The terrible economics of gyms
Where gyms overspend and screw up — AC bills, all-day hours, wasted floor space, discounting, and treating coaches as a cost rather than the product — and the one number our space is built around.
Posts tagged coaching
How to retain clients
Lawyer Srinath Sridevan's six cardinal principles for keeping clients — reposted with permission — plus a coach's addendum on excellence and the fee.
The dancer as an athlete
One of my first moments of clarity as a coach came from training Bharatanatyam dancers — deconstructing a performance into a gym stimulus, and why movements that look alike adapt very differently.
Burning calories is the wrong metric
You don't strength train to burn calories — you burn a few in order to strength train. Ten things that happen in the gym that '200 calories burnt' can never capture.
An education in exertion
How hard should you push in the gym? Not by rep counts or the clock, but by how many reps you had left in the tank — and learning to read that number honestly.
Process beats personal story
Coaches sell with personal stories, but a testimonial isn't evidence. Why a coach's process — not their transformation yarn — is what tells you whether something will work for you.
Why we won't chase you
Most gyms are built to chase you. We're not. Our three-strike rule, why conviction beats persuasion, and who our coaching is actually for.
Strength is a basic capacity
A newspaper finally takes muscle loss seriously — good. But its frailty tests are table stakes, not a finish line. Strength isn't a specialty; it's a baseline for a life with agency.
The most comfortable tool for something uncomfortable
My favourite equipment does one thing really well. Why single-purpose beats the do-everything machine.
An ode to single leg squats
Single-leg work deserves centre stage, not accessory status. More depth, freer hips, and real symmetry.
Gyms are libraries
If the gym felt boring, don't blame the gym. A gym is a library; whether it comes alive is on the librarian — the coach.
The neighbourhood aunty's first pull-up
Why do strength coaches chase athletes? There is no fame in an aunty's first pull-up. Only joy.
The non-negotiable capacities (and the optional nice things)
The training capacities every single person benefits from — throwing, pushing, squatting, hinging, jumping, rotating — and the nice-to-haves that come after.
The last hour of coaching
There will be a final coaching hour someday. A last cue for a last client. The thought terrifies me more than death.
Brands, methods, activities, outcomes
Most people start with the brand and never ask the right question. Start with the outcome and work your way up.
The baggage people carry
Five things clients believe that hold them back, from inherited diabetes to the fear of deep squats.
The most unlikely advantages for a gym
Punctuality, maintenance, pride, no quick bucks. The boring things that quietly turn into a moat.
The pandering coach
The single most counter-productive figure in the fitness industry — the coach who tells clients only what they want to hear.
Coaching is the only moat
Gyms are fungible — equipment, space and price can all be copied. The one thing that can't be: the coaching relationship.