The former F45 franchisees who created an international Pilates phenomenon

Today, despite its well-publicized growing pains, F45 operates around 2000 studios in 66 countries. But when Ramsey and Armstrong opened their F45 franchise in 2015 in the same Port Melbourne space where I attend the Strong Pilates class, it was only the 10th. For three consecutive years, it was named the world’s top-performing F45 studio in global revenue. Ramsey and Armstrong duly reinvested their profits to deploy five more F45 studios in Melbourne and Darwin.

However, Ramsey’s biggest break was painfully literal. In 2018, while out for a run, he tripped and broke his ankle. Rehabilitation proved frustratingly slow, and confinement to a moon boot had a debilitating effect on his lower-body strength. In desperation, he turned to Pilates, a form of exercise that he had never imagined before due to the misconception that everything was a bit feminine.

Its positive impact soon changed his mind. The functional movements of Pilates transformed Ramseys recovery as he harnessed the power of new muscle groups while improving his overall flexibility.

I fell in love with Pilates, he admits.

At the same time, Ramsey was falling out of love with F45. His studies were still performing well, but as a franchisee, he felt stifled by having to follow the brand’s restrictive formula.

Then, little by little, she started to find Pilates classes a bit boring. I missed that high-intensity element of a gym workout, the high heart rate and calorie burn, she says. And when I did some research, I found out that I wasn’t the only person doing Pilates who felt this way.

Ramsey knew that the Pilates industry was booming internationally. But he dreamed of unearthing a new format that could deliver its benefits while increasing the physical demands. The research eventually led him to a niche gym in Orange County, California called HARDTFIT, where the owner had just patented the Rowformer machine.

I jumped on a flight, met the guy who created the machine and did the training, Ramsey recalls. It was excruciatingly hard, but it gave me this huge endorphin rush along with all the great movement patterns of Pilates.

After that, things moved quickly. In 2019, Ramsey and Armstrong sold their F45 studios and acquired the rights to the Rowformer. I needed some R&D, but we turned this machine into a profitable, scalable and franchiseable business model, he says. Now that it seems to be working, it’s time to bring Strong to the rest of the world.

The business model really seems to work. Strong is expected to surpass $35 million in total annual revenue by June. It is also evolving as a fitness offering. Last year, Ramsey introduced the Bikeformer, which, as the name suggests, combines the Reformer machine with an exercise bike instead of a rower. A greater variety of classes has also been deployed. Strong Loaded, for example, puts more emphasis on strength training, while Strong Sweat is tilted toward cardio and weight loss.

Whatever the class, it’s guaranteed to be packed in style. Each Strong studio must conform to the brand’s visual identity of pristine white spaces with black accents for a gender-neutral feel. Every interior detail is dictated by Ramsey, from the lighting to the workout soundtrack (R&B or hip-hop to accompany Pilates, deep house for rowing or cycling intervals). The studios are even scented, with a strong custom fragrance that Ramsey developed with a perfumer.

It has a cognac note because we play a lot of Jay-Z and that’s what he drinks.

As for the actual workout, if your mental image of Pilates is of a glorified stretching session, you’re in for a shock. Having done two classes, my aching stomach muscles can attest that Strong offers a challenging full-body session, one class aims to burn 800 calories, twice as much as a standard Pilates equivalent.

The biggest selling point lies in Strongs’ ability to tick several boxes by combining strength, mobility and cardiovascular work in a fast and stimulating way. As someone who has battled a number of knee and back problems, another plus for me is that it has a soothing and gentle impact on middle-aged joints.

This range of benefits means that Strong appeals to a wide demographic, both in terms of age, which in my classes ranged from 20 to 60, and gender.

Would I sign up for more? Yes, I honestly would, except there isn’t a studio close enough to my house yet. Then again, given the relentless expansion of Strongs, I shouldn’t have to wait too long.