Key To Gym Success In Smaller City: Specialize And Diversify
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With a degree in exercise science from the University of California-Riverside, Christian Oropeza pulled together funding to open a gym, Elite Human Performance, recently in Danbury, CT, a smaller city with a population of about 80,000. Because the space is somewhat small, and to take advantage of a fitness niche, he decided to specialize in several sports, including a variety of martial arts disciplines as well as boxing.
One of his first customers was local boxer Delvin Rodriguez. He’s held the USBA welterweight championship and his record is 22-2-1 with 13 knockouts. Rodriguez became a boxer as a teen, and has always felt that his interest in boxing was a positive alternative to the hopelessness and low ambitions that often limit young men from his neighborhood.
Rodriguez was saddened for those youths even more than himself when Danbury’s long-time boxing facility, Hat City Boxing, closed in 2001.
"People are starting to really recognize me and kids are starting to take an interest in the sport. They want to know where they can go to box and it's sad because I have no answer for them. There is just no where to go" he said before Elite Human Performance opened in late 2007.
In addition to boxing, Elite Human Performance has group classes and personal training in a variety of combat sports ranging from boxing to mixed martial arts to Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
In case you’ve not heard of the latter, it is the hottest new thing in martial arts sweeping around the world, and Oropeza managed to snag a certified Gracie Barra instructor. In fact, instructor Maycon Gordilho recently competed at the Pan Am Games, and will compete in the sport’s World Championship in June. He trained under a grand master in the sport’s original country, Brazil.
One of the sport’s most enthusiastic participants is John Benicewicz, 56, whose doctor told him he had to lose some weight. Just a month later, he’s dropped 12 pounds doing Gracie Barra three times a week. And he loves the challenge, rather than just dieting.
"This really takes the drudgery out of working out," Benicewicz said. "I've tried working out at other gyms, but this works you harder than anything else I've ever done. Every muscle in your body is sore. I can't stress that enough. Every muscle in your body gets a great workout."
Oropeza has recruited only top level staff, and offers individual fitness planning as well as classes. He and Kate Novell, who supervise the gym’s “boot camp” and sports performance training classes, are both certified personal trainers (CPT), Performance Enhancement Specialists (PES) and have degrees from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Novell also works in physical therapy at the local hospital.
"Our goal is educate our clients," Oropeza said. "That's what makes our trainers special. We make sure our clients understand why they are doing each exercise and its benefits."