Inspiring Conversations with Alex Hope of AMP Association

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Hope.

Hi Alex, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
Ahnna and I met at the University in Manchester; she would come to club events that I organized. 

I then started running soccer leagues in Manchester and various other cities. So always worked for myself and been interested in that side of things. 

Ahnna has family in LA and has visited regularly all her life, we began visiting together from 2011 and spent 6 months here in 2013. 

Both have always been active – myself everything is football. Always played regularly and still play regularly now. Ahnna played hockey and netball in school. I’d never really been in a gym much before, Ahnna had more than me but not really anything compared to CrossFit. 

We moved in together in London and joined the local CrossFit gym in 2014. We were super regular until we moved here in 2018, at 7 am every day Monday – Friday. 

During that time, we… 

1. Came to love the routine of going to the gym. Loved the group class environment and the friends we made from it. So started to consider it as possible business venture at some point.

2. Started spending more regular time in LA, mostly a month at Christmas and a month in summer, and really started to see ourselves living here.

3. Got married in 2018, which made the move possible as Ahnna is dual nationality, and I could get a green card through marriage.

Then, when out here in 2018 for our wedding, we found a spin studio going out of business and started speaking to them about taking over their lease so we could open a gym when we moved over later in the year. 

So, we took over the lease in August 2018, moved out later that month, and opened AMP in October 2018. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Haha… never. 

We opened October 2018 on 19th Street in Santa Monica. It was a great space for us as it was pretty small and allowed us to check this was for us and would work. 

We were open for about 18 months and built up to a solid membership number. We’re really enjoying it; formed a great community… community is everything at AMP. It really started to take shape, and we were happy where it was. 

Then Covid hit, we lost 50+% of our members when we reopened, had to spend loads on stuff to comply with the Covid regulations… Then spend more when they changed the rules again and again. 

We had a lot of people leave the area, and a lot just not comfortable to come back in…. But it created opportunities as new people moved to the area and other gyms didn’t survive… so we built our membership base to 2x what it was before Covid basically reaching capacity at our 19th Street location. 

We then took a lease on a new space to build our vision for AMP2.0… we took the lease just before our daughter was born… she’s now over 2, and we JUST opened the new space last week. 

Having to deal with a city like Santa Monica and contractor issues has been a nightmare and a road we never thought would end. It took 4/5 times longer than we could have imagined and cost way more… but we made it, and now we have our new space open (almost finished) and ready to take AMP to the next level. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about AMP Association?
Well, in simple terms, we are a gym, mainly group classes, but we offer open gym time too. 

Our main offering is a hybrid strength and conditioning style class that’s similar to CrossFit, last year we launched a strength only class (no cardio!) and now we have the new space to will have the ability and space to expand further. 

Having done CrossFit for 5 years before we took so much from that. The level of coaching, the class structure and the biggest one, the community. 

AMPs known for the community and the friendly atmosphere that’s welcoming to everyone. We work hard to organize socials almost every month… 

100+ person competitions at the gym 

60 person trips to sports events 

Lockdown parties at “AMP SPORTS BAR,” aka the gym car park 

Fundraisers 

Brunches 

Christmas / birthday parties 

Beach days 

In the beginning, we had to work very hard to manufacture the community, but now it takes care of itself a lot. Sooo many people’s main friendship groups come from within the gym. We’ve had AMP weddings, AMP babies… no other gym I’ve ever seen gets the participation levels that we get at our events, and we are always eternally thankful for that. People sign up because they want to get in shape, but they soon realize that’s insignificant compared to the mental health impact exercise has on you and the community of people you get to surround yourself with… We are still known as the hardest workout in town though, BUT always accessible to everyone, particularly now with our expanded class offering and space. 

Brand wise we always loved CrossFit but never really associated with the brand that much. Ahnna and I both like fashion and brands and supporting independent new businesses, so we wanted to give the gym its own look and feel that made it stand out from the other CrossFit gyms in the area… after all, we came to market 5/6 years after the CrossFit boom and most types of gym were provided for in the area so why would anyone join a new one ran by two people who had never owned a gym or knew anyone in the area? 

So, we wanted to create our own brand and idea. We lean more towards hard work and effort over the technical side of CrossFit. The name AMP Association comes from the idea of elevating yourself within a group of people. 

We like our coaches to be real people who come from being members at the gym, that take our classes, that get to know members on more levels than just being a coach. Yes, they’re knowledgeable and great coaches, but they’ll also be on the party bus to a ram’s game drinking tequila. 

Most of our members have busy work and social lives and perhaps aren’t looking to achieve absolute mastery in the gym. They’re looking to get a good workout, be kept safe, get a little bit better every day, and be around good people. 

That said, even though nobody takes themselves too seriously, just being in this environment has let people reach crazy levels of fitness… 

Podium finishes at ultra relay races (No Shortcuts TT, which we organize) 

Qualified for the world championships of Hyrox 

WON a the female pairs LA Hyrox 

We just had 6 podium finishes across 3 divisions at Turf Games 

And some of our guys put up insane CrossFit open scores 

Although we didn’t affiliate to CrossFit when we opened as we didn’t want that to define us, we have since affiliated. After establishing our name, brand and ideology we felt it was the right time and support the brand that helped shape our ideas for AMP in the first place. 

What are we most proud of? So much, but always the people. So many people give so much back to the gym all the time, and that’s what really makes it special. 

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I think in most businesses, it’s very hard to think of something new. For the most part, you’re copying something else or putting your own spin on it, so there’s always going to be others out there doing similar. 

Don’t worry about them, worry about doing what you can do to make your business the best possible. There’s always enough people to make your business successful if you do it well. 

Create something you believe in, get your name out there, and look after your customers the best you can. 

Pricing:

• We do a free week trial or one-on-one consult to kick it off
• Then we are about to launch some very good founding member deals for the new space
• Then monthly membership is between 195-255 depending on usage.

Contact Info:

• Website: Ampassociation.com
• Instagram: Ampassoc