YouTube: The Platform That Demanded the Most and Delivered the Most

Of every platform and every initiative pursued in 2025, YouTube was the one that received the most intentional effort, and by the end of the year, it was also the one that showed the most measurable return. The decision to outsource video editing to a dedicated editor was made at the start of the year and has now been running for a full twelve months. The quality improvement in the long-form content has been noticeable, and while the cost of outsourcing editing does not yet generate a profit on its own, the channel is rapidly approaching the break-even point on production expenses, which was not the case in previous years.

Over the course of 2025, the YouTube channel generated 474,000 views, a 108% increase from the prior year. Watch time climbed to nearly 7,000 hours annually, representing a 75% year-over-year increase and comfortably clearing the 4,000-hour threshold required to maintain YouTube monetization. Subscriber count grew by 1,100, representing 68% growth and pushing the channel past the 6,000 subscriber mark by December. That milestone was hit largely due to a single video on wrestling training that outperformed every other piece of content published in 2025 across every metric: views, watch time, subscriber acquisition, and revenue. That one video generated nearly $100 on its own and served as a clear signal that wrestling and combat sport content is an audience worth serving much more aggressively going into 2026.

Monetization itself was achieved in July of 2025, meaning the channel went the majority of the first half of the year generating zero ad revenue. From July through the end of the year, with the wrestling video factored in, total estimated revenue for 2025 sits just above $400. That averages out to roughly $100 per month once fully annualized, which is not a life-changing number, but it represents real, compounding progress. The goal was never to retire on YouTube money. The goal was to justify the investment of time and production costs, and in 2025, that justification became real for the first time.

Thumbnail outsourcing was also experimented with during the year. The results were underwhelming, and the cost-to-quality ratio did not make sense for a channel at this stage of growth. Creating thumbnails in-house remains the approach going forward until the economics change.

The Exercise Index: 1,500 Videos and Growing

A significant portion of the YouTube library is dedicated to the THIRST exercise index, a collection of short instructional videos covering individual exercises with technique breakdowns, coaching cues, setup instructions, and programming context. That library now sits at an estimated 1,500 videos, with over 1,200 of them live on the website. The goal is to produce approximately five exercise index videos per week, though the realities of running a gym, raising a child, and managing online coaching mean that pace is not always maintained.

The exercise index serves multiple purposes simultaneously. For athletes, coaches, and personal trainers searching for exercise instruction or unfamiliar movements, these videos provide a searchable, credible resource. For THIRST’s own programming operation, the exercise index functions as an internal database. Every exercise programmed for in-person and online clients can be linked directly from a programming sheet, eliminating the need to hunt for demonstration content or re-explain movements from scratch. When you are writing training programs five, six, or seven days a week across a full client base, that kind of streamlined infrastructure saves a meaningful amount of time and mental energy.

The THIRST More Podcast: A Steady Return

The THIRST More Podcast was largely dormant through the first part of 2025. The transition into parenthood that began in late 2024 carried well into the early months of the year, and like most small business owners operating without a support team, something had to give. The podcast was the first thing to step back from. That changed in the spring, once the dust of the first year of fatherhood began to settle and a consistent rhythm became possible again.

From August through December, the podcast ran at a pace of at least two episodes per month, with several months hitting three, four, or even five episodes. The approach to episode content also shifted in 2025. Rather than leaning heavily on interview-format episodes, which naturally generate more reach through guest promotion but require significantly more coordination, the year was spent producing well-researched, scripted solo episodes on strength training, athletic performance, programming methodology, and coaching topics. Listeners stayed longer on these episodes. Completion rates improved. The trade-off between reach and depth was made consciously and has been worth it.

The best month for the podcast in 2025 was October, which peaked at 232 downloads and listens. For a podcast at this stage and in this niche, that is a legitimate benchmark. The target heading into 2026 is to break 500 downloads in a single month, which is achievable if four or more quality episodes are published and each one clears 100 listens independently. That is a realistic goal, and it depends on three things: consistent publishing, content that genuinely serves the audience, and incremental improvement in search discoverability.

The podcast also includes ongoing support from two long-standing partners. EliteFTS, the gold standard for strength training equipment and education, can be found at elitefs.com. NutraBio, the only supplement brand personally used and recommended for athletes and coaching clients, is available at nutribio.com, and listeners can save 10% with the code SMITLEY10 at checkout.

Instagram: Organic Growth and a Viral Moment or Two

Instagram saw solid growth in 2025 as well. The account added roughly 4,000 followers over the course of the year, climbing from around 11,000 to approximately 15,000. Several posts performed exceptionally well, reaching 120,000 to 130,000 views organically, with thousands of shares and bookmarks. The algorithm’s logic for why those specific posts took off is not always clear, but the pattern that emerged over the year is straightforward: posting content that is genuinely useful and personally meaningful performs better over time than content engineered to go viral.

