Hector Bravo UNHINGED
Official Hector Bravo Podcast
Hector Bravo UNHINGED
He Lost His Gym Overnight… Then Built a 29,000 Sq Ft Empire
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We trace Alex’s rise from a 1,400 sq ft kettlebell studio to a 29,000 sq ft destination gym built on functional strength, community, and calculated risk. Setbacks, a failed partnership, and COVID became fuel for a smarter system and a stronger culture.
• roots in Chula Vista and family fitness influence
• kettlebells as a turning point and RKC rigor
• first brick-and-mortar launch and word-of-mouth growth
• partnership collapse, park workouts, and rebuilding mindset
• COVID pivot with open-air turf and renewed momentum
• programming shift to all-around strength and conditioning
• funding a calculated leap without investors
• securing a massive warehouse and pre-sale hustle
• rapid membership growth and community-first culture
• solving parking and planning scalable operations
• art wall symbolism, identity, and leadership values
• practical advice on risk, resilience, and purpose
We are in San Diego, specifically East Lake Chula Vista area. Address: 2390 Boswell Road, Suite 400, Chula Vista, CA 91914. More info at www.extremefitnesscv.com. Follow @extremefitnesscv and @alexverdugojr. See you at the gym. If you guys like what you saw, make sure you hit the subscribe button. Love you, keep pushing forward.
Meet Alex And The Gym Vision
SPEAKER_03Welcome back to our channels, Warriors. We are still growing today. Another banger for you guys, man. I brought in the owner of the gym that I go to. Dude, I've this gym is the best gym I've ever been to, to be quite honest, man. His name is none other than Alex. What up, Alex? Hector Bravo on chaos is now in section. What's up, brother? Thank you for uh having me. Appreciate that. Thanks for coming in, dude. So, yeah, bro, your gym is the shit, man. Uh, and we're gonna go into how all of this came about, bro. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um didn't start off easy, you know what I mean? Like it's been a long time coming. Uh, first and foremost, thank you for being a member of my gym, you know. Thank you for giving us a shot. Um, a little background or a little from the starting point. Uh my first brick and mortar, my first location was uh established in 2010.
SPEAKER_032010. And we're now we're currently 2026. And you said you're a California or uh San Diego native, Chula Vista.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, specifically Chula Vista. I went to East Lake High School, which is two minutes away from where my gym is now. You went to East Lake High School?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I went to East Lake.
SPEAKER_02No way, bro.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's right there, dude. Because I didn't think that um Otai or East Lake was that. I thought it was a newer community.
SPEAKER_02It was. I think uh when I got there, I was probably one of the newest freshmen there. I mean, there was probably like the two classes before me. So I mean, yeah, I started it from the I was there in the from the beginning. Oh, so we've seen it built over time. Uh I went to East Lake Elementary, I went to Bonita Middle because East Lake Middle School wasn't made at that time. It wasn't established at that time. And then from there I went to East Lake High School.
SPEAKER_03That makes this story that much better, bro, because not only are you from there, you watched it grow, you actually have, and I'm gonna say this, the best freaking gym, bro. And I'm not here just kissing your ass because I want the crowd to understand, oh, dude. Thank you, bro. Everything that is involved in it, bro, and the equipment.
SPEAKER_02Uh, equipment, I mean, you you know what in what's there. Uh, I did my best to just, you know, make that place the best gym possible as far as like all around fitness, you know. It wasn't necessarily just bodybuilding, it was more of just true, true strength training, um, and top elite training. Okay. Uh, in Tru La Vista or in San Diego. You know what I mean? So we have the best of all worlds: bodybuilding, functional fitness, group classes, reformer Pilates. Um, you know, High Rocks is pretty big right now. We have a high rocks platform there, uh, full cardio, you know, anything you want, we have it at that location, you know, cold plunge, sauna, uh, everything.
Roots In Chula Vista And Early Fitness
SPEAKER_03That's a fact, bro. That's a fact. So, like fitness and health with you, has that always been relevant in your life?
SPEAKER_02You know, I had a very good upbringing. My parents brought me up the right way. Uh, my dad was an old school bodybuilder, so he bodybuilding was his lifestyle.
SPEAKER_03When you say old school bodybuilding, are we talking about like the magazines, like the competition, like Arnold?
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yeah, just he he was in the gym every day. He would do uh, you know, he had a show here and there. You know, he wasn't as big as you know some of the old school bodybuilders, but he did what he could and he loved the sport. And, you know, at that time, I wasn't very athletic. I kind of refused to go into the fitness world, you know what I mean? I feel you. So I just looked at it from an outside looking in, like, you know, I was like, oh, that's cool, dad. You know, but not knowing that that was gonna be a staple in my life, and I was gonna fall in love with it a few years later, and then just kind of dive in, you know?
SPEAKER_03Dude, that's awesome, bro.
SPEAKER_02And my mom, she's always took care of herself. She's an endurance athlete, so she's always doing like half marathons, marathon runners. You probably see my mom in the gym today. You know, she's in her 60s, killing it, killing these high ROX workouts, you know, working with her trainer, pushing herself on a daily, and you know, the fact that she just it's just an inspiration for my parents, you know.
SPEAKER_03So fitness has been a part of your life. Yes. Now, how do you view current times? How do you view health in in a person's life?
SPEAKER_02Uh how important? I mean, it's super important. It's really the only thing we own in life, you know? Like you don't have control of anything around you, not even your kids, not even, you know, anything that's super close to you. The only thing you have ultimately control, ultimate control in is your body, your health, and that's with you when you're born, and that's gonna be with you when you leave.
SPEAKER_03I like that, dude. You know, I like that. Yeah. Now it's one thing to have parents that are amazingly fit and in shape, but when at what point did the first thought process of like, I want to start my have my own gym?
Discovering Kettlebells And RKC
SPEAKER_02Um, so I was in school. I got my first job as a personal trainer at a gym in East Lake, a big commercial gym in East Lake. I'm not gonna say any names, but they are a neighboring gym of where my gym's at now. And I just became a personal trainer, I was just trying to go through school or get through to school. Originally I was trying to become a doctor. So I wanted to be an obstetrician, studying so forth. And then I realized there was blood involved. So I was like, uh, you know, I'm cool with seeing my own blood, but I don't really want to see other people's blood. Like, that's just not my passion. So as I was in that job field, I was training and, you know, realized that that was the love that I had. I love helping people, I love pushing people, I love creating a motivating atmosphere. Like just everybody has that mindset of just trying to get better, you know, and it's always stuck with me, uh, whether it be, you know, business or health or whatever, you know, like I just love to see that. I love to see people win. I love for them to just strive for greatness, you know. So uh one of my clients in that gym, one of my original clients, she just kind of threw the idea, was like, Well, why don't you open up a gym? Because she knew that I was having second thoughts about my where the career I wanted to go. And I was like, I was like, yeah. I was like, but that's sounds you know easier than what it really takes, you know. So uh my mom, I I took that, I took that advice, thought about it. My mom brought home uh a kettlebell. You know what a kettlebell is? Absolutely, bro. Yeah. So at that time, they were not very common, you know. In 2010, nobody really knew what a kettlebell was.
SPEAKER_03No, no, you're right. Like the way you're asking me right now, it was kind of foreign. It was like a Russian uh, Russian kettlebells it's a Russian tool, correct?
