GymBattle360 is looking to give a stage to the 77 million Americans who train without a spotlight. Its founder wants the new competition to mirror major U.S. sports leagues like the NFL or NBA
Most gym-goers train without an audience. They chase PRs before work, squeeze in a lift after bedtime routines, maybe post a clip to prove the grind is real. But what if all that effort actually led somewhere?
That’s the question Brahim Marchouhi asked when he created GymBattle360, a new franchise league built to give everyday lifters a professional stage.
“We’re giving everyday lifters — not pros — a structured championship that mirrors the proven model of major leagues like the NFL or NBA,” GymBattle360 founder and CEO Marchouhi said.
The concept, built on a city-based franchise model, offers ownership opportunities to gym operators, local investors and pro sports clubs that want to represent their region, creating scalable local loyalty and potential new revenue streams.
Marchouhi had been chasing this idea for years. Before launching GymBattle360, he spent two decades building and scaling businesses, an experience that gave him a practical lens on how to structure something as ambitious as a city-based fitness league.
A graduate of business school with a master’s in logistics and supply chain management, he’s led large operational teams and managed multiple fitness clubs as a cluster manager for Basic Fit, Europe’s largest gym chain. A lifter since 1997, he remembers when friendly rivalries at his local gym kept everyone pushing harder: who could bench more, who could complete more pull-ups. That spirit never left him. In 2022, he began developing it into a rough sketch, which has since evolved into a fully structured project.
His connection to training runs deeper than business. After a back surgery in 2011 and additional shoulder and knee procedures that sidelined him for nearly a decade, lifting became his way back, and, in many ways, his purpose.
“Lifting is what makes me feel alive,” Marchouhi tells ATN. “That balance between discipline and belonging is exactly what GymBattle360 is about.”
In a LinkedIn post, he noted that the CrossFit Games showed him the power of a global stage, but added that they remain reserved for the elite few.
“Hyrox and Spartan proved the appetite for community-based events, but lack the structure of a league,” he wrote. “U.S. pro leagues (NBA, NFL, MLS) inspired me with their franchise model, built on local pride and scalable business.”
GymBattle360, he says, brings those pieces together with everyday athletes, a professional format and a business model built to grow.
“It’s more than a competition: it’s a platform to transform raw strength into entertainment, community and business,” he wrote. “I believe GymBattle360 answers a demand that’s been ignored for too long and fills a true gap in the sports landscape.”
The first season kicks off with six months of open online qualifiers (September 2026 through February 2027), which are open to all U.S. gym-goers. The top five athletes from each city (one per weight class) will earn a spot on their city team. Those teams will advance to a seven-day live final in March 2027, featuring 24 cities and a $500,000 prize pool.
The competition isn’t just about brute strength. GymBattle360 has created a standardized framework that blends barbell and bodyweight training to measure what most people actually work on in the gym. Athletes are tested across eight core movements (bench press, squat, deadlift, overhead press, push-ups, pull-ups, dips and air squats) with performance scored through a proprietary Volume Scoring System that factors in both output and consistency for a balanced, data-driven way to assess total fitness, not just one-rep power.
Marchouhi tells Athletech News the goal is to launch with 12 active city teams before expanding nationwide. Though the first edition will be male-only, a dedicated women’s edition is already in the pipeline.
