This is part two of a two-part series on leadership for gym owners. Part one was about leading your staff and trainers. This one is about the people on the other side of the coaching stand — your members, and the community that forms around them whether you plan for it or not.
More than a gym
Most of what shaped my gym's culture wasn't one big moment. It was the small stuff. The magic happens in the minutes before and after class where I'd go out of my way to talk to members about their kids, their jobs, whatever was going on in their lives that had nothing to do with a barbell. I tried to be as open as I could when they had real questions about training or nutrition, but always tried to make room for “normal” conversations at every interaction.
But if there's one moment that actually proved what the gym was to people, it was COVID.
When we had to shut down, I loaned out almost all of my equipment to members so they could keep training at home, free of charge, as long as they kept paying their dues. I rebuilt our entire programming to work virtually and ran Zoom sessions three times a day for anyone who wanted to hop on and work out together. That ran for the six or seven weeks we were shut down.
I hadn't taken on staggering credit card debt to buy equipment thinking I'd one day hand it all out and run an open gym out of my living room. But when we reopened and I asked everyone to bring it back, the gratitude was real. I even had members volunteer their Saturday morning to help me with the unloading of the loaned equipment and manage the check in process for me. To boot, the members who'd shown up most for those Zoom sessions ended up being some of my longest-standing members, all the way until I closed the gym three years later. That stretch didn't shape the culture so much as it proved what the culture already was: this was more than a gym to people, and they needed to see that demonstrated once to believe it.
When culture goes the wrong way
Culture doesn't always drift somewhere good on its own, either.
I had a business partner at one point who built an inner circle out of some of his original members, and it turned the gym into a series of cliques. There was a pecking order that other members could feel even if they couldn't name it. A few of them emailed me directly to say the vibe had changed and they didn't feel like they fit anymore. I brought it up with him. Spoiler alert: it didn't go well, and not long after, I bought him out.
I didn't do anything dramatic to fix the culture afterward. The group that had been tied to him mostly left on their own, and the people who stayed adjusted to a gym where that kind of pecking order wasn't going to be tolerated. Sometimes the fix isn't a program or a town hall meeting. It's removing the thing that was causing the problem and letting the room reset itself.
The member who was dragging down the room
Culture problems aren't always about cliques. Sometimes it's one person.
I had a member who complained about nearly every movement in every class. Half of it was probably joking, but it wore on the room. I let it go for a while, and the day I finally pulled them aside wasn't really about them. It was the day I noticed other members rolling their eyes when they started in. Once it's affecting people around them, that's where I draw the line.
I asked if everything was okay, because their energy had been more negative than usual. They said they'd had a long day — this member was a teacher — and I didn't leave it there. I pushed a little further, and they admitted they knew they’d been overly negative and that they’d keep it to herself going forward. We never had to have that conversation again, and she ended up being one of the better members in the gym.
I'll be honest that I don't think there's a universal script for that conversation. I'd known this member for two years, so I had the rapport to push past the first answer. With someone brand new, I'm not sure that same push is the right move. You have to read the person in front of you and trust your gut on how hard to lean in.
More important than knowing when to push, is taking action in the first place. The action will look differently based on the member, the situation, and history. But you can’t let the fear of losing a member because you confronted them stop you from maintaining your culture.
What actually builds community (and what just sounds good)
Culture isn't something you can force into existence. People can tell when you're trying too hard, and it doesn't land the way you want it to. What worked for us was smaller and more informal than anything you'd put in a marketing plan.
We'd do a whole-gym workout together every so often, then head out afterward for a drink or dinner as a group. Nothing scheduled or mandatory, maybe once a month. That's where people actually got close. Not during the workout itself, but at the table afterward, when someone started talking about their family or their job and everyone else leaned in.
If you're looking for the one thing to copy, it's that: create the reason to be together, then get out of the way and let the conversation happen on its own.
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