SPEAKER_02So um, so she brought home a kettlebell, and at that time I had more of the bodybuilding mindset. Right. So I was like, oh, I'm gonna get this bench press, yeah. Let me get that up or whatever.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And which is cool, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. Right. But my mom brought home a kettlebell, and kettlebells are in kilograms.
SPEAKER_03A hundred percent.
SPEAKER_02So she brought home a 12 kilogram kettlebell, and which is about 26, 27 pounds, right? And she did what's called the kettlebell snatch in front of me. Okay, and I was like, what the heck was that? You know, like what like did you like that? Went up super quick. It was good form, too. You know, she had a good coach. So she did that snatch, and I was like, Oh, well, if you can do that, I can do that. Okay. So I picked it up, and I not I was like, oh, this is 12k. At that time, I thought it was 12 pounds because I wasn't aware of the kilogram trans transition.
SPEAKER_03Dude, you started from the bottom, bro. This is awesome.
SPEAKER_02So um, so I took it from her, I grabbed it, lifted. I was like, holy shit, this is super heavy. Like, this is not 12 pounds, you know? So I was like, okay. And I did try to do a kettlebell snatch, banged up my wrist, like the form was just all off, right. You know what I mean? So that was just kind of an indicator, like, well, my mom is like 110 pounds, five, five, two, and she's doing a kettlebell snatch, multiple snatches, and you know, it was just like a wow. So that was an indicator of like, what the hell am I doing? Like, I can bench press, you know, 300 pounds, but I can't do a kettlebell snatch with like the functional fit. Yes. So it was just an eye-opener for me, you know. And so I fell in love with the kettlebell. And again, at that time, nobody was doing it, maybe like not even a handful of people. I started with the buddy, we just kind of fell in love with it. I went to go get my certification because I was still working at that commercial gym and I wanted to just kind of better myself. I went to UCLA to get an RKC certification, uh, Russian kettlebell challenge.
SPEAKER_03You went to UCLA? Yeah. Like like in LA?
SPEAKER_02Not to the school itself, but they were holding uh certification or workshop.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I went there and it was in 2008. Uh my buddy and I went there. We did the whole three-day certification through RKC, which is now known as Strong First Certification. Um, and just the camaraderie and everything that I learned in that certification just completely changed my mindset as far as training.
SPEAKER_03How long was the course? Hours, days?
SPEAKER_02Three days, eight hours a day.
SPEAKER_03Three days, eight hours a day. And what are you learning? Everything from the ground up?
SPEAKER_02You're going over five, I'm sorry, six six key exercises swing, uh, double kettlebell swing, clean, squat, press, and snatch, and Turkish get up. And it's not like you can just perform the exercises. They're honing in your skills and they're looking at all the details of your movements to making sure you could do it right, you know. So um it was just you know, it was just the best certification I've ever gone to. And I've been through some certifications, you know, like I have some knowledge and background, and that certification was just what made that one stand out more?
SPEAKER_03The camaraderie?
SPEAKER_02The camaraderie, the leadership. Okay, and you know, it was just super hands-on. Like, you know, you go to a certification, it's like, oh, you're gonna go read this literature, starting presentation, multiple choice, multiple choice tests, whatever. We did a multiple choice test, but it was literally eight hours of ass kicking.
SPEAKER_01That's fucking funny.
SPEAKER_02Like we're focusing on one exercise for three to four hours in that day, and then you're we're only covering two exercises a day. So we're doing close to you know 10,000 swings.
SPEAKER_03Now, with that certification, is that a building block to what you would eventually go do?
SPEAKER_02Yes. So that was me just learning the kettlebell, uh honing in my skills, fine-tuning it, and then later on I advanced myself in different certifications through Strong First and RKC. Um, but you know, just the knowledge that I got from that, it was like, I've been doing everything all wrong. You know, life is not just about bodybuilding, it's about being all around strong. You know, let me it's not just about dumbbell bench press. You know, if you can't do five pull-ups, what good is your 300-pound bench press? You know, like if you can't do, you know, some bodyweight squats, 25 reps, what's the point of doing one, you know, 300-pound squat?
SPEAKER_03I had no idea that you were that into functional training, bro. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it's been a staple, like I love it. I love bodybuilding. Bodybuilding is and I respect bodybuilding as well. But at the end of the day, like, bodybuilding is not really gonna do much for you and besides looking aesthetically nice, you know?
SPEAKER_03And being strong, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And being strong, yeah. You know what I mean? But if you're trying in life, you want to be all around strong, your functionality needs to be on point. You know, I see you in the gym doing burpees all the time. Burpee cardio. Yeah, burpees fucking suck. But you push yourself and it's more of like a mental mindset, it's a barrier, you know what I mean? So believe it or not, I watch everything that goes on in my gym. I learn all the trades and the passions that everybody has. And the fact that I'm able to have such a wide variety of you know, health and wellness and fitness under one place is super amazing, bro.
SPEAKER_03The community there is awesome, dude. And I've been wanting to say this. It's like it's like that CrossFit community vibe, but everybody's doing their own thing. It's always like, hey, what up? What up, man?
Functional Strength Over Aesthetics
SPEAKER_02It's just like as soon as you walk in, the mindset is like, let's fucking go. Let's crush it. Let's work out, let me get my shit done. You know, let me go hit what I gotta hit. And it's not like you're going to, you know, another commercial gym where it's like, oh, let me, you're gonna find these people on the phone, on the machine.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's not that vibe, dude. Now that like it's it's almost a sweet spot between like a CrossFit gym and like a commercial gym. It's like the perfect mix, dude. And I didn't even think that was possible.
SPEAKER_02Right, right.
SPEAKER_03So and we're gonna get into it because like the designs, the the paintings, and the hype, all bro. We're gonna get into it. Okay. So when was the first how many gyms have you all owned opened?
SPEAKER_02Okay, so 2010, I was there for three years. That was 1,400 square feet. I don't know if you're aware of square footage, but it was probably the size of this room.
SPEAKER_03Which is which is what? Uh like a big living room plus kitchen?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. So I opened up my first kettlebell gym uh in Bonita. In Bonita. Do you know where the Little Caesars in Bonita is by Plaza Bonita Mall? There's like an El Pollo Grillo.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's a freaking massage envy right there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. So that Little Caesars was my first location. The Little Caesars.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02We were the second business as it was being restored.
SPEAKER_03What year was this?
SPEAKER_022010.
SPEAKER_03Oh man.
SPEAKER_02So it was a Pier One imports. If you're if you're a Chula Vista native and all that, um, you'll know where the Pier 1 is.
SPEAKER_03That's where the taco de Revolución is.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. The same building.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02But just the suite, you know, three suites down. Yeah. Uh next to the beauty store. So I was there for three years.
SPEAKER_03You were there for three years. Now, what dude, you were trying to you were trying to become a doctor, right? You had the doctor mindset of education. Right. You had your parents' guidance of fitness. Bro, how the hell did you like research? I gotta rent this lease this spot.
SPEAKER_02It was actually, you know, conveniently, I was going to school and I have a business management degree. So as I was kind of going into that and just learning through school, it kind of coincided with me opening up my business at the time. And, you know, and also I just threw myself out there. Like I network with people, asked people what to do. You know, nobody likes going to the city of Chula Vista for permits, but I was there on a daily, but you know, what do I need to do to open this up? You know, and you had to do that? I had to do all that, man. Like get permits. Oh, that sounds so horrible. It's me to me, bro. At 26 years old, bro. Like, you know, like, and you know, it was a scary process, but honestly, like when you want something, you just do it.
