We help everyday people become everyday athletes. A coach on every rep, a plan behind every week, and a floor full of good people — in Frisco since 2013.
Black Iron opened in 2013 on a simple belief: everyday people deserve real coaching too. Not a leaderboard culture that treats a Tuesday workout like a tryout. Not a sea of machines and a keycard. A coach who knows your name, programming with a plan behind it, and good people on every side of you.
The record
Thirteen years later, that idea has changed more than 3,000 lives across Frisco, Prosper, The Colony, Little Elm, McKinney, Plano, Celina, and North Dallas. Beginners, comeback stories, longtime athletes — we meet you where you are and coach every rep from there.
The floor
We are not CrossFit, not a big-box gym, not a boutique studio. Every member starts with Foundations — a week of one-on-one coaching — and every class runs at three levels, so nobody compromises and nobody gets thrown into the deep end.
“Your best years aren’t behind you. You just haven’t been trained properly yet. We fix the belief, then we forge the body.”
Three values
What we hold to.
01
The work matters more than the clock
Show up, do the work, and let the calendar do its job. We measure progress in months and years — not in how wrecked you feel by noon.
02
Forge the body, guard the mind
Training builds more than muscle. Discipline, resilience, a clearer head — the mental side is half the reason the good people here keep showing up.
03
Person first, athlete second
You’re a parent, a professional, a person with a full plate. The program bends around your life, and a coach pulls you back when you’re getting ahead of yourself.
Six beliefs
How we run the floor.
Programmed, not random
Cycled progressions, planned intensity, strength and conditioning balanced every week. Nothing on the whiteboard is an accident.
Three levels, one class
Same movement, same clock, different target. Beginners and 10-year athletes train side by side. The system flexes so the member doesn’t have to.
Longevity is the backbone
We train you to love this for decades — not to survive a six-week challenge.
The 23 hours matter more than the 1
Nutrition, sleep, daily habits. What happens between sessions decides most of your results, so our coaching doesn’t stop at the whiteboard.
Foundations is non-negotiable
Every member starts with a week of one-on-one coaching. Basics, baseline, body. It’s why this works.
An ecosystem, not strangers
Coaches who check in, members who notice when you miss a week, and a community that makes showing up the easy part.
Veteran-owned
Built by a Marine.
Mike Manning is a medically retired Marine Corps combat veteran. He led a signals intelligence support team in Afghanistan, rebuilt himself as an athlete after his injuries, and came to Black Iron in 2014 for the thing he missed most from the Corps — a team that pushes each other to show up and be better. He bought out his partners in 2018 and has been sole owner since.
That’s why discipline, integrity, and service run through everything here. And it’s why military and first responders get 5% off any membership — no forms to hunt down, just tell us.
Coaching in Frisco since 2014, sole owner since 2018. Mike runs Black Iron on a simple idea: everyday people deserve real coaching too — programmed training, honest standards, and a floor where person comes first, athlete second.
This October we move into our new home at 279 Main St, Suite 110 — right next door to the space we train in today. Not a move across town. A big upgrade in quality, amenities, and space, built for the community we already have.
Until the new doors open, everything runs as usual at Suite 122. And the new space brings a recovery room of its own: two cold plunges and a five-person sauna that runs infrared and red light on top of traditional heat, so it still gets hot.
The recovery room · Rendering — details may changeThe new floor · Rendering — details may change
Renderings of the new build — details may change before opening day.
Come see for yourself.
Book a free consultation — twenty minutes with a coach, zero pressure. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so.