A deliberate break from Instagram for roughly a month during the year also provided some clarity. Returning without the pressure of posting for performance created a different relationship with the platform and resulted in more consistent, authentic content. That shift in mindset has been one of the more important changes in how social media is approached, and it shows up in the results.

The Instagram growth directly contributed to new online coaching clients, including athletes from across the country and even internationally. That outcome, more than the follower count, is the metric that matters most. Every new coaching relationship represents somebody who trusted the content enough to invest in actually being coached, and that is not something taken lightly.

THIRST Gym: A Difficult Year on the Business Side

In the spirit of honest recapping, 2025 was not the gym’s best year financially. Revenue declined for the first time, which is a hard thing to acknowledge but an important one to confront. Several factors contributed to that. Broader economic conditions affected discretionary spending for many households. Pricing adjustments made during the year, while necessary to keep pace with rising operational costs, likely priced out a portion of the membership base. The gym’s relocation due to eminent domain in late September consumed a week and a half to two weeks of operational focus during a critical stretch of the fall, disrupting training schedules and requiring a significant cash outlay toward purchasing a new facility.

That relocation was not a choice. When government eminent domain forces a business to move, the logistics, costs, and administrative headaches fall entirely on the business owner. Reimbursement and tax-related recovery from that process are still ongoing, and getting that money back is a priority heading into 2026. For a two-person operation that handles every aspect of the business, from coaching and programming to billing and facility management, a disruption of that magnitude is genuinely difficult to absorb.

On the staffing side, 2025 was the first year in which THIRST operated as a two-person team from start to finish. A previous coaching arrangement concluded mutually and amicably, and the decision was made not to replace that position unless the business can support a full-time hire. A part-time coaching arrangement simply does not serve the gym’s model well enough to be worth the management overhead. A 50 to 60 percent revenue growth target is the threshold that would justify bringing on full-time help, and that remains a long-term goal.

Billing policies and hold procedures were also tightened significantly heading into 2026. These are changes that probably should have happened years ago. The goal is not to be punitive with members but to protect the integrity and sustainability of the business. A gym that cannot protect its own revenue model cannot continue to provide elite-level coaching to anyone. Coaching quality, evidence-based programming, and genuine athlete development are the foundation of what THIRST does, and maintaining that requires a business structure that actually works.

Online Coaching: Refining the Target Audience

One of the more significant strategic recalibrations of 2025 involved online coaching positioning. For a stretch of the year, content and coaching marketing were directed toward the dad fitness demographic, which represented a genuine belief that there was an underserved audience there. The results did not support continuing that direction at scale. The reality is that most dads who know how to train are not looking to pay for coaching; they are looking for free information they can apply themselves. That is not a criticism, it is just the nature of the audience, and it did not align with the coaching relationship model that produces the best outcomes.

The audiences that THIRST has always served best are former athletes, strength athletes, powerlifters, wrestlers, combat sport competitors, and serious general population clients who approach training with real commitment. Those are also the people most likely to value structured, methodical programming from an experienced coach. Shifting content back toward that audience produced quicker, more meaningful results, including new coaching clients who are genuinely engaged and making real progress.

An investment was also made in a growth consulting group during the year to help scale the online side of the business. That investment did not return the results that were expected, and while the experience provided some useful information, the approach is not something that will be repeated in its original form. The primary lesson from that investment is that growing a real-world gym and growing an online coaching business simultaneously requires more bandwidth than one person can reasonably sustain without sacrificing quality somewhere. When online growth efforts expanded, in-person gym numbers declined. That trade-off was not acceptable, and the decision to pull back from it was the right call.

Daily Fitness and Performance Quizzes on YouTube

One initiative worth highlighting that is easy to overlook in a year-end recap is the daily fitness and performance quiz published to YouTube every morning at 9:00 a.m. For approximately the past six months, a new quiz question covering strength training, athletic performance, exercise science, or related topics has gone live every single day. AI assistance is used in generating the quiz framework and question options, with manual review and editing applied to ensure the answers reflect the actual coaching and programming philosophy taught through THIRST content. The quizzes have generated genuine engagement and conversation in the comments, and they offer a low-barrier way for athletes, coaches, and fitness enthusiasts to challenge their knowledge daily.

Looking Ahead to 2026

The through line of 2025 is that the content and business systems are becoming more refined, more intentional, and more sustainable. The YouTube channel crossed monetization. The podcast returned with better production quality and longer listener retention. Instagram grew organically and produced real coaching clients. The gym relocated under difficult circumstances and is operating again. Policies and business practices have been updated to reflect what the business actually needs to thrive.

2026 begins with a clearer sense of who the audience is, what content serves them best, and what a realistic growth trajectory looks like. More podcast episodes, more wrestling and combat sport content on YouTube, continued exercise index production, and a continued focus on strength athletes, powerlifters, and competitive athletes as the core coaching audience are all on the agenda.

If you are an athlete, coach, or competitive lifter looking for evidence-based training content, this is the place for it. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, follow along on Instagram, listen to the THIRST More Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and if you are looking for personalized coaching, reach out directly.