SPEAKER_03So the next as we proceeded in this interview, bro, like the way I'm gonna stage the questions and knowing what I now know, it's like, you know, I have a seven-year-old daughter, and I brought her to the gym. It's like I want the crowd to get the audience to get the understanding of what it takes to like make something happen. And like you said, bro, it's not easy. You gotta make 26 years old, dude. That's like yeah, that's rare, dude, but that's like your prime right there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 100%. I mean, I don't know. I've always just been like that. Once I stick my mind to something and I know I want it, I'm gonna do my best to get it, you know. And I'm not really good at taking no for an answer, even though I'll take the no's, but I'll go try to find the yes.
SPEAKER_03Did you partner with anybody? Did you no?
SPEAKER_02At the time my mom just helped me out. She, my mom was uh she's a real estate agent, loan officer, and you know, she kind of saw the vision and the dream of me of what I had, and she invested in that dream at the time, and yeah, she helped me out.
SPEAKER_03Bro, that's before Instagram, any social media, any social media.
SPEAKER_02So, what would that's like MySpace days, maybe.
SPEAKER_03What did marketing look like for you?
Opening The First Kettlebell Studio
SPEAKER_02Just word of mouth, man. So actually, not funny that you bring that up. All right, so back to we opened up 2010. I had kettlebells in the studio, you know, you can see them from the the mirror, or from I'm sorry, from the window. And you had your traditional hard style black kettlebells, and then I bought what's called a GoFit brand. And these kettlebells are all color coordinated, so you could see the red, you can see the yellow, the pink, and all that. And the only reason the kettlebells weren't the best, but I don't the only reason why I bought them is so that when women came in, they would see the colors and be like, oh my god, that's cute. I want to use that strategy, bro. So it was just that was the market, that was one of my marketing plans there. Um, and then just I don't know, brother. I just you know was out there. Well, originally I started at the park, so I went to formulated group class at the park, got a little following, opened up the brick and mortar in 2010, and you know, they followed me, and it was just word of mouth.
SPEAKER_03And like, were you working a counter as well? Was there a counter like where you would take registrations or yeah?
SPEAKER_02So I was doing it all, but we would close throughout the midday, so I wouldn't be there all day. Uh, we would just open early morning for classes, uh, close to the midday, and then come back in the afternoon where we were busy. And people would just come in once they saw people swinging, okay, you know, and working out in the group class environment.
SPEAKER_03D is this where you were learning like peak times of days when people come and work out?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I mean, if anybody, if you've ever been a trainer or whatnot, like your on hours are people's off hours. Say that again. You're on hours or people's off hours. That makes sense. You know, so you know, my busiest time is 5 a.m. 4 a.m. through 10 a.m. chill out, come back 3 p.m. to you know, 10 p.m., whatever.
SPEAKER_03Dang, dude. So yeah. People actually get those late workouts in? You'd be surprised, man. I can't do it, bro. I got to do it.
SPEAKER_02Me personally, I can't do it, you know what I mean? But you know, people are there. You know, people start at 5 a.m. That gym, thank god my gym now is busy throughout the day. Like it's even even like 12-1, I'm like, don't these people work? You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03So fulfillment level. During this first brick and mortar kettlebell in Bonita, right there by Plaza Bonita, what was the fulfillment level for you? Were you satisfied? Were you fulfilling a passion?
SPEAKER_02I was fulfilling a passion and it was a dream that I had, you know. It was the first kettlebell gym in Chula Vista.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, but it was also scary, man. You know, like I really wasn't making a lot of money. I was just making enough to pay bills for about two, two and a half years. You know, I was growing, but you know, my rent was for 1400 square foot at that time was I think it was like 3,900. Yeah, specifically$4,000 a month, not including electricity, not including, you know, whatever cost it takes for materials like restroom, all that. Like it was an expense, man. And at 26 years old, you know, I was just trying to get it done and still getting to know the business, and it was tough. You know, luckily I made it through and I was able to make enough every month to just to you know pay bills and go and do that. Um what made it also scarier is that the same year I opened up my gym is the same year I found out I was gonna be a dad. Oh wow, dude. So yeah. So opened up my gym a few months later, um found out that I was gonna have a son.
SPEAKER_03And now I I remember tossing the idea around in 2011 when CrossFit boomed. Yes. And me and my friends were like, hey, dude, we should open up a CrossFit gym. All we'll have to do is buy the equipment up front and everything else will just pay itself off. Is there what's the logic behind that? Can you break that down? Like, what's the realistic coming to owning a gym? Because you said you got to pay for rent. Uh you meant you mentioned like um at the beginning level or at the level I'm at now? Well, how does it differ? Break it down for me.
SPEAKER_02Um, I mean, I guess it's pretty pretty much the same. Like at the end of the day, you know, it's very glamorous for you know, you see an owner like, oh, he owns a business, he's making all kinds of money. That is not true at all. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, it's rewarding. It gets rewarding, you know. Thank God I've it's been rewarding for me at this level. But, you know, the first six years of my life, like it was me just dishing out money for marketing. I try to do paper marketing, like mail money mailers and all that, um, just buying certain like equipment, fixing equipment. Equipment breaks down.
SPEAKER_03Ooh, fixing equipment, dude. As a gym owner, how often does equipment break down?
SPEAKER_02Weekly. Weekly. Even now, like in my newest gym, all my machines are new, and you know, there's we still get things that you know break down, and I have to get them fixed. You know what I mean? And I really do my best to try to have a big of quick turnaround.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02Even though some things are, you know, out of my hands, you know, we're getting certain things fixed because of shipping and delays and where they're where they're from. But you know, I don't want to be known as another typical commercial gym at this level. I want people to know that I'm there, I care, and I want that equipment to be, you know, fully functioning for everybody.
SPEAKER_03So the level you're at now, I know what level you're at now because I I'm a member of your gym. Yeah. How many steps were there in between and what did it look like for you? Did it look like a gradual incline or was there like peaks and valleys and all around?
SPEAKER_02There was a lot of highs and lows, brother. A lot of highs and lows.
SPEAKER_03Elaborate.
Partnership, Betrayal, And Starting Over
SPEAKER_022010, did three years, right? After the three years, moved deeper into Benita next to the like there's a Wells Fargo. Now there's like a little, it's a meal prep company or some type of lounge. Anyways, I was there for three years. It was 4,000 square feet, so it was a mild increase. The building was not that great, you know, but I made it happen, I made it work, was there for three years. After six years of Benita, I decided to move towards East Lake, you know. And in this transition to East Lake, um, okay, I'm gonna back up real quick. So in in my gym now, there is my old gym. That is directly across the street from where I'm at.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_02Right? That same gym, I moved into that same building. I moved uh maybe like seven years ago, eight years. Anyways, right after Benita, I moved to that gym with a partnership. Okay. Okay. And it started off really good. I brought all my clientele there. They had their current clientele. We formed a union. Things were moving. What what was that one called? That was called uh Maxim Athletic. Okay. Yeah. Maxim, I joined, it was a joint venture. There was a gym called Lifelong Athletics there, or a program, excuse me, a program called Lifelong Athletics. Unfortunately, the that owner passed away. Um, and I was approached to help take it over, you know, and keep keep the the movement alive in the East Seg area.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02You know what I mean? So I closed my gym, merged it with a partner who was the previous partners or pre previous program's partner. Okay. And it was Maxim Athletic, so it kind of dissolved my own identity, you know, like in hopes of trying to create this partnership and push forward. Um was there for a year and basically the old partner kind of did some shady stuff to me, uh, played with the payroll a little bit and basically put our business in red. So we couldn't really they they were saying that we couldn't pay the bills and our partnership was over, and I tried to fight for it as far as I back it up financially. And um long story short, I was left without a gym overnight. No way. They kicked me out of my own gym.
