509 – From 2 Strength Studios to 200 — Interview with Exerbotics and The Exercise Coach CEO Brian Cygan

Brian Cygan

What’s it like to go from just owning 2 strength studios to growing a worldwide business with over 200 outlets and counting?

In this episode, I finally get to sit down and talk with The Exercise Coach and Exerbotics CEO/Founder Brian Cygan, and we go over his fitness business journey and the lessons he’s learned when it comes to highly successful strength studios and another company that supplies high-end equipment to all of these globally!

We go into what makes Exerbotics machines unique, how The Exercise Coach approaches client workout design, what “Concentrated Cardio” is and why they offer it to their clientele, why he’s big in Japan, and more!

If you want to know how someone goes from not being sure whether they want to really do anything in the strength training industry to becoming a wildly successful fitness business owner, you should tune in to hear Brain’s story in this one!

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• Listen to it on Apple Podcasts
• Stream by clicking here
• Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”

Show Notes

• 00:47 – What is The Exercise Coach (and Exerbotics) and what are their studio kits like?
• 03:51 – “Concentrated Cardio” — why?
• 06:28 – What advantages do Exerbotics machines provide?
• 07:16 – What do workouts involving Exerbotics machines look like?
• 11:05 – Brian explains how they incorporate interval training in client workouts without coaching
• 14:32 – Exerbotics software
• 16:06 – How The Exercise Coach approaches client offers
• 19:50 – What other options do they offer clients?
• 21:44 – On session management and why Brian settled on 20-minute sessions
• 25:18 – When did Brian decide to start his own strength training business?
• 26:40 – A book that changed Brian’s life (and why his exercise science degree didn’t)
• 28:25 – On getting into franchising and building a team to operate his business
• 29:44 – On having 200 over locations (!) and having 40 of them in Japan
• 32:26 – What’s Japan’s business culture like and why are they so keen on HIT?
• 34:22 – How Brian feels about having such a huge business and what he’s learned in building it all up
• 37:20 – What advice would Brian give to other strength studio owners thinking about franchising?
• 41:19 – What’s Brian’s vision for The Exercise Coach for the next 10 years?
• 43:57 – Do big strength training businesses really need to broaden their offerings as they grow?

People Mentioned & Selected Links from the Episode

• Brian Cygan | The Exercise Coach | Exerbotics
• Brian’s Interview on the Business Innovator’s Radio Network | YouTube Version
• Brian Gatewood
• SuperSlow
• Dr. Doug McGuff | Official Website | Ultimate Exercise Studio | Body by Science (book) |  The Body by Science Q&A Book | HIB Episodes
• A Practical Approach to Strength Training and Conditioning – Matt Brzycki (book)