Your Dream Gym - The story behind the Podcast

Your Dream Gym is a podcast for the fitness industry that talks one-to-one about people’s exercise, motivation, favourite workouts, and helps to raise profiles and boost networking opportunities. It’s available on all popular players including Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, etc. 

Katie Lewis talked to Guy Griffiths about the inception and growth of the podcast from The Collective.

How long have you been into podcasts?

I’ve been a huge fan of podcasts since 2014, when I listened to the first episode of Scroobius Pip’s Distraction Pieces. I typically listen to music while working or on the train or a plane, but podcasts accompany me on long drives, runs, and in the gym. I love listening to conversations, learning about new things, but for me, it’s mainly about being entertained.

What are your current favourites?

I still listen to Distraction Pieces occasionally, but my current favourites would be Never Strays Far (cycling), The Adam Buxton Podcast, The Line-up, The Infinite Monkey Cage, No Such Thing as a Fish, and The High-Performance Podcast. The Skewer is short and intense, but very funny.

What about health and fitness-related podcasts?

The Game Changers is fantastic, as is Fitt Insider. I also enjoy mpowered and Making the Podium. From a health perspective, the ZOE Science and Nutrition, The King’s Fund pods, and I am (with Johnny Wilkinson) are all good too. 

Did you always want to host a podcast?

Not really. Lots of people said I should, but I couldn’t see the interest or longevity of a podcast about gym member retention, to be honest. 

So where did the idea of Your Dream Gym come from?

The format came from a mix of other podcasts like Off Menu (dream meal), The Moon under Water (dream pub), and The Line-up with Shaun Keaveny. Guests curate their dream music festival, with 5 acts from sunrise to sundown. You learn a lot about the guests (usually musicians or actors) and find out what you have in common with them or discover new artists and music. 

Your Dream Gym couldn’t just be about your best gym kit, as that’s not interesting, even to fitness industry people. People want to know more about other people. A good podcast is like people watching in audio form. Are they like me, or are they different? How are they motivated, what do they like, and can that help me with my health, or fitness, or business, or life? So, we talk about why people exercise, what workouts they love, and then if they had an unlimited budget, what would their dream gym look like, or feel, or smell, or sound like! 

To borrow from other podcasts, I’m their dream gym genie, and can give them whatever they desire. It’s nice to help people dream, and a lot of fun, which hopefully comes across in the chat. 

How did The Collective help?

The Collective is a network of fitness people that I formed in 2019 with Alina Cooper. Its purpose is to help everyone in the fitness industry to share, collaborate and grow. Everyone from individuals to businesses; instructors, PTs, managers, owners, clubs, suppliers, etc. We host a lot of different educational content online as well as holding in-person networking events.

It's integral to the podcast, as it allows me to host separately from GGFit. I do sometimes get drawn into talking about health seekers or member retention, but I try hard not to! So, it’s a great platform for the podcast, and allows sponsors to get on board to support the running and promotion to help it to grow.

Who are the supporters?

Future Fit for Business and OliveX jumped straight in on Series 2, which was fantastic, but I guess it’s testament to building good relationships with forward thinking companies. We’re excited to announce Xplor Gym UK as the main sponsor for Series 3, and will have two other sponsors, a maximum of two per episode. It’s not hugely expensive to produce, we are more interested in people who will help it to grow with good guests and spread the network coverage, to be honest.

What feedback have you had?

While some guests are a little nervous about what to say before we record, nearly everyone tells me how much they enjoyed it afterwards. Some have talked about getting investment to build their dream gym following the chat, and many have said that it’s really enlightening getting to talk about what they’d do with no limits, or even just talk out loud about how and why they keep active. 

Listeners have told me that it’s given them some great insights into the guests. It’s made them more approachable, creating an icebreaker to reach out to them online, or helping with real connection in meetings at face-to-face events. Which is one of the main objectives for The Collective, so it comes back really nicely to our purpose.

What’s next?

Series 3 guests are all lined up. Georgie Delaney, from the Great Outdoor Gym is our first MBE guest, and there are some really interesting thinkers, strategists, and fitness founders such as Glen Thurgood and Joe Gaunt. Plus, Danny Melling from ukactive will feature, and it turns out his cousin is Shaun Keaveny from The Line-Up, which shows what a small world it is!

Following people in previous episodes like Kevin Yates, John Oxley, Katie Bulmer-Cooke, Steven Scales, Phil Horton, David Minton and Shelley Dell can feel like a tough act, but there are so many great people in the industry, I’m sure it will run and run! Any suggestions for future guests or sponsors would be most welcome!

We’ve sailed past 1,000 listens already, and if it helps people to connect better, it will keep growing!

Series 3 of Your Dream Gym starts on 30th August with episodes every Tuesday on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, and all good podcast platforms. 

Click here to listen, like, and subscribe.

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