SPEAKER_03You're like fucking Steve Jobs, bro. Yeah, like got kicked out of Microsoft.
SPEAKER_02It was literally one of the toughest experiences, toughest experiences I've ever gone through, you know. And I was kicked out of my own business overnight, and I specifically remember this weekend. It was a Friday. I had no no really like no real rights because I was still young-minded, and I went in there with just kind of like verbal, you know, agreements or whatever. So, anyways, ended up. I literally just had to go that following Monday. I took whatever clients that would come with me, and we went to the park right next to my house to try to just save whatever I could.
SPEAKER_03You said you were young-minded. Um I've been a young man once in my life. And what type of emotions were you feeling? Resentment, anger?
SPEAKER_02All of the above, man. I was broken, to be honest with you, brother. I was broken, like I was more just doing it and going through the emotions for the people who believed in me. Okay, you know, and not just my clients, like my family. Okay, you know, it was it was really the toughest experience, business experience. Well, one of the toughest business business experiences that I had to go through, you know, like and humbling, super humbling, because in that partnership, I was doing, you know, I was doing all right at the time I was making, you know, what I thought was decent, pretty much decent money, you know, and then it went from a hundred to zero real quick.
SPEAKER_03Overnight.
SPEAKER_02Overnight, like literally overnight, bro. Like overnight, I was left with pretty much nothing. And thanks to all the people that follow me, they went to the park. And I was at the park for about six to eight weeks. And then I I was searching for locations during this time, and I found a location, an old CrossFit gym.
SPEAKER_03Before you move on, yeah, can I this is where most people quit. 100%. This in whatever we speak about in life, whether you're trying for a job or you're you're get asked out of a gym, this is where people quit. Throwing the fucking towel, man. Yeah, man. Go through a divorce, depression for sure. Yes.
Rebuilding In Rancho Del Rey And COVID Pivot
SPEAKER_02Inside, I was I was super depressed, you know. Like I again, I was moving through the motions, but you just kept moving through the motions, you just kept judging. Like, you know, it was either that or I think my mom my mom even told me, I believe it was my mom. She was like, you know, maybe you should just go get a nine to five.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02Or you just go work at Subway or whatever, you know, in the meantime. Um, but thankfully, I just I respect the shit out of you, bro.
SPEAKER_03Thank you, bro.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, man. Appreciate that.
SPEAKER_03So, what were you saying about this CrossFit gym?
SPEAKER_02So I was looking for other gyms because obviously I wanted to bring my group, like whatever members I had at that time, they still wanted to pay me. You know what I mean? And they were pushing for pushing me forward to go open up another location. So I found an old CrossFit gym in Rancho Del Rey.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02You know, Rancho Del Rey by the Costco.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So it's a little industrial community. It was 2,400 square feet. And we worked out a deal that basically I bought everything in in uh in that place. So luckily I had some money saved up. Uh my mom also, my mom also helped me out again. Okay. You know, think my mom, my mom's a shit. They're the best. She's always she's always had my back from day one. She's my biggest headache, but she's also my biggest supporter.
SPEAKER_03I feel you.
SPEAKER_02You know, even to this day. You know, my mom still yells at me. The only person in my gym that tells me what to do. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. She'd be like, Alex, go take out the trash. I'm like, what? You know, but uh, but anyways, my mom was super supportive and you know, she saw how destroyed I was, and you know, she she came to the rescue, to be honest with you. So she helped me buy the the gym, the small little studio. And even during that time, like I was going through the motions, but for about two years, man, I was still pretty lost. You know, because with this other partnership, you know, this guy was older than me. So, you know, he was kind of more of like an investor type of thing, and I saw the vision of me just kind of going to a different level in my career. A vision that I thought I would never be able to do by myself. Okay. You know?
SPEAKER_03What is it? What did the timeline look like? It looked like that one gym across from where your current one. Yes. And then to the park next to your house, and then to Rancho Del Rey. And then to Rancho Del Rey.
SPEAKER_02Was there for three years, like two years, finish off my lease? Because I finished off their lease, which was like two and a half years, right? And this is when um COVID started. So I was there. Luckily, the month that COVID started, or like two months, is the month to where that lease expired. And then I was like, Well, I'm here. I could still be open because it was like an open-air thing. That's cool. And then I get a phone call from the the East Lake building, the the one that's across the street.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02From the owner, from the actual owner of the building, saying that my old partners went out of business. Do you want this building back?
SPEAKER_03Wit that's the one you were at?
SPEAKER_02That was the one I was at. So when I moved to East Lake, you know what I mean? And not to mention when I was left out of the building, they threw my name under the gutter. Like they were saying that I couldn't make rent, that I couldn't pay the bills.
SPEAKER_03But the owner of the building called you.
SPEAKER_02But the owner of the actual building, uh, or his daughter, she reached out to me asking me if I wanted to rent the space.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02So my old partners went out of business. I came in and took that building back over.
SPEAKER_03Dang, dude. I was wondering how that I okay. I see how that's right. Now you see how it correlates, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And, you know, COVID happened, and I still, you know, I still made the transition because at that particular building there's a 60 by 30 yard turf. 60 by 30 yard turf. And I was able to be open because it was open air. So still run my gym, still run my programs, and still build every other commercial gym or whatever gym around me, like big gyms, were closed because it was COVID. You know, we couldn't do that. So COVID actually made my career and spiked me up because people found out that I was open and then they fell in love with the programs. And um at that time, because when I went back to the location, I made it Extreme Fitness again. It was Extreme Fitness Trole Vista.
SPEAKER_03When you went back to the thing, when I came, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So that's my before, and then I put it back once I got there again.
SPEAKER_03Uh now this clientele, where you're you're back in your old building. Your clientele that you had, were they like a consistent loyal group, or were they used getting new clients?
SPEAKER_02Super loyal. I mean both. So in transitioning to the new to back to East Lake, you know, I had my my loyal following. You know, some people have been with me since the very very first kettlebell class that's ever taught. And they've all supported me, and they yeah, they're just they're my ride or dice. And I they're still members of my gym today. That's awesome, dude. You know, you you you probably see them every day, you know.
SPEAKER_03Probably.
SPEAKER_02I'm not sure if you know Dana. Dana's the manager on site that I have. She's the older wife, the coach. Okay, I see.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I yeah, she's been there from the beginning.
SPEAKER_02She's been with me, not from the beginning, but pretty much. Okay, cool, cool. And she's always had my back, she's seen me at my worst, and she's always been a motivator as well. Nice. She is she's a blessing in my life for sure. You know what I mean? Like, she's I couldn't ask for a better person, you know, helping me out and having my back.
