As we come to the end of the year, we wanted to take a moment to say thank you and maybe indulge in a moment of reflection.
2025 feels like the year Beyond Walls properly stepped into the world. From our initial outdoor programme to moving indoors, 2024 was our tentative baby steps with huge amounts of learning; Julie and I had never done this before. We had never started a business. We had never grown one.
2025 was more assured. She (why do I always think of Beyond Walls as female!?) grew in confidence and began to mature. We learned, again and again, how much intention and direction it takes to build something like this and keep it moving forward.
While I hope Beyond Walls looks slick from the outside, the reality is that behind every class, every programme and every improvement is a huge amount of discussion, decision-making and drive. Beyond Walls’ success was not, and is not, a given; 1/3rd of hospitality businesses fail in their first year. Nothing here runs on autopilot.
But as I reflect on the year, there were three moments this year that really brought that home for me.
So Many Moments to Savour
The first was the CrossFit Open. In our first ever Open, and we went straight from zero to over 50 participants, most of whom had no idea what it was or why they were doing it. It wasn’t just the number, it was the willingness. People signed up, committed, pushed themselves and backed each other throughout. That was the first moment I truly thought: this has landed. This matters.
The second was the Longest Day charity event in June. Members arrived from four in the morning right through until ten at night. I assumed people would come, do their slot and leave. Instead, they stayed. They hung around, supported others and turned a workout into a full day of community. It was a powerful reminder that Beyond Walls isn’t just somewhere people train — it’s somewhere they choose to be.
The third, and perhaps the most quietly meaningful of all, was Committed Club. And yes, the stickers.
When we launched Committed Club, we had no idea how motivated our members would be, how hard they would work or just how much it would mean. Handing out stickers each month has genuinely become one of the highlights of my job. Seeing people smile, knowing what those stickers represent, never gets old.
Because the sticker isn’t the achievement. It’s just the marker. Every one of those 13 plus classes represents a small step, a small decision, a small investment. Not towards a sticker, but towards themselves. Consistency built quietly, session by session.
In turn, that commitment from our members has shaped how we think about our responsibility as a gym and our operational goals. These matter because they are our north star when making operational decisions:
Those goals have driven some big decisions this year.
Launching our uncapped 6am Open House and dual-coached classes is a good example. It would be much easier to cap classes and run everything with a single coach. That’s the simple route. But we’ve all seen what happens next: classes fill up, members struggle for space, alarms are set, block bookings happen, late cancellations creep in, no-shows increase and frustration builds. It becomes a pain for everyone.
We chose the harder route.
We want Beyond Walls to be known for coaching quality, regardless of whether a class has two people or twenty. That choice takes real effort behind the scenes. Barry, our Performance Director has spent hours writing our Dual Coaching Delivery protocol, observing our coaches and helping ensure we deliver to a consistently high standard. This is fundamental. It’s harder. It’s slower. It’s operationally more complex. But it matters.
And sometimes the harder route is hard!
Beyond Walls is the most physically demanding job I’ve ever done. Long hours, early mornings, constant movement, coaching, building, fixing and carrying the responsibility of the whole thing. But it is also the most rewarding thing I have ever done…but I do not want to be a passion project. Julie and I want Beyond Walls to be here for a long time; to do that, we are constantly seeking the narrow overlap between commercial success and cultural success.
We want to grow. Growth will increase the financial security of Beyond Walls and will allow us to invest. But we want to do it in a way that our members love and believe in — a way that makes you proud to bring your partners, parents, siblings and friends through the doors.
One of the first blogs I ever wrote for Beyond Walls was about atrophy — the idea that if something isn’t looked after, it slowly decays. That lesson still applies. Beyond Walls will decay if it isn’t tended to, nurtured and developed. Culture doesn’t maintain itself. Coaching quality doesn’t hold without intention. Community doesn’t develop accidentally.
And that brings me to now.
We’ve just signed off the Big Christmas Weekend. Minis, pre-teens, teens and adult members all through the gym. In total, 228 people checked in to classes across the weekend. Add to that the Beyond Walls pups turning up for the dog walk, and it felt like a pretty perfect snapshot of what this place has become.
Different ages. Different abilities. Different reasons for walking through the door. All under one roof.
Thank You
If there’s one thing we’re most protective of, it’s the culture. The feeling you get when you walk through the door. The welcome. The warmth. The happiness. But that culture is built on foundations: great coaching, thoughtful programming and facilities you’re proud to train in. Those come first. The culture is the glue that holds everything together.
As we head into Christmas, we just want to say thank you.
Thank you for showing up.
Thank you for investing in yourselves.
Thank you for supporting each other and trusting us with your training.
Julie and I know this isn’t something you build once and then leave. It needs constant attention, constant care and constant belief.
We’re incredibly grateful to be on this journey with you — and we can’t wait to see what we build together next.
