Ben Gotts is co-founder of Foundry and an ex-professional rugby player. This is his story.
There are gyms built on spreadsheets and investor decks. And then there’s Foundry – built on a busted knee, a thousand pounds’ worth of strongman equipment, and a simple belief that belonging to something changes everything.
Ten years on, Foundry is still founder-led, independently operated, and still coaching the same way it always has: small groups, expert coaches, and a community that knows your name.
But it nearly didn’t happen at all.
The injury that started everything
Ben Gotts was the rugby guy. Rosslyn Park, weekends on the pitch, mates ringing him about tickets. That was the life.
Then, at 16, a serious knee injury changed the trajectory entirely. No ACL, bone on bone. The kind of damage that ends not only a career but also an identity.
“To not be able to do the thing you think you’re super capable of doing and should be achieving more in, and for that to be taken away from you – it was pretty bad.”
Most people who’ve played sport at that level will recognise the feeling. The thing you’ve built your whole life around, gone. And with it, the structure, the team, the sense of purpose that comes from belonging to something bigger than yourself.
For Ben, that period was tough.
A thousand pounds and a field at Rosslyn Park
What came next wasn’t a business plan. It was a solution.
Ben spent £1,000 on strongman equipment and started running sessions out on the field at Rosslyn Park, the same club where he’d been playing. No gym or branding. Just structured training, good coaching, and the kind of energy that spreads when something actually works.
The sessions got busy. Then super busy.
And that became Foundry.
What rugby taught him about training (and people)
Ben will tell you that the injury shaped him as much as the sport did. But it’s the team element, the belonging, that’s stayed with him most.
“What I think stayed with me about being part of a team is belonging to something. Committing to something that’s not just you – supporting others, working for others, but also being a beneficiary of being part of a team. Others working for you as well.”
That’s not just a nice sentiment. It’s the blueprint for how Foundry was designed. From the beginning, Ben wanted it to feel like a members’ club – somewhere people had nicknames, somewhere they could sit and socialise after sessions, somewhere the coaches knew who you were before you’d even introduced yourself.
Six people per session. Fifty minutes. Expert coaching. That’s the format now, and it exists precisely because it recreates something the gym industry had largely lost: the feeling of being known.
Why Foundry is still different
A lot has changed since those first sessions at Rosslyn Park. There are now locations across London and the South East, coaches who’ve built genuine careers here, and a community that by any honest measure is closer to a club than a gym.
But the fundamentals? Unchanged.
Ben is still coaching. Still turning up. Still patting people on the back after a good session.
“I’d just be happy knowing we’ve created a safe space at Foundry that has improved someone’s life in some way. Whether it’s given them an hour away from work where they don’t have to think about what they’re doing, or created a space to exercise where they didn’t feel they had that before.”
Finding your fit
Ben lost his identity as a rugby player the day he couldn’t play anymore. What he built in its place, for himself and for thousands of members since, is something harder to describe but easier to feel.
“Finding my fit means finding a place where you feel like you belong. Where you can authentically be yourself and give the best version of yourself, without fear of judgment and just be happy.”
If that sounds like somewhere you’ve been looking for, the door’s open.
Watch his story here:
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