SPEAKER_03Now, all of this time that we've just covered and experience, are you living a normal life? Are you are you going to the club? Are you getting faded? Are you prioritizing business?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03What are you doing?
SPEAKER_02After the partnership ended and I went to around Shadow Re, I it was I was going through a lot of depression, brother. So I was partying, I was out there, you know, not really caring, you know, and still moving to the motions, but you know, Dana had my back. She would just be.
SPEAKER_03But that was not your normal behavior to be out there. It was not.
SPEAKER_02Because typically I don't, I'm not really like a social butterfly like that, you know?
SPEAKER_03Like I Yeah, yeah, I don't get that from you. That's why that's why I asked this question.
SPEAKER_02But I was I was hurting, bro, and I didn't know how to like handle that hurt, and it was more just like I just wanted to feel numb all the time. So, you know, my instructor's Dana, my brother Angel, who's been with me since day one, he also helped me like in rough transitions because you know, there'd be times where I'd be at home passed out drunk and they would open for me, you know. And I don't want to say that, but this is if you want the real deal, this is life. That's the real deal.
SPEAKER_03No, no, no. I needed to do that. They needed a fucking hear that.
SPEAKER_02I was it was one of the roughest patches of my life, you know, that I had to go through just because I didn't know to handle that that hurt. Right. But when I got the opportunity to go back to East Lake, is when I was like, all right, I got one more shot. This is you're either gonna make it or break it. And my mom is the one that actually told me this. She's like, you know, Alex, I've I've seen your life in the past two years. And she looked at me dead in my face like, I have two boys, and I love my two boys, and I know they're both gonna be successful. But out of my two boys, I thought you were gonna be the one that was gonna take it to new heights and you know, reach a certain level of success that was gonna not necessarily like free our family financially, you know, and she's like, I believed in you the most, you know, like and not to say, you know, we're my brother is super successful, you know what I mean? But maybe she was just telling me that it kind of kickstarted me, but that worked hit home. It worked, bro. I just kind of throw it back. I'm like, dang, you really just went in on me like that. She's like, I had such high hopes for you, and I don't know what, like, this is you, that's tough love, though. Yeah, 100%. I cried, bro. Like, I was like, it was that's real, yeah. So definitely snapped me out, and I was like now.
SPEAKER_03Let me ask you this, bro. So you're you're at your location that we're speaking of right now. Did you ever keep your eye on that big ass building across the street?
SPEAKER_02I never thought I would be able to do this by myself, bro. To be honest with you, I always thought like, you know, you hear like, oh, you gotta get investors and all of that, you know?
SPEAKER_03And um, but how did that come to be across the street? I mean, digging you got the compass gymnastics right there, like at what point you're back at this, you're back at your original building. What point did you realize I have the opportunity? When did that opportunity arise?
SPEAKER_02So when I went back to East Lake, um was there at that location for five years. It was strictly group classes and personal training. When I first got there, I was just trying to be able to make that rent because it's a significant rent increase. It was like close to$10,000 a month.
SPEAKER_03Wow, dude.
SPEAKER_02You know, just to pay rent. So, you know, but again, luckily I became a lot more popular. I tried, I changed my programming. That's kind of when I got into more all-around functional fitness or all-around strength training, barbell work, kettlebell work, you know, specific days. So Monday, leg day, Tuesday, back day, Wednesday, upper body abs and conditioning. Thursday, we got a glute day for the ladies. Guys can do glutes too, but uh glute day for the ladies, which became very popular, you know. That's why we I had so many women in my program.
SPEAKER_03Did you have more females at that one? At that one location?
SPEAKER_02At that time, my locate, my clientele was about 90% women.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
Calculated Risks And Funding The Big Leap
SPEAKER_02So, I mean, we had a few guys in there, but it was mostly no, it was like 90% women. Uh and I changed that programming up, and when I first got there, I was like, you know what, this this is it. This is I'm successful. I'm it's financially rewarding at this point.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02You know what I mean? Like I was saving, saving, because I'm not really, I don't really, I'm I don't really spend a lot of money on material things. I kind of just save and I would rather the people around me to have nice things like myself, you know. Um, so I was just saving, and then the last two years of my lease, it was like coming up to my fifth year or fourth year, excuse me. I don't know. I was like, I see Instagram and I see all these people having like this commercialized, commercial sized gym. Like, how do people get this? You know, like how how does this how does one get to this level, you know?
SPEAKER_03And um Were you looking at local ones or are you like no just like on Instagram? Like, you know, you see like everybody has the best life in Instagram, and I see you know, trainers that I've seen and I've followed that have like but simultaneously, there's there's two things happening simultaneously with social media is taking a and and social media influencers, yes, quote unquote. Right. So it becomes a whole aesthetic like appearance. Yes. So is that what caught your attention?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, obviously, uh, you know, like I'm in the fitness industry, I've been doing it for X amount of years.
SPEAKER_03So you were what you were doing is you were you were you were moving on with modern times.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was it was more like a mana like manifesting, you know, yeah. And in East Lake, East Lake's a very beautiful community and has grown so much, but it's still also behind in a lot of ways, you know. They're the gym scene in East Lake, you know, it's all about just commercial fitness.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02You know, you'll find your local crunch or your local planet fitness or LA Fitness or you know, even Lifetime Fitness now, which is all nice, you know. I'm sure they have great amenities, you know what I mean? But to find a destination gym in East Lake, you know, that was my goal and that was my vision. I was like, I want to have the best gym in San Diego, uh well, at least in Chola Vista, you know what I mean? And I want this to be the spot of hard work and dedication and motivated mindset, um, and just create the best destination gym in East Lake.
SPEAKER_03Were you sketching on a piece of paper? Were you drafting?
SPEAKER_02Were you envisioning it was just more of me playing on my laptop, you know what I mean? Like just the ideas and on my phone, just saving like concepts that I would see and just what type of equipment that I would want in my gym.
SPEAKER_03What you have right now, is that what you envisioned, or is it is it more or less? It's better. It's better. If fucking what you have or now is better? It's way better. 100%, bro.
SPEAKER_02I mean, my vision was one thing, but then um I just knew I had to take it to a different level. And, you know, there was a lot of I had I heard thousands of no's, you know, like even my mom and my brother, like my mom who's always my advocate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, she's like always like, I believe in everything you do, but she's like, I think your dream might be a little far-fetched, Alex. Like, like, you know, this is super risky, you know. Like I I have zero, I don't have any investors, you know. This has all been a family business. So, you know, I have a house that uh my mom and I bought from 2016. So I wonder for no, I'm sorry, yeah, 2005, 2005, 2006, and I just took money out of my house, and I took that money out of my house and I put it all into this gym. Everything that we have saved, like I reinvested into this gym. So that's why the number one question is like, Alex, like you this you the only owner, or you know, did you how many investors do you have? I'm like, I have zero.
SPEAKER_03Bro, I didn't even want to ask you. Like, I was like, how am I gonna ask this dude like financial questions? How does one fund something like this? Because I need the public to understand, like, dude, and we'll post like videos of it. There's like, there's everything. Everything treadmills, uh Stairmaster.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's a full commercial size gym.
