Gym owner opens 7 powerlifting gyms in 4 years

Happy New Year Gym World,

Thomas Lilley opened the first Zero Weakness powerlifting gym in 2012. Eight years later, he acquired another gym—and since then, he’s opened 6 more ZeroWs across Australia, New Zealand, and Wales.

Now, he’s planning to bring one to the US. That’s 1 location to 8 in just 4 years AND across 3 different countries. 🤯

We don’t know anyone else running 8 powerlifting gyms, so we brought him on the pod to find out how he’s pulling it off.

Here’s what he said: 👇

Ground ZeroW

At 23, Thomas was a community nutritionist with a job offer he didn’t want. In 2012, after powerlifting for 5 years, he pivoted and opened a powerlifting gym on the Gold Coast with PTC because he loved the sport, even though he had:

• Never coached.

• No formal education.

• Zero business experience.

The space was 2,000 sq ft with bare concrete floors, but he scrapped together cheap equipment to make it work, including:

• A couple of bench presses

• Squat stands

• Weights

• 12 gym mats

Thomas got his first members through the PTC network, and over the next 8 years, he focused on:

• Refining his client avatar to attract powerlifters

• Surrounding himself with role models

• Becoming a skilled coach

• Developing a solid program that delivers results

Expanding the business

When Thomas started coaching powerlifting, the market was small, and everyone used the same model. He saw the potential for something better and created his own approach, which helped him stand out by:

• Delivering amazing results

• Training top athletes

• Building a solid reputation

To help others do the same, he launched a 6-month course to develop more world-class powerlifting coaches. Lots of people signed up, meeting weekly in small groups over video calls. Over time, this helped Thomas develop a strong network of gym owners and spot the best coaches.

Then in 2019, a few gym owners in his network decided to move fully online and approached Thomas about selling their gyms. At first, he wasn’t interested, but when a client from his course wanted to open a gym and prices dropped because no one was buying, he saw an opportunity to partner.

So, Thomas used money from his first location and shared the opening costs with the other gym owner. They split ownership 51/49 and opened the second ZeroW gym in February 2020—just 6 weeks before COVID shut it down.

Locations 3 through 8 opened the same way:

• Leveraged his course to find strong operators and coaches

• Bought from desperate sellers

• Reinvested profits from older gyms

• Split 51/49

• Shared opening costs with partners

• Provided expertise, equipment, systems, and legal support

And that’s how Thomas grew from 2 to 8 gyms in just 4 years.

The gyms today

Thomas’s gyms:

• Range from 2,000 to 6,000 sq ft

• Have 100 to 350 members

• Operate on a 24/7 access model with at least two full-time staff

Each location is assigned a unique color:

And they’re outfitted with Eleiko equipment and custom-painted pieces to match.

There are four membership options with different perks:

• Standard: $35 per week

• Silver: $50 per week

• Gold (most popular): $99 per week

• Platinum: $179 per week

And members can add weekly nutrition for an extra $35 a week.

Most people find ZeroW through word of mouth and 5-star Google reviews:

Thomas also gets people in the door with offers like:

• 10 days for $10

• Pay 6 weeks of Gold membership upfront and get 6 weeks of Platinum experience

Each gym has at least two full-time salaried staff who:

• Coach

• Make sales

• Handle front desk duties

• Clean

And he recently hired someone to manage ZeroWs socials.

Long story short…

In 2012, Thomas opened his first powerlifting gym. He focused on:

• Becoming a great coach

• Building his reputation

• Mentoring others through his coaching course

Thanks to this, he leveraged his course to find a good operator, took over a gym in 2020 with majority stake, and built a steady pipeline of skilled candidates through the course to keep opening gyms. Since then, he’s opened 6 more ZeroWs with partners and now has 8 of them across Australia, New Zealand, Wales—and sometime soon, the U.S.

Thomas credits his success to his coaching skills and staff. Here’s his advice:

• Look for good character and trust your judgment.

• Choose people who genuinely want to help others.

• Find those who embody your brand.

• Don’t let the business pull you away from coaching.

For more on the business, watch or listen to Thomas’s full interview on Gym World.

adios,

j

📣 P.S. If you liked what you read, then tell another gym owner to subscribe to the newsletter.