Why 90% of Gyms Are Designed to Fail Their Members

Most fitness brands make money when you quit. You sign up, stop showing up, and they keep charging. Anish Menon thinks that’s broken.He spent four years inside The OutFit Gym learning the business, watching what worked, what didn’t, and why most people never see results. Then he built LIFTR Strength and Conditioning on a simple bet: align the gym’s incentives with the members’ goals.Eight locations later across India, Sri Lanka, and Dubai, he’s proving it works. All without taking a rupee from investors.In this episode, we get into:* Why he left software engineering at Accenture to chase fitness.* The four years he spent learning before launching and why that mattered.* How traditional gyms are designed for member failure (and why they don’t even realize it).* The 6-week transformation model that flips the script.* Building community when most gyms feel like lonely treadmills in a row.* Expanding to three countries on zero funding and the partnership model that made it possible.* Competing against funded giants by being smaller, sharper, and more honest.If you’re building something, questioning your career, or just tired of paying for a membership you never use, this one’s for you.Listen to Anish Menon on ChaiNet. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chainet.substack.com