SPEAKER_03No, no, there's there's everything. There's a heavy bag, too. I was fucking happy when you put that heavy bag, bro. Thank you, bro. Uh rigs, pull-up rigs, uh wall balls, um, squat racks, dude, bench, incline, decline.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So yeah, man, I risked it all. Literally put everything on the table, brother. Like, and now I had well, let me back up a little bit. Not the the house, the money for my house was great and all that, but throughout the five years, I also saved a lot of money. Okay, okay. You know what I mean? Like, it's not like I just like if you're in the business, like save as much as you can. Like if you want something, like you can't just do it and then live paycheck to paycheck and all that. Like, you gotta put it in the bank account.
SPEAKER_03But you strike me as a very intelligent and smart person. I'm sure this was not a reckless risk.
SPEAKER_02No, it was very calculated.
SPEAKER_03Like, I did all my research and you know, I could you explain to the crowd like what would be the difference between a reckless risk and a calculated risk?
Securing The 29,000-Sq-Ft Space
SPEAKER_02So calculated risk means you know, you've done it was a lot of trial and error in your head. You know, like what can go wrong? If I do this, what's gonna happen? If I do this, what's gonna happen, right? Um, but even in a calculator risk, there's gonna be a little bit of a hundred percent, bro. You know, like so it's not like I just was like, here, I'm gonna throw my money in here and hope it works, you know. Like, let me just go put you know hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table and like whatever, you know, like I'm not gonna go buy a Lambo. Because that's a that's that is that's a stupid risk, you know. Correct. If you're not at that level, there's no reason to do that. So, but if you're investing your money into building a business that one is your dream, and two, that you know that community is gonna want and reciprocate, like it's just gonna happen, brother. You know what I mean? Like it's just so oh my god, bro.
SPEAKER_03I'm so stoked. I'm just like excited about this, dude. Thank you, man. Uh this this warehouse, because that's what it is, bro. It's um it's more, it looks like more than one massive warehouse.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's 29,000 square feet, bro.
SPEAKER_0329,000 square feet. I mean, you could park hell uh airplanes in that thing.
SPEAKER_02When I first got it, I actually had somebody want to rent it to put their boats in there so they can paint. That's how big it is. They're like, oh yeah, could we use it to like go paint some boats? I'm like, no, man, I'm building a gym.
SPEAKER_03Like, you know, but when you got the the tour, right? I'm assuming if somebody gives you a tour of like kind of an open house, like, hey, look, look at this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03What was that like?
SPEAKER_02It was kind of half-assed because they didn't believe me. Me. They they show me the building, but they see this, you know, this kid who just wants to rent out a building that is, you know, the rent is about buying a new car every month. But that's how much my rent is. You know what I mean? Like it's I'm not gonna give you the exact number, but fifty thousand dollars around there monthly, just to pay rent for that building, you know. So you can imagine what we have to like we have to how much we have to bring in. But anyway, um so when they met me, we did a quick tour, uh, and then they kind of just put me in the backwater. We we we did we did some negotiating and they denied me. They denied you, they denied me. So about a year and a half before I got it, they denied me. They were like, You're just not strong enough. You're not strong enough by yourself, like you don't have enough money at your account. And I had for me, I what I had in my account, I thought it was pretty significant. Okay, but you know, they're used to building, they're used to dealing with like million-dollar industry, like in the industries. You know, they were like, Well, we want more of like um, you know, like a warehouse type of thing.
SPEAKER_03Dude, your story is so badass, bro. You just came from the fucking gutter, dude.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so they denied me, and I was like, oh, like, damn, okay, well, I'm left with nothing. What do I do? So I went down the street and I was in negotiations at what's the old Albertsons? Do you know the old Albertsons?
SPEAKER_03Yep, yep. Pizos.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but you know the actual Albertsons building?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I was negotiating that for like six months to build.
SPEAKER_03That's massive.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but the biggest thing, well, the the when it when the Albertsons closed, some uh some people broke in and they stole all the copper, all the electricity out of the building. So just to get in that building was about four hundred thousand dollars just to get a light bulb to go.
SPEAKER_03Your location at where you're at now is better than that Albertson's location.
Pre-Sale Hustle And Team Building
SPEAKER_02I think so now. 100%. But I was there for I was negotiating with them, and then the owner decided to be like, you know what? What you're not worth it. I'm not gonna spend X amount of money into this new kid's business. It's like I understand. I see the drink of the dream, but you just don't I don't see it in you. I was like, okay, well, and this is December uh 24, just 2024. And I had to be out of my location in December 2024. So I kind of just counted on that. Luckily, uh the owner of the location I was at across the street, he gave me an extra three months to figure out what I want to do because I was successful, but I wasn't enjoying what I was doing anymore. You know, it was kind of like I've outgrown this. Like, I don't want to be a personal trainer for the rest of my life, like or a group class, like you know, like I love my clientele, but I want to evolve. I'm the type of person that like if I don't feel like I'm getting better at something or if I'm advancing, like there's another amount of money that you're gonna be able to pay me because I'm not gonna enjoy it. You know, like you if you really don't enjoy something, the amount of money you're getting paid for it is not gonna be sufficient. 100%, you know? And again, I was doing well, I wasn't doing like great or anything, but I was doing like you know, pretty good for my career or for where I was at in the community. Um, and I just was like, you know what? If I can't find a building, like I'm just gonna close my gym, take some time off, I save some money up. Okay, I can take two years off or whatever, figure out what I gotta do. Um, so it was kind of at that point. But then I also have this other side of me that's like, no, you're fucking not, Alex. You gotta take this to a level, don't give up, uh, keep pushing forward. So I went back to the building that we're in now, the the building now, and I was like, look, you guys are still vacant. I'm still very interested. You know, like I have all everything lined up. Like all I'm asking for is a shop. And you know, they they were negotiating with someone else, they kept kind of giving me the runaround, and then I was having to be out of my building, the old building in East Lake by March 31st. I didn't know where I was gonna go until about two weeks before that.
SPEAKER_03No way.
SPEAKER_02I swear to God. Two weeks. Two weeks. I thought I was gonna close March 31st. Ask anybody who's close to me, my mom, Dana. Like, the moment I got the news, I was in my office. Dana comes in and she just looked at me, she's like, Are you okay? Like, it was like I saw a ghost. Like, I literally just dropped into tears after that phone call.
SPEAKER_03So I I believe I'm a I believe in God. I'm a firm believer in God. And I'm a firm believer in things happen for a reason and at the right time, dude. So yeah, no, it sounds so sketchy, like the two weeks and this and that, but I firmly believe that it was, you know, on that.
SPEAKER_02None of this would have been able to like be provided to me without God. Facts. And I can't say that I've had like the strongest relationship, you know, all my life with God, but in this new venture and you know what where he's put me, like he is the only reason. A hundred percent with you, man. Like he's had I don't know what I've done good in life. I don't know what, like, you know, because I don't feel like I've been that great, but for some reason I am in God's favor and I thank God every day for that, you know. And yeah. So you get they they end up saying, yeah, well, they say yes two weeks before I had to be out of my lease. I was like in shock for about an hour after crying, you know, like just enjoy, you know, tears of joy. 100%. And then from there I was like, all right, well, I gotta get fucking moving. Like, let me game plan this real quick. I already had the layout of everything, like just because I've had it from before. Uh, I moved in April, uh, yeah, like the first week of April. They let me in. And uh, you know my gym now where I do the group classes and the functional area and all that in the back. So I did that in three days. I built that area because that was all the equipment that I had in my old location. Uh, put the mats down, I did that in three way, three days over the weekend with my team. Not just me, my team, you know, and we built that, and I was running my business as I was trying to build the gym at the same time. Because it my gym was probably empty for about well, the the commercialized side, probably for about two and a half months to three months. It was empty. There was no equipment. It was me just running the classes in the back.
