You don’t need more clients.
Here’s the proof: Take every client you have right now and multiply them by $400 per month.
You’d probably be thrilled with that revenue, right?
Four hundred dollars per month is world-class average revenue per member (ARM). But it’s not out of reach.
Here, I’ll share Two-Brain’s Top 10 leaderboard for ARM. Then I’ll tell you exactly how these gyms achieved those numbers so you can start moving in the same direction.
Why Average Revenue Per Member Matters
Back in the early days of Two-Brain—as far back as 2012, and later in my book “Gym Owners Handbook”—we started talking about ARM.
Of course you need clients.
But what’s even more important is how much value each client represents.
Our gyms are coaching businesses. Coaching is a premium service, and premium services should command premium rates.
Even group coaching is a premium service compared to basic facility access.
But many of us—including me—made the same mistake early on: We chased headcount. We thought if we could just get to 200, 300 or 400 members, everything would work out.
The data now tells us something different:
A smaller number of clients paying more is a better business model.
Higher-value clients:
- Stay longer.
- Refer better clients.
- Require less marketing.
- Create fewer operational problems.
When you focus on ARM, your entire business becomes simpler.
Imagine two gyms earning the same revenue:
- 200 clients paying $100 a month.
- 100 clients paying $200 a month.
Same revenue. Completely different businesses.
With fewer clients:
- Your relationships are stronger.
- Your overhead is lower.
- Your retention improves.
- Your marketing becomes easier.
You’re managing fewer problems—everything from dirty bathrooms to staff schedules.
The entire business becomes more stable.
That’s why more gyms are focusing on ARM today.
Part of this shift is simply due to industry evolution. The gyms that chased headcount didn’t survive.
But we’re also seeing the rise of higher-value services such as:
- Small-group personal training.
- Semi-private coaching.
- Hybrid programs (group plus PT, group plus nutrition, etc.).
These models greatly increase perceived value and help gyms charge what coaching is actually worth.
At Two-Brain, we’ve found a powerful benchmark: 150 clients at roughly $205 ARM.
That combination—a good first target—produces a sustainable, profitable gym.
But some gyms go much further.
Today we’re looking at gyms with $400+ ARM. Here they are:
“My Area Can’t Support Higher Prices”
When gym owners say they can’t increase ARM, the most common reason they give is demographics.
They look at the average household income in their area and assume nobody can afford premium coaching.
But that’s not how markets work.
Your clients are rarely part of an “average household.”
They’re typically the top 10% of earners in your area.
Those are the people who value coaching, health and accountability.
Your job is not to discount your coaching to serve everyone.
Your job is to deliver high-value coaching to people who value it.
Charge appropriately. Change lives. Make a profit.
Then you can donate, give back and help others.
Do not undermine your business by trying to be the cheapest option.
What These High-ARM Gyms Actually Do
So what tactics produce these numbers?
I contacted the mentors working with these gyms and asked them exactly what steps the owners took to improve ARM.
Here’s what we found.
First, many gyms started by introducing the higher-value services I listed above.
Second, many gyms improved ARM by layering services together.
Examples include:
- Nutrition coaching.
- Remote programming.
- Retail and supplements.
- Specialty programs.
ARM is rarely the result of one tactic. It’s the result of multiple value layers.
And the key is implementation.
That’s where mentorship comes in.
Here’s how the leaders did it:
Mentor: Kourtney Brownlow
“Her ARM is directly tied to running a gym that prioritizes personal training as the primary service. She also focuses on getting them started, and then as they get in a routine or start to see success, she will upgrade them to more sessions per week. She’s not afraid to price her services in a way that allows her to pay her coaches well.”
Mentor: Joleen Bingham
“Their ARM is the direct result of shifting from a large group model to a semi-private model in order to create a more tailored service. Since then, they have continued to hit revenue PR months in the past few months, have provided careers for their staff and have been able to increase their net owner benefit by nearly 50%.”
Mentor: Liam O’Toole
“He has stepped back from the day-to-day delivery of sessions to really focus on marketing and sales, which has allowed him to maximize high-value personal training and semi-private memberships.”
Mentor: Scott Romijn
“Through Two-Brain, she has implemented the No-Sweat Intro and the Prescriptive Model, increasing her small group and personal training revenue streams. As she increased her level of service, we also implemented a price increase. Continuing to add to her ARM, she recently started offering an online store, and she has a nutrition program and specialty clinics coming soon.”
Mentor: Kenny Markwardt
“They focus hard on a great experience for their high-ARM clients.”
Mentor: Scott Romijn
“After starting with Two-Brain, they introduced testing for athletes coming in, which increased ARM. They also implemented a price increase, following the Two-Brain model. Most recently, they streamlined their sales and increased options for small group personal training, making the process easier for athletes. They have added nutrition and remote programming as well, which has increased ARM significantly.”
Mentor: Matt Michaud
“He had a big month in January, where he sold about $15K in additional personal training. He is delivering those sessions himself, so that revenue flows directly to him. He has done a great job applying the Two-Brain framework and focusing on opportunities inside his existing client base.
“While he has a big goal of getting more members who fit his client avatar, he is very good at identifying existing members who want more individualized coaching and offering personal training and sports performance programs to meet that need. When that strategy is executed well, ARM climbs quickly.”
Mentor: Saara Snellman
From Saara: “This is a startup, which makes everything even more impressive.”
From the Mentee: “As we just opened, my mentor helped me decide what type of gym we should be based on our size and helped me create the right price structure. We offer three memberships: one-on-one coaching, small group personal training, and hybrid (one-on-one and sport massage), as well as physio and recovery treatments.”
From the Mentee: “The biggest thing that’s really helped us both with improving ARM and onboarding members is on-ramp. On-ramp takes a maximum of two weeks, and, after that, members can join any membership, so in one month, we will get two payments from them.”
From the Mentee: “We’ve been open for just three months. During our last call, my mentor, Saara, said, ‘You look less stressed. So what changed?’ The answer: Knowing that we are going in the right direction and that I will be able to pay all the bills, pay our staff and still have savings.”
The Startup Advantage
One of the most interesting things we’re seeing right now is how new gyms benefit from mentorship from Day 1.
Many of us struggled for years figuring this out.
Personally, it took me eight years to untangle my gym’s business model.
New gyms entering mentorship today can skip that pain because they start with higher-value services, clear pricing strategies and strong retention systems.
Instead of grinding through years of stress and uncertainty, they get a four-year head start.
That means less burnout for owners, better opportunities for staff and better retention for clients.
These gyms build their businesses on solid foundations instead of trial and error.
ARM Is a Force Multiplier
Average revenue per member is more than a pricing metric.
It’s a force multiplier.
For example, imagine this progression:
- You raise rates or introduce an on-ramp.
- Clients experience the value of personal training.
- You introduce small-group coaching.
- Staff earn more and stay longer.
- Retention improves.
- Lifetime value skyrockets.
- Marketing becomes easier.
- Every client you add pays $250-$300 per month and stays for two years or more.
One change leads to the next.
That’s the domino effect of higher ARM.
Most gyms don’t fail because they lack clients.
They fail because they can’t keep clients and can’t charge what their coaching is worth.
Focus on ARM first.
Then grow your client base.
When you do that, you attract the right clients—the ones who stay and help you build a real business.
With the right systems—and the right mentor guiding implementation—these outcomes become predictable, not surprising. To hear more about that, book a call here.
