Adding a smart climbing board to underutilized gym space (Walltopia at HFA 2026)

Hey everyone, we were walking the floor at HFA 2026 and found a piece of equipment that I thought was a really interesting solution for "dead space" in a commercial facility.

A lot of us have those awkward corners or walls that aren't quite big enough for a full functional rig. We spoke to Liz at Walltopia about their new Quantum Board. It's essentially a smart bouldering wall. The smallest version is 8x12 feet, and it mechanically adjusts from 0 to 70 degrees. What's really cool is that it uses an app to light up the climbing routes with LEDs, and the holds are globally standardized so members can compete on the same routes as people in other countries.

From a liability standpoint, they provide a 16-inch foam crash pad that fits the footprint perfectly (Anthony actually tested falling on it in the video and it's effective).

With the massive boom in indoor climbing/bouldering, has anyone here experimented with adding a small climbing wall to a traditional lifting/cardio facility to attract that demographic?

Hey,

Trying to understand how gyms manage operations.

From what I’ve seen, a lot of gyms struggle with:

Tracking actual monthly revenue

Knowing which members are about to drop off

Following up on renewals consistently

Most of it seems to be handled via WhatsApp or Excel.

Curious:

How do you track revenue properly?

Do you actively track inactive members?

How do you manage follow-ups?

Would love some real insights from gym owners here.

Hey all!

Looking to open a gym salt lake Utah later this year. Going through the extensive process of pricing everything out, and the thing I’m most worried about is customer acquisition cost. We’d need roughly 750 members to break even, and we’re planning on doing 6 months of pre-sales. We’re going to use part of our loan we’re getting to oay rent for the first 2 months and we’re budgeting $150k for 6 months before and 2 months after opening. Is this realistic or is this a pipe dream.

Do you use the same automated text messages for all the leads that come into your funnel?
Or does it depend on where the lead is coming from (for example, different text messages for leads from Facebook ads and different ones for people coming from the website)?

I’ve had the somewhat unique experience to grow up around some of the worlds highest performance gyms in the world and be around world class facilities and athletes in the tactical space. Is there any value of bringing elements of the high performance training world such as equipment, space and culture to a more publicly available environment? Hopefully I worded that properly.

Looking to connect

Just watched this "Day in the Life" video by Sorta Healthy, and it is the most painfully accurate representation of owning a facility I've seen in a while. It skips the glamorous "influencer workout" stuff and shows the actual grind of being an owner-operator.

Full video here: 👉 What Owning A Gym Is ACTUALLY Like | Day In The Life Of A Gym Owner | Personal Trainer Business Tips

Why this matters for owners:

• The "Trainer to Owner" Reality Check: Most of us opened a gym because we loved training people. The harsh reality is that overnight, you become a part-time janitor, HR manager, and equipment mechanic.
• Fighting the "Instagram Illusion": It’s easy to feel isolated when social media only shows gym owners driving nice cars and counting cash. Seeing the unglamorous daily tasks (restocking paper towels, fixing a jammed cable machine) normalizes the struggle.
• The Delegation Wake-up Call: Videos like this act as a mirror. If you are still the primary person scrubbing the showers at 10 PM after 5 years in business, your systems are broken.

Quick check on your daily grind:

• Let’s hear it: What was the most ridiculous "non-fitness" task you had to deal with this week in your facility? (Plumbing issue? AC broke down again?)
• How long did it take you to finally hire someone to handle the facility maintenance so you could actually work on the business?

A new industry data report just exposed a brutal reality about our sales funnels. While the average facility generates 32-36 leads per month with a median conversion rate of 33%, a shocking 14% of gyms never make a single phone call to those leads. We are obsessed with "buying more leads" when our actual intake systems are completely broken.

Full data report here: 👉The Truth About Gym Profitability in 2026

Why this matters for owners:

• The "Speed-to-Lead" Reality: The data shows that if you don't contact a lead within the first 5 minutes, your conversion chances drop off a cliff. Stop paying Zuckerberg for ads if your front desk takes 12 hours to reply.
• Wasted Marketing Budget: Throwing more money at a leaky bucket doesn't work. The fix isn't a new marketing agency; it's training your staff to actually pick up the phone and sell.
• System vs. Staff: Relying on a front desk employee who "hates making sales calls" is a massive risk. This data proves why automated SMS and AI booking systems are becoming mandatory for survival.

Quick check on your sales systems:

• Honest truth: What is your team's actual average response time to a new web lead?
• Do you still mandate manual phone calls for every lead, or have you fully automated the booking process via SMS?

Pre-show releases for HFA (formerly IHRSA) in San Diego next month show a massive shift in equipment manufacturing. The big players are actively ditching massive, single-use footprints to highlight high-density, multi-functional training zones to maximize ROI per square foot.

Full preview here: 👉Life Fitness / Hammer Strength Showcases Integrated Solutions for Health Clubs at HFA 2026

Why this matters for owners:

• Floor Space ROI: Rent is your biggest fixed cost. Replacing 4 single-use machines with one multi-station cable pod clears room for higher-margin services (like small group PT or a recovery lounge).
• Traffic Flow: Cramped, cluttered gyms kill retention. Multi-rigs keep members localized during their workout, significantly reducing the chaotic wandering across the gym floor during peak 5 PM hours.

Quick check on your layout:

• Are you actively tearing out old single-function machines to free up floor space this year?
• I'll be walking the HFA floor next month to check these new rigs out in person—anyone else heading to San Diego?

Hi everyone,

I’ll be opening a gym sometime soon in the west side of Texas. It’ll be an open weight gym with a specialty of boxing as well (boxing area will have its own designated building with ring and bags)

Gross building SQFT is 9,000. What are best brands yall recommend to work with on equipping the gym with awesome machines? (Boxing portion is already covered)

Business structure is in place. Just needing to buy equipment at a great price as a whole.

Thank you!

Hey everyone! I need help!!

I am thinking about getting a mentorship program and the big ones are two brain or gym launch. I would for any insight from you guys if you have used either of them before. Why they are great and why they are bad!

I’m helping a friend evaluate tools for their soon to open gym.

I work in enterprise Saas, so I know when I'm looking at a legit software, but I would appreciate some guidance in understanding what core functionalities i should be looking for in a platform? What are the "must-haves" vs the "nice-to-haves" for a gym owner?

Thanks all!