THE OWNER’S FIELD NOTES
12 guides / By Dai ManuelPractical thinking on retention, pricing and the work of running an independent gym.
111 to 299paying members training monthly
95%average monthly retention
3.4xHYROX revenue
Inside CrossFit BC
The handful of gym business metrics that decide whether an independent gym survives, with current benchmarks, honest formulas and a one-page scorecard you can copy.
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Fitness Town grew from three locations to eight while I was COO. The growth worked because of systems and managers. The hardest lesson: growth outran the leaders.
Gen Z is now the biggest source of new gym joins and the group most likely to cancel. Here is what the data actually says, what younger members want, and how a small gym keeps them past month three.
Open registrations dropped from 343,496 in 2024 to 233,815 in 2025, then climbed to about 254,690 in 2026. Here is what that says about gym health, and how to decide whether the Open still earns a place on your calendar.
Most gym owners can't say what they actually earn because their pay is buried in the profit line. Here are the Canadian benchmarks, a worked P&L and the fixes.
Memberships, drop-ins, class packs and personal training are taxable for GST/HST once you are registered. BC PST mostly skips memberships but hits apparel and equipment. Here is the full breakdown with sources.
Some members never decide to leave. Their card expires or a debit bounces and nobody calls. Here is how a Canadian gym measures that loss, handles cards and PADs, and wins those members back.
Most gym owners overstate their ARM because they average across every membership type. Here is how to calculate it by tier, what the 2025 benchmarks look like in Canadian dollars, and six levers that raise it without touching your base price.
The handful of gym business metrics that decide whether an independent gym survives, with current benchmarks, honest formulas and a one-page scorecard you can copy.
607 drop-ins became 10 paying members at my gym. Here is what that means for ClassPass economics, which visitors are worth chasing, and when to cap aggregators.
Most class coaches in BC look like employees under the law, whatever the contract says. Here is how the tests work, why work-trade is a trap, and what a compliant coach actually costs you.
HYROX doesn't publish its Training Club fee. Here is what affiliation includes, what equipment you need, how to work out payback, and how an independent competes with GoodLife and Movati.
The average gym keeps about two members in three each year. Here are the benchmarks, the honest way to measure your own churn, and the retention system I would run in any Canadian gym.
Know what to measure
Start with a scorecard for the numbers that matter.
Keep the members you earn
Build a retention system before chasing more joins.
Understand what each member brings in
Measure revenue by tier and find your next lever.
FREE GYM NUMBERS TEARDOWN
Twenty minutes with Dai. Your numbers, your next step.
