How Phoenix Training Went From a Basement Gym to a 5,000 Square-Foot Build

How it Started

Sarah Storey wasn’t an athlete growing up. She was a self-described band nerd who didn’t play sports and didn’t grow up in a gym. She came to fitness later, after having her daughter, when she realized picking up an eight-month-old was harder for her than it should be. So she started running. Half marathons, full marathons—she got faster but never stronger. Then a personal trainer named Rachel Klausing, a three-time CrossFit Games athlete, introduced her to a barbell, and everything changed.

That led Storey to start coaching, first with Beachbody. That success led her to training people out of her basement in 2019. But when COVID hit, she realized that having strangers coming to work out in her home wasn’t ideal with two young kids around. So she found a 1,200 square foot commercial suite and launched Phoenix Training, a personal training gym in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Her partner, Steve Storey, came from the insurance industry but has a background in BJJ and Muay Thai. Steve spent years as a VP climbing a corporate ladder and, when he eventually decided it wasn’t worth the struggle, he stepped into Phoenix Training to handle operations. He now runs business analytics, scheduling, and client acquisition while Sarah coaches, closes sales, and acts as what Steve refers to as the face of the brand.

Currently, Phoenix Training has just over 60 members, with roughly 70% of them doing one-on-one training sessions and the rest in small group classes. The client base is about 90% women: postpartum moms, college students, elderly clients, and teen athletes.

Today, Sarah and Steve are building a brand-new, 5,000 square foot facility that’s slated to open in early 2027. The plan is for it to house barbell training, yoga, BJJ, Muay Thai, a recovery suite, and nutrition coaching, all under one roof. Buying the building wasn’t a small decision. Steve liquidated his savings to build it, but knows that it’s as much an investment in real estate as it is in fitness.

“The building is the long game,” he said.

The Win: SEO and Content

When Steve joined Phoenix Training full-time, he came in as “the spreadsheet guy.” He was focused on retention ratios, customer acquisition cost, how much revenue was coming in, and how many expenses were going out.

One of the first things he noticed was how new clients were finding the business. Of the roughly 20 new members Phoenix Training added after switching to Wodify, he estimates about 15 came in saying, “We Googled women-owned gyms.”

Focusing on SEO and relevant content is what got the ball rolling. It wasn’t complicated but it took intention.

For gym owners who feel invisible online, or are spending money on marketing without seeing direct lead flow, he offered four tips:

1. Make your website work for you.

Before switching to Wodify, Phoenix Training used Wellness Living, and their online presence wasn’t driving traffic. When they switched, they used Wodify Sites to build and manage the website, and the SEO came with it. They didn’t have to hire a separate web developer or figure out Google indexing on their own.

2. Know your niche and say it out loud.

Phoenix Training knows that the specificity of the services they offer is searchable. They lead their content with the fact that they’re a women-owned gym with a strong focus on postpartum clients, teen girls, and older women getting into fitness for the first time. So when someone in Grand Rapids searches “women-owned gym” or “personal training for beginners,” Phoenix Training shows up because their site reflects exactly who they are.

3. Pair it with social content that converts.

Phoenix Training also maintains a strong social media presence. Steve hired a “fantastic” company that handles their social posts, and it’s working. Posts are bringing in new members, and the combination of organic search and consistent social creates a solid lead pipeline.

4. Track where your members come from.

Steve monitors acquisition closely and knows the rough split of how clients find them. It’s as simple as asking new leads—either in the initial form or when you meet with them in person—how they found your gym. For the long run, this can show you where to double-down on your marketing efforts.

Ultimately, a gym with a clear identity, well-built website, and consistent content will show up when the right people are searching. It doesn’t require a massive ad budget. Instead, invest the time and effort into identifying who you are and who you serve. Then make sure to convey that information on your website, social media, and any other relevant marketing channels.

How Wodify Helps Phoenix Training Win

While Steve admitted he doesn’t normally like to talk poorly about competitors, his experience at Wellness Living cost him enough time and money that he wanted to share, in the hopes of helping other gym owners avoid the same mistake. 

He said hidden fees appeared regularly, and every time he had to book a support call, it cost $27. When he decided to switch to Wodify in January, it wasn’t until March that Wellness Living reached out to ask about the issues he’d had.

Now five months into being a Wodify customer, Steve has seen enough ROI to be a raving fan.

First, he noted that the time savings alone were significant. Sarah used to spend three to five hours weekly on manual scheduling, texting clients to reschedule, chasing payments, and coordinating between multiple tools. She now gets to spend those hours coaching or being at home when her kids get back from school.

The scheduling system means clients can book their sessions in the app, and performance tracking keeps members connected to their progress. Steve described logging a client’s first squat at 15 pounds, then pulling it up a month later to show her she was now on the women’s bar with 25s on each side. He said that moment lands differently when you can actually show the numbers.

The Wodify Daily Brief tells them who’s coming in, who’s hitting milestones, and who just hit a PR. Steve gets a notification when five clients hit PRs in a week and passes it along. That’s community-building that used to require someone to remember to do it.

And the onboarding experience mattered. Steve said that their Wodify rep didn’t just hand them a manual and disappear. When he ran into something he didn’t understand, he was able to hop on a quick call without waiting in a ticket queue or having an AI bot send him to a knowledge base. Wodify gives him a real person who understands his business.

Steve loves that Wodify is a “one-stop shop.” It’s the same phrase he uses to describe what Phoenix Training is building for its clients. As they head into the new building, they’re scaling what’s already working. More classes, more trainers, more modalities, and gym software built to handle it.

“We talk about Wodify at least once a week,” Steve said. “Like, thank God for Wodify. We don’t know what we would do.”

If you’re not a Wodify customer yet, book a demo with our team today!

To learn more about Phoenix Training, visit the website here.