CoreyGFitness

Corey McGregor's journey began at age 20 with just $5,000 and a vision. The fourth-generation coal miner had worked 90 hours a week underground making $1,500 per week, saving every dollar to escape the mines. He opened his first gym on a shoestring budget, proving that you didn't need massive capital to start in fitness—just passion and hustle. For the next 10 years, he built Old School Gym into a profitable fitness facility that still operates today, generating around $100,000 in membership revenue plus another $100,000+ in clothing sales annually.

At roughly age 30, Corey co-founded Muscle Farm from scratch with two other partners. The growth was explosive: from $1 million to $4 million to $20 million to $70 million to eventually $168 million in annual revenue by 2015. The company went public in 2010 and raised approximately $3 million that day, with total capital raising eventually reaching $35-40 million. They partnered with UFC and Arnold Schwarzenegger, secured backing from major investor Philip Frost (who had previously sold TV pharmaceuticals for billions), and expanded to 40,000 retail doors across 100 countries. However, rapid growth came with a cost: by 2015, Muscle Farm was generating $168 million in revenue but losing $51 million annually. Corey's 3% ownership stake—diluted from the founders' original equity through successive capital raises—was worth a substantial amount, but the corporate world and Wall Street politics increasingly conflicted with his values.

In November 2015, just 8-9 months before this interview, Corey walked away from Muscle Farm's executive role. He launched CoreyGFitness.com on December 5, 2015, starting completely fresh in the digital fitness space. His first month generated $34,000 in revenue—a modest number compared to Muscle Farm's scale, but entirely his own. The membership model was simple: $9 per month or $96 annually. Members receive 4-5 new four-week workout plans monthly (for bodybuilding, powerlifting, weight loss, etc.), daily one-off workouts, exclusive articles and videos, personalized Q&A responses, and access to a global community across 50+ countries.

Corey's personal brand became his primary asset. With nearly 200,000 Instagram followers, 11 magazine cover appearances, elite powerlifting totals, and relationships built over two decades with legends like Arnold Schwarzenegger and powerlifting coach Louie Simmons, he had credibility that couldn't be replicated. He positioned himself as "the people's coach"—still grinding in the gym, still competing, still authentic. Within months, "thousands" of people (he declined to specify the exact number) were paying for his membership. His stated goal for 2016 was to hit $1 million in annual revenue.

Beyond the membership, he sold fitness books online and leveraged his existing audience from bodybuilding.com (11 million page views) and his podcast "Business and Biceps."

By the time of this interview (early 2016), CoreyGFitness had become his primary focus and passion. While he still owns 3% of the now-public Muscle Farm, he had stepped away entirely to reclaim his identity as a hands-on coach and content creator. His Old School Gym continued as a profitable, nearly hands-off business. The CoreyGFitness membership was scaling rapidly through pure content quality and personal brand authority—no paid advertising, no complex funnels, just Corey delivering what he knew best to a global audience of fitness enthusiasts who valued authenticity in a space notorious for fake gurus.