Academy Jiu-Jitsu Grows Attendance 30% and Halves Office Labor with PushPress

Academy Jiu-Jitsu and Kickboxing isn't a startup gym. Owner Eduardo Lomeli has run management software since 2018, growing the school to 500–600 students across two Southern California locations in Downey and Yorba Linda. But as the academy grew, the platforms underneath it couldn't keep up, and the manual work of managing leads, billing, and attendance was holding the team back from doing what it does best: coaching on the mat.

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After switching to PushPress, Academy saw class attendance climb 30%, cut its front office nearly in half, and lowered its software bill, all while gaining a member app, AI-powered lead handling, and a support team that shows up in person.

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The Problem

Outgrowing the old platforms

Academy started on Zen Planner in 2018, then moved to MindBody. Neither kept pace. "Zen Planner had quite a few glitches I couldn't work with," Eduardo says. MindBody was serviceable for a while, "but the technology just wasn't improving."

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Lead management was the real bottleneck

The deeper issue wasn't billing. Instead, it was everything around it. Every phone call, text, Instagram DM, and Facebook message was handled by hand, scattered across half a dozen inboxes, and it required a large front office to keep up.

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"Managing leads was always a bottleneck. People would call in or text in, and it was all manual labor... typing every single message out from scratch."

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Academy needed a single platform that could consolidate communication, automate the busywork, and give the team time back, without leads slipping through the cracks.

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The Solution

A platform built around support, not just features

Eduardo had evaluated other platforms and even came close to signing with one. What won him over wasn't a feature checklist — it was the people.

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"It came down to the people being there for us, guiding us every step of the way, having that onsite visit, and knowing we'd be supported through the transition. That went a long way, because the transition is the hardest part."

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PushPress Core handled billing and membership management, while PushPress Grow consolidated lead and marketing automation — for less than MindBody, with more capability.

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Turning attendance into a game

Academy rebranded PushPress's Committed Club as the "Mat Masters Club," turning consistent attendance into something members compete for — stickers, raffles, and recognition.

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"It just creates FOMO. People don't like to miss out. They want that sticker at the end of the month, they want to get into the raffle. If they miss a week, they cram the training into another week."

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A bonus effect: it finally fixed check-ins. In jiu-jitsu, members often skip checking in, which quietly distorts attendance data and promotion tracking. Tying rewards to check-ins gave members a reason to do it themselves.

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A frictionless front door

QR codes let prospects handle trials, paperwork, and sign-ups on their own phones before they walk in. "When they come in, we don't have to worry about paperwork — the boring stuff. We can be more personable." Members use the app to check in, view the schedule, track progress, and follow their belt rank.

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Lead management, automated

Every inbound conversation now lives in one place inside Grow, managed through opportunities and pipelines with intelligent AI answering leads automatically, especially after hours.

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"Now I have my weekends. Saturday and Sunday, UFC fights happen and people are drunk-texting 'I want to be a fighter.' Before, I'd say it's 10 PM. Now I just let AI handle it — and the AI is very nice to them."

Result

30% increase in attendance

Since launching the Mat Masters Club, Academy has measurably grown how often members show up driven by the FOMO loop and consistent check-ins.

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Front office cut from 4–5 staff to ~2.5

Automating lead handling and deploying the AI bot dramatically reduced the manual labor that used to require a full front desk.

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"Before, we used to have four or five office staff. Now we only have like two and a half. It just makes it so much easier."

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Lower cost, more capability

"We were able to get all the tools we had with MindBody, for less — and it is working better."

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Less stress, fewer dropped leads

Asked what feels noticeably easier now, Eduardo's answer is immediate: lead management. Everything that used to be scattered is consolidated, and nothing falls through the cracks.

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Conclusion

What keeps Eduardo loyal is the same thing that won him over: the team behind the product.

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"We've had Dan come over and train with us. Being involved in an academy like that... I can't say we've had it with any other software. Knowing I can text or call somebody if we have a major question makes me feel a lot better."

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He fields cold calls from competitors weekly and turns them all down. His advice to other owners considering a switch: take your time, do the migration correctly, and know your audience. And remember that a belt system isn't a committed club. Belt promotions happen every few months. Committed Club gives members something to chase every single day. For Academy, that resulted in a huge increase.

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Ready to grow attendance, automate lead management, and run a leaner front office like Academy Jiu-Jitsu? Book a demo and see what PushPress Core + Grow can do for your gym.