If you run a studio or facility, you already know the truth: your schedule is your product. When class slots, personal training sessions, and open-gym reservations flow smoothly, revenue follows. When they don’t, cancellations, no-shows, and admin chaos pile up.

Target audience: gym owners, fitness studio managers, franchise operators. This guide walks you step-by-step through how to start a gym business, from writing a gym and fitness center business plan to opening the doors and scaling revenue — with pragmatic operational advice and real-world tools you can adopt today.

Choosing the right gym management software can increase member retention, boost revenue, and simplify daily operations. This guide compares the top 15 platforms, highlights strengths and pricing, and shows where PulseFit fits when you need lead management, member engagement, and operational analytics.

Running a gym or fitness studio in 2024–2025 means juggling people, programming, and profit targets while the market and member expectations shift rapidly. Many of today’s problems with gyms—poor retention, staff burnout, misinformation, and rising competition—are symptoms of operational gaps rather than one-off failures. Addressing them systematically increases member retention, improves conversion rate, and protects monthly recurring revenue (MRR).