How to Scale Your Fitness Business by Building a Digital Community

The fitness industry is evolving. As a gym owner, personal trainer, or yoga instructor, you need to keep pace with these trends to stay relevant and ensure success in the coming years.

Whether you agree with the training regimens or not, you can take a page from the CrossFit playbook when it comes to promoting your services and increasing your revenue. 

What’s the secret? Fostering a sense of community. 

90% of CrossFit participants say that their fitness community is one of the main reasons for participating, and 80% of members say they’re more likely to stick with their routines because of the community aspect. This approach to fitness has been incredibly successful, and the CrossFit market is continuing to grow at a CAGR of 12.1% between now and 2032.

Regardless of the specific services you’re offering, you can mirror this strategy and use the power of community to scale your fitness business.

Key Takeaways

• Community Drives Retention: 80% of members are more likely to stick to routines when part of a fitness community.
• Lower Barriers to Entry: Digital platforms reduce “gymtimidation,” making fitness accessible to the 50% of non-gym goers who feel intimidated by physical spaces.
• Gamification and Motivation: In-app leaderboards and challenges increase engagement and help the 32% of people who struggle with self-motivation.
• Global Scalability: Transitioning to a digital or hybrid model removes geographical limits and significantly reduces overhead costs.
• 24/7 Engagement: Mobile apps allow for meaningful connections and monetization opportunities that extend beyond the 60-minute workout window.

Make Your Community More Accessible

The first thing you need to do is lower the barrier to entry for new members. Make it as easy as possible for them to join your fitness community and create a welcoming environment. 

Gyms can be intimidating for many potential clients:

• 50% of non-gym goers report being scared to visit a physical gym.
• 90% of existing members worry about how they are perceived by peers.

You need to overcome this negative environment to onboard new members effectively.

They say, “The hardest part about going to the gym is walking through the door.” Well, what if you eliminated that door altogether?

Offer digital workouts through a mobile app. Newcomers can join your community without ever stepping foot in your physical space and have full access to workout programs from the palms of their hands. 

One study found that 58% of people say they prefer to work out at home anyway. So going digital appeals to this group as well, and increasing accessibility should lead to more signups. 

Find Creative Ways to Motivate Members

For the average person, self-motivating yourself to exercise is much easier said than done. 

A study from Statista found that lack of motivation was the second-biggest challenge for engaging in fitness in the US.

One of the best parts about having a community to lean on is the motivational element. 

According to the National Institute of Health, people who exercise with others are 32% more likely to reach sufficient physical activity levels compared to those who work out alone.

There are plenty of ways you can emulate this type of connection and motivate people to stay active:

• Send them workout reminders via push notification.
• Share a motivational quote of the day to get people fired up.
• Let members connect with a “buddy” to hold them accountable. 
• Showcase progress photos and testimonials as social proof of concept. 

That’s why having an app is so crucial to the success of your fitness community. 

It gives you a direct line of communication to their devices to keep them engaged, and just the fact that your app is always one click away can be highly motivating. 

Create Community Challenges to Boost Member Participation

One of my favorite features of Buildfire’s fitness app builder is the Leaderboard plugin. 

It’s a way for users to track their training progress directly through the app, and everyone can see the top “leaders” for a particular category or challenge.

Examples include:

• Consecutive days with an in-app workout completed.
• Most miles run in 30 days.
• Weight loss challenges.
• Most calories burned in a week.
• Consecutive days drinking 64 oz. of water. 
• Gym “check-ins” competition.

Members can open the app and watch their rankings climb as they complete these challenges. 

It’s a friendly competition that kills two birds with one stone—motivates people to work out while simultaneously driving engagement with other members. 

This can be a cornerstone of your fitness community. 

Eliminate Physical Borders So Your Community Can Grow Without Limits

The average gym commute is 3.7 miles. Even if we extend this to five or six miles, it still limits yourself to how many people can join your community. 

You can run some quick numbers to see how many people live within five miles of your gym and then determine what percentage of them are potential clients. That’s the maximum number of community members you could possibly have at each location—and it doesn’t even factor in competing gyms and how many of those people you can actually get to join (the real number is much lower).

But if you become an online personal trainer, it opens the doors to people all over the world. 

Having your own fitness mobile app instantly breaks down any physical border restrictions that you’re currently bound by. You can live in Texas while providing training materials to your community in California and New York—even London to Tokyo. 

Cut Costs and Pass Those Savings to Your Clients

Running a gym can obviously be expensive. Between equipment costs, staffing, and rent, not to mention keeping the lights on, the list of expenses is seemingly never-ending. 

So it should come as no surprise to hear that the average cost to open a gym ranges from $245,000 to $400,000. Some of you may spend more—and this doesn’t even factor in the ongoing monthly costs. 

Going digital is far less expensive. You can create your own mobile app for less than $500 per month and easily break even after a handful of subscriptions. The rest is pure profit. 

High cost is the number one reason why people cancel their gym memberships.

But if you’re not paying tens of thousands of dollars in monthly expenses just to ope

Frequently Asked Questions

• What are the benefits of a mobile app for fitness communities?
  Mobile apps provide on-the-go training materials and allow members to connect anytime, enhancing engagement and retention.
• How can I monetize my fitness app?
  You can offer tiered memberships, sell on-demand workout videos, and provide value-added upsells like personalized workout plans.
• Can I integrate my existing gym services with a mobile app?
  Yes, you can enhance the in-person experience by offering digital resources like recorded classes and community message boards.
• What if my members miss a class?
  Record and upload classes to your app so members can access them on-demand, ensuring they never miss out.
• Is it expensive to develop a fitness app?
  With platforms like Buildfire, you can create a fitness app without coding, making it a cost-effective solution for gym owners.