SPEAKER_03Oh shit. So you were running classes in the back right there. So that same time.
SPEAKER_02So imagine trying to sell a membership and a vision when somebody walked into this big ass empty building. You're like, you're really just selling that? Like that's that's classes, you know what I mean? And you know, thankfully it worked though.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, thankfully, because when I signed up, it was still in progress. In progress, actually, I signed up before the before the soft opening.
SPEAKER_02So you're in the pre-sale, yeah. Yeah, so um, yeah. So I mean, people like you, thank you. I appreciate you so much. Like you guys took the leap of faith.
SPEAKER_03It's because you could see the potential, yeah. It's like you walk in and you could see the potential, like, dude, this is fucking has the potential to be something, yeah. And it currently is, it's massive, dude. Thank you, bro.
Membership Boom And Community Culture
SPEAKER_02And my sales team. I have the best. Hey, real quick, shout out to them, man.
SPEAKER_03They're friendly. Yeah, dude, everybody's cool, man. It's a cool ass vibe, bro.
SPEAKER_02My whole team is the best, man. Like, and it actually started off with one person uh who took a leap of faith as well. Um, his name is Omar Mercado. I don't know if you know Omar. He's my he's the sales manager and then like the general manager in the front. He runs all the staff. And you know, he took a leap of faith with me. He left LA Fitness, he was a GM of LA Fitness. Dang he left his job and with the new baby and wife, and he took the leap of faith with me and you know, saw the vision. He was super scared, you know. Like I get he was super scared, but yeah, he took a leap of faith in me and with me. And yeah, man, like everybody on my team, like everybody, like you know, from the person cleaning the gym, like is an amazing is amazing.
SPEAKER_03From the time that you were running the groups in the back area, bro, there's you have a lot of members now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03What what did that boom look like to you?
SPEAKER_02So when I moved into that building, I had 400 members, maybe. That's a lot though. I mean 400 to me sounds a lot. Yeah, it's a good amount. Um currently talking to you right now, I have close to 2400. In a matter of seven months, eight months, seven months. And climbing. And climbing, man.
SPEAKER_03You know, so was it a steady incline or was there like a boom, boom, boom? Like your sales team was like, hey, we can't keep up.
SPEAKER_02Well the first two months, it was us just trying to, you know, like show people the vision of what we wanted or what we're doing, you know, taking a leap of faith like you did. But after we had the soft opening and we saw people saw equipment coming in, like people were like, oh shit, like this is it's starting to come out like pretty good. And then we had the grand opening where we had the deputy mayor come out and everything and have like a big party. It's just been booming ever since then.
SPEAKER_03Like, so one of the perks, dude, is like you don't have to wait around for equipment. Yeah, like that's one of my pet peeves at a regular gym, is like having to wait around. Uh also you don't feel confined. I was talking to somebody earlier, too, that I've taken to the gym, and they're like, Hey, I like that it's tall ceilings, open air.
SPEAKER_02Well, not open air, but like just high ceilings.
SPEAKER_03It's a warehouse. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's uh and there's more equipment coming in.
SPEAKER_03So I don't even know how, bro.
SPEAKER_02I'm uh you know, going into that big ass building, I didn't know I was gonna fill it up, but now I'm I've rented a space and I'm trying to organize in different ways, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I'm super happy, dude, that like that worked out for you, bro. And like you man, that it's in a staple of our community, is what it is, man. Especially health and fitness and freaking COVID and mental health issues. It's very important that people get physically fit.
SPEAKER_02Yes, 100%, man. And that's just the environment that we have there. Like, you know, like it people who are there at our gym have that mindset. You know what I mean? They're not just the average people, like, oh, I'm just gonna half-ass it. Like, everybody who goes in there is just super like, let's get this shit done. Like, let's work hard, let's push ourselves, and then give it all you got within the hour or two hours, you're there, and then you take off and you live your life, you know? And that was one of the most important things for me in opening in that location. I didn't want to just be like a regular commercial gym where people just are half-assing it. That's why my membership tier is a little bit higher than normal. You know, it's still, it's uh, I feel like it's very competitive, but we're definitely higher than a crunch, higher than LA Fitness or you know, higher than the.
SPEAKER_03I'll tell you this though. I was paying more at uh Fit Athletics in Mission Beach. Yeah, I'm paying less at your gym, but I love it way better. I canceled my fucking Fit Athletics. I think I told you I was like, dude, I canceled my fit in Mission Beach.
Solving Parking And Scaling Plans
SPEAKER_02I mean, much respect to Fit because you know I think that's also our private gym as well. But yeah, I mean, ours, yeah, I just wanted to create that staple, have like that per that person who wants to invest a little more into the gym. It's not for like selfishness, it's not for me trying to just charge more. It's more like separating the people who are thinking about fitness and just doing it because they want to get away, like on their phone or whatever, and then bringing in the audience that knows what they're doing, wants to get better, broke, motivated mindset, you know.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I was gonna say, like me, I come to worry that I've come to realize that people are cheap bastards, you know, being a business owner or myself like an entrepreneur now. Yeah, and like they have no problem paying for fucking nachos or a 40 ounce, you know what I mean, or like bullshit.
SPEAKER_02100%. You're gonna go to Petco and buy$19 soda, or beer, yeah, or beer, you know.
SPEAKER_03So but you can't spend 60 bucks, 75 bucks on a badass, the best fucking gym membership, dude. Yeah, and again, it's mindset, right?
SPEAKER_02So and we have different tiers now. So we have the Pilates tier, the X-Form tier, which I'm supporting the sweater, you know, our Pilates program is taking off pretty good, ran by a great team. So, like, and then we also have the like the premiere tier, which is the group functional classes. Um, it's just different levels of what you want.
SPEAKER_03Right before we started uh talking on this interview, I asked it like, hey, what's up with the parking? And like, have you encountered any problems? And you're like, Yeah, they're good problems, so yeah.
SPEAKER_02So parking is definitely an issue at this point. I'm working on some things to try to relieve it a little bit. But, you know, when I first got in there, I didn't think I was even gonna be able to fill up a parking lot. So, you know, I wouldn't really, I wasn't really kind of like, I just wanted the building and I was like, that was it. I want to go in there. Like, I'm not thinking about anything else, you know. Um, but you know, respecting my neighboring tenants, you know, like we they put in certain certain spaces that are designated to our individual businesses, which I understand, you know what I mean. But it also makes it tough for my business because, you know, thankfully we've we blew up in a good way, you know what I mean? Like we went from, you know, like I said, 400 to 2,400 members, and parking's an issue. So I'm actually working on a valet service. And I'm all yeah, like it's not for sure yet, but I'm working on it. Uh, and I'm also working on renting my old location's parking lot for after hours so we can park the cars there.
