your free copy of the 2026 State of the Industry report here.
