Jen Gillenwater (my sister and Co-Founder of the franchise company) and I have just made an offer to acquire both Starting Strength Gyms in the Denver area: Lakewood and Centennial with plans to take over operations on or before April 1, 2026. This rounds out our growing portfolio of gyms to four total, including both SS Gyms in Austin.

We Are Hiring Coaches!

If you want to coach small group training sessions in either Denver or Austin and you're a near-perfect match for our criteria (outlined below), I'd like to talk to you. We plan on hiring four Coaches for Denver and at least two for Austin.

Pay: $30/hour from day one with opportunities for growth once you get your SSC (we'll pay for your prep course and seminar attendance/travel).

Training: Two months, paid, at Starting Strength Austin under Coach of the Year Nominee, Jeff Bernitz SSC, PhD. Denver applicants: this means you will live in Austin for two months. You’ll be paid your full hourly rate and flights/accommodation will be covered. Note: If you live in the Houston area and are looking to relocate to Denver or Austin, our friends at SS Houston may be able to host you for training in lieu of an Austin stint.

Reporting structure: You will report directly to Mark Diffley SSC, M.Eng, the Head Coach and Head of Gym Operations for all four gyms. Our team strives to perform at the highest level, and we do our best to enjoy ourselves along the way. Mark does not prefer to “manage” people, but he thrives on coaching professionals that are interested in becoming experts in their craft. Mark and Jeff have produced more SSCs than any other team in the franchise. They can get you ready to run group training sessions within two months and SSC certified within your first year of coaching, if you have the desire and capability.

Job responsibilities: 90% coaching, 10% operations. Your primary role is to masterfully apply the Starting Strength method to each of your trainees to drastically improve their quality of life in terms of their physical capability, overall health, and appearance. This is more than coaching reps and making programming decisions. The job requires a high level of discretionary effort to understand the goals and motivations of your trainees to ensure compliance inside and outside of the gym, along with the ability to adjust your approach to align with their psychological idiosyncrasies.

You will be an engineer of human health and performance and that requires knowing how to expertly connect on a human level, providing a member experience that justifies a $400+/month gym membership. Our members are generally successful people that are enjoyable to be around, and fostering a positive training environment among your group of consistent trainees is one of the most important aspects of the job.

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Traits we are looking for:

1. Technical Excellence: An experienced coach of human movement that is motivated by helping others achieve their potential. Fitness-industry experience is not required.

2. Concierge Service: An experienced service professional that derives satisfaction from anticipating and fulfilling the needs of others.

3. Intellectual Capacity: Able to clearly demonstrate mastery of technical concepts including understanding, communication, and implementation, with humility and curiosity.

4. Emotional Intelligence: The ability to empathize and connect with others in a genuine, authentic way.

5. Desire: The Starting Strength Gyms model sounds like a dream come true: Top-of-industry pay, significant investment in your development, a focus on coaching, every member makes measurable progress, and you’ll be surrounded by high-quality people in a purpose-built environment.

Starting Strength Gyms is the only strength-training focused fitness franchise in the nation. We offer the most effective strength training program in existence, and we employ and develop the most effective coaches in the industry.

Since the Austin and Denver locations are owned by founders of the franchise company, these are considered our flagship gyms that set the standard for all others to aspire towards. We are looking for exceptional people to represent us and the brand in these gyms.

If you are a lifelong high performer with a background of helping others achieve their goals via coaching human movement, and you have an extraordinary ability to connect with others, apply for an open position in Denver or in Austin on Indeed.com.

See you at the gym.

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