SPEAKER_03I can see that, dude. So it's crazy how your brain just cut wants to like just elevate the level.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I just want to get I'm the type of person like it's not really just me trying to get to this level, it's me. Like, I just want the best for people who Right, right.
SPEAKER_03I didn't say that I mean that like you were selfish. I mean like, bro, you're always looking at like the bigger picture.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, thankfully, man. I mean, it's just always trying to please everybody.
SPEAKER_03What would be next? Opening up in other locations, cities?
SPEAKER_02Uh my long goal, to be honest with you, like from this, is I want to be the in and out burger of gyms. Now, when I say that, in and out burger, it is not a franchised business. In-N Out Burgers owned by one person or one family individually. They own every In-N-Out burger, right? But ran by different people. I want to keep the integrity and own every gym that is built within San Diego or California or wherever you know God takes me to put bit put gyms. I want to own every individual one of them, but also have like, you know, a good team and good management team. So opening up another one is it's already on the drawing board.
Art Wall, Identity, And Mindset
SPEAKER_03Dang, dude. The thing about your gym, bro, is like no other gym can compare. And if you think about it, I've been working out fuck since I was 17 years old, dude. I'm 41 years old now. Yeah, like there's other gyms in California, there's other gyms in Chula Vista and San Diego, but what you have, dude, is like I don't know how to explain it to the crowd, man. It's fucking massive, dude. It's massive. To me, it's the size of like four warehouses, is what it looks like.
SPEAKER_02It's just massive, bro.
SPEAKER_03It's massive, bro. Uh, all the equipment you can think of, and then some probably fucking equipment that I wouldn't even use, but it's still there if you wanted to use it. And like the community. I think that's massive, dude. Community.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It motivates you to want to do better, get better, and you feel like you're part of like a tribe.
SPEAKER_02The gym is great, but the people are will make it, man.
SPEAKER_03You know what I mean? What's up with the artwork, dude? Was that your vision or was that somebody else's idea?
SPEAKER_02No, that was my vision. So I wanted to have my logo up there nice and big, but uh, if you notice on the sides of the main art wall, uh, they're different pieces. So on the right hand side, like if you're facing the wall, on the right hand side are just different characteristics that represent San Diego. You know, 619, all that, like, because this is my home, you know. Uh if you're looking staring at the wall, you look to the left side, there's also pieces that rep represent San Diego, but they represent me. Everything that I've gone through. Like you'll see, like a lion, which I'm a firm believer of, you know, king of the jungle, alpha mindset. You know, if you want something, go get it. Nothing's gonna stop you. Be the leader of wherever you're at, you know. And if you notice, a lion is not lion, is always gonna come in last to show his presence because people already know what he has. He's more of like the quiet person and and lets the lioness do all the work, you know what I mean? But right, but when he needs to step in, he steps in and he comes in full-fledged, you know. Um I have a Joker card there. I don't know if you see the Joker card there. Joker, you know, besides being DC Comics, he's one of my like favorite anti-heroes. Uh, and just because of the way he is, like, you know, like everybody loves to hate him. You know, like in this venture, as many people as you know, people, as much as people love me in this transition, there's also a lot of people that I can see that you know from my experience.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I totally understand.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's it's nothing that I hold people like accountable for, like I get it. Right, you know, if you're at a certain level and you see somebody take it to a different level, it's hard to accept. You know what I mean? I've never really been envious because that's just not who I am. I'm always just focusing on what I gotta do to make myself better. But you know, like it comes with the territory, you know, like just as much people love you, people are gonna hate you and wish you bad. And the point is do it for yourself, do it for your family, and for the people who are close to you and for the people who believe in you.
SPEAKER_03Facts, you know, yeah, because ultimately you're a leader. I mean, you're leading, you're leading the pack. Yeah, I try, man. You're you're creating something for somebody else and you're pushing, paving the way. You paved the fucking way, dude.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, brother. Yeah, and I mean, so yeah, that art wall, I mean, you got the Padres logo in there, the old school logo. I don't know if you've seen that.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_02Uh, you got the Coronado Bridge. I don't know if you've seen the Coronado Bridge in the top left.
SPEAKER_03Maybe I've noticed the bridge, maybe I did, but I'll show it to you the next time we're in the gym.
Hard Lessons, Advice, And CTA
SPEAKER_02But I mean, that's a key staple in San Diego. And, you know, I'm very familiar with the Coronado Bridge because my dad used to work uh at the Navy base. So we would cross it all the time. You know, it's that bridge has always been a staple in my me growing up. Um yeah, and then we got the secret letters 2010, because that's when the whole thing established in 2010. Uh there's also a little like figure at the top that represents me and an angel always looking over me. You know what I mean? Because I do feel like, again, God is always watching over me. Again, I don't know what I did right and why I'm in his favor, but you know, I appreciate it so much. And, you know, he's always gonna, he's what pays paves the way, you know. And I I know he always has somebody looking out for me and um and my family, not just me, my family and people around me, my team. You know?
SPEAKER_03What advice do you have for somebody that's gonna face challenges or struggles or setbacks in any venture that they encounter uh set out for?
SPEAKER_02It's always a no until it's a yes. As many no's as you hear, there's always gonna be one person that says yes, or one thing that says yes. You know what I mean? Or come back and they're gonna say yes. Um, but other than that, just always stay locked in. If you really want something, there's no reason to why you can't have it. You know, and I am proof of that. Like I've literally came from nothing. I don't know how I got here. I really, even to this day, I look back and I'm like, like, damn, I was like, You're on the Hictor Bravo podcast, bro.
SPEAKER_03You made it. Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_02No, but I mean, like, you know, I I never thought I would be at a point to where people could be like yourself, could be interested in hearing my story. Because, you know, like I'm a kid from Chula Vista from San Diego, and I grew up with nothing, and my family had nothing. You know, my mom came from nothing, and she worked hard to give me and my brother the best that she could. And you know, when she did that, elevated my mindset to be able to give my son the best that I could.
SPEAKER_03Well, that is exactly why I wanted to interview you, bro, because I value hard work, sacrifice, and growth, dude. And like how you were saying, I'm not a hater, how you were stating earlier that there's haters out there. Yeah, I actually love to like congratulate people and boost them up, dude. So, hey, thank you, dude, for coming on this podcast. Do you have any clothing words you want to say to the audience, man? I appreciate you um giving us your story, dude. You can you give the location, yeah, how they can sign up, the whole, the whole nine, dude.
SPEAKER_02We are in San Diego, specifically East Lake Chula Vista area. Uh, our address 2390 Boswell Road, suite 400, Chula Vista, California, 91914. But if you want more information, uh you can go to our website, www.extremefitness c v and it's extreme with an E. So E-X-T-R-E-M-E F-I-T-N-E-S-S-C-V for Chula Vista.com. So extremefitness cv.com and then uh social media platforms. If you want to follow our business, uh extreme fitness TV as well. Uh if you want to follow my personal page, Alex Redugo Jr., uh they kind of correlate hand to hand. So if you're interested in following any of us, any one of those, please do so. And I look forward to seeing you guys in our gym and trying it out.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, bro. That shit was flawless, man. Thank you, bro. There you guys have it, folks. Man, if you guys want to check out literally the best gym in San Diego, hit up Extreme Fitness, man. I told you guys. If you guys like what you saw, make sure you hit the subscribe button. Love you, keep pushing forward.
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