Discover Strength Eyes Growth With 30-Minute Workout Concept
Founded by a former NFL strength coach, the Minnesota-based fitness franchise says science supports a less-is-more approach to lifting weights
The fitness industry is doing strength training all wrong.
At least, that’s the belief of Luke Carlson, a former NFL strength and conditioning coach who founded Discover Strength, a fast-growing fitness franchise that’s eyeing 100 locations by the end of next year.
“The research says people are supposed to strength train twice per week, not four, five or six times per week,” Carlson tells Athletech News. “How long is a workout supposed to last? According to all the scientific evidence, 20 to 40 minutes.”
Carlson has built his entire brand around that research. Discover Strength members complete two 30-minute workouts per week, performing 10-12 exercises per session while covering every major muscle group. Only one set is performed per exercise, and members receive one-on-one guidance or work out in small groups under coach supervision.
Discover Strength workouts may be short, but they’re not necessarily sweet, with reps performed to the point of failure, or past it, while under strict control.
“Every rep is performed slowly,” Carlson explains. “That’s the key: you’ve got to eliminate momentum. Lift (the weight) slowly, lower it slowly, and then you’ve got to go to momentary muscle failure, or beyond momentary muscle failure.”
Bringing Fitness Out of the ‘Stone Age’
Working out for only one hour per week seems to fly in the face of traditional wisdom on strength training, where time spent inside the gym is seen as a necessary sacrifice in order to achieve progress.
Carlson calls that the “traditional mythology” around strength training. He believes it’s incumbent on the fitness industry to do a better job at prizing research over “bro science.”
“That’s why our field is not respected in the same way a medical field would be respected, because we just make stuff up versus making clinical decisions based on scientific research,” he says. “I love our field, I’m not ripping our field, but we’re in the stone age.”
In a bid to professionalize the industry, Discover Strength only employs coaches who are American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)-certified exercise physiologists. This gives members peace of mind that they’re getting quality, science-backed advice, similar to a doctor’s office.
“We don’t want a client to come to us because we have charming personalities, we have great physiques or we’re selling sex appeal in any way,” Carlson says. “We want them to be interested in us because of our expertise.”
The Origins of Discover Strength
A one-time assistant strength and conditioning coach with the Minnesota Vikings, Carlson felt a calling to work in the fitness industry after completing a master’s degree in kinesiology.
“People were just exercising in a way that was completely unreflective of all of this scientific research,” he recalls. “I said, ‘I’m going to spend the rest of my career bridging the gap between all this exercise science research and how people actually work out.”
In 2006, he founded Discover Strength in Minnesota, pioneering the twice weekly, 30-minute workout concept that the brand has become known for. After opening several additional company-owned locations over the next decade-plus, Discover Strength began franchising in 2019.
Today, the brand has 47 locations open or in development, including a strong presence in states including Minnesota, Arizona and Texas. Recent expansions include Chicago, while a Washington, D.C., location is coming soon.
“By the end of next year we want to be at 100 units,” Carlson says, noting that franchise sales are strong.
Riding the Strength Training Wave
Discover Strength’s growth can be attributed in large part to the incredible rise of strength training over the last few years. The modality has exploded in popularity since the pandemic, especially among women and older populations, who are increasingly ditching cardio machines for squat racks.
The average Discover Strength member is between 45 and 62 years old, although the brand sees clients of all ages. Around 55% of members are female, a clear sign of strength training’s increased acceptance among the American population.
Classes run around $60 for a one-on-one session and $40 for small-group training, although it can vary based on location and membership type. Carlson says the typical Discover Strength client spends between $300 and $400 per month, giving the brand healthy recurring revenue numbers that drive strong unit economics.
Due to its relatively high pricing, Discover Strength usually sets up shop in more affluent neighborhoods. Still, Carlson sees plenty of runway for the brand in the years ahead, which could grow to as many as 1,000 locations in America if all goes well.
“Size is not my primary driver, nor is it the driver for anyone on our leadership team – it’s the quality of the customer experience, the integrity of the workouts and the unit economics of the franchisee,” he says. “All that being said, 500 to 1,000 locations in the U.S. is very feasible.”