inSPIRE Rock Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Specs: inSPIRE Rock’s newest location opened in Lubbock, Texas, on October 11th, led by owners Christina and Bryan Robins, Robyn and Blake Birkenfeld, Cece and Grant McCasland, and Terri and Paul Short. Founder Paul Schwartz opened the first inSPIRE Rock location in Spring, Texas, in 2013, and then, in 2018, the Cypress location opened in Texas after Bryan partnered Schwartz. Bryan grew up climbing outside in Wyoming and Utah and later moved to Texas for work. With limited access to outdoor climbing, his focus shifted to indoor climbing when his children joined inSPIRE Rock’s climbing team in Spring. Over time, the logistics of long commutes to the Spring gym became a driving factor in the decision to partner with Schwartz on the opening of the Cypress gym. “I got tired of driving an hour every day to get to that gym for practice,” Bryan said.
Schwartz had been planning the Lubbock location for years, navigating a financial landscape where indoor climbing gyms were still not well known. “Banks didn’t really understand what climbing gyms were or if they could be profitable,” Bryan explained. The process from purchasing land to opening the gym’s doors took around a decade, after an already long process of securing funding. Then, in October 2024, Bryan and Blake bought out Schwartz’s active ownership in the business, moving forward with the new gym project and adding to their ownership team before finally opening the Lubbock location in October 2025.
The idea for the Lubbock gym originated with a phone call from Grant McCasland, head coach of the Texas Tech men’s basketball team, whose daughter was a competitive climber in need of a training facility. “They reached out to us and said, ‘Let’s build a gym here in Lubbock and bring it to this community,’” Bryan recalled. While the ownership group was initially hesitant, as “usually you want to be in a bigger town,” Bryan said, a visit to Lubbock quickly changed their perspective. “We kind of fell in love with the city and the people,” he added, noting that the area’s population of roughly 300,000, with a large college community, made it a viable market. The Lubbock gym is about eight hours northwest of inSPIRE Rock’s other locations, so Bryan and Christina split their time between Houston and Lubbock, relying heavily on long-term managers in operating the gyms. “Our general manager has been here since the doors opened in 2014,” he added.
After securing land, the Lubbock gym took about two years to complete. The Lubbock facility is a 14,000-square-foot, ground-up build located slightly outside the city’s main commercial area, though Bryan emphasized the area remains accessible. “Everything’s a 10-to-12-minute drive to get anywhere,” he said, adding that development of the Lubbock area is trending toward the gym’s location. Rather than building a mixed-discipline climbing gym, the team opted for a bouldering-only model. “The capital cost to build a big rope gym is massive,” Bryan explained, estimating that a rope-focused facility today could cost double or triple what it did in the past. “We wanted it [to be] big enough to support members, but not so big that we’re chasing a monthly payment.”
The gym features 6,000 square feet of climbing wall surface split among bouldering walls reaching 14.5 feet, a Tension Board 2 and a Kilter Board. Yoga and fitness classes are held at the gym, with additional space for group events, birthday parties and meetups. Providing youth programs was a big reason the gym was started, so inSPIRE Rock Lubbock offers a variety of youth training and competitive teams, camps, and other coaching options. The fitness areas at the gym feature free weights, cardio equipment and more, in addition to a range of climbing training amenities, such as hangboards and campus boards. “We’re learning every day—is this model better or worse for feasibility?” Bryan said of the business’s first bouldering-focused facility. “We want to see what direction we want to go.”
Walls: Walltopia
Flooring: ClimbMat
CRM Software: RGP
Website: inspirerock.com/lubbock/
Instagram: @inspirerocklubbock
In Their Words: “A lot of gyms struggle because they build too big and their costs get out of control. You’re not building a dream gym for yourself—you’re building a gym for the community, and the community has to be able to support it. Especially right now, with high interest rates and construction costs, you really have to be disciplined about scale.” – Bryan Robins, inSPIRE Rock Co-Owner
