Urijah Faber’s Ultimate Fitness Takes Shape!

By Bob Cox

Whether you’re a fight fan, a fitness fan or both, I have some very exciting news. Sacramento’s own former WEC Champion Urijah Faber is opening a brand new cutting edge all purpose fitness facility in East Sacramento and it’s sure to be a knock out!

According to Josh Espley, the General Manager of Urijah Faber’s Ultimate Fitness, there is simply nothing else on earth that compares to what they’re in the process of assembling. Scheduled to open this April, their 22,000 square foot facility combines the components of martial arts and fitness with a wide variety of classes to choose from.

“We have several martial arts classes, including boxing, kick boxing, jujitsu, submission grappling and Muay Thai. As far as fitness classes go, we have everything from yoga, Pilates, advanced based fitness, cardio, boxing cardio, kickboxing cardio, MMA programs, cross fit programs, functional fitness programs, circuit training classes and even boot camps”, explained Espley.

For those of you who prefer the solitude of working out alone, Urijah Faber’s Ultimate Fitness is the place for your fitness routine. “As far as the gym goes on the fitness side, we have functional fitness equipment, we have weights, barbells, Olympic dumbbells and high tech cardio equipment as well”, Espley said.

Other amenities of this amazing facility include a cafe with a WiFi lounge, clean and spacious locker rooms, saunas and a kid’s zone that gives all members two free hours of child supervision. There are even fitness programs for kids to help build their confidence while you work out. “Our youth martial arts program consists of kids striking, kids kickboxing, kids wrestling and a youth jujitsu program as well. Those classes are run Monday through Saturday, two times a day”, Espley explained.

Faber and Espley started this out of the box idea after observing what their group of professional fighters from Team Alpha Male (founded by Faber in 2004) was doing. Their group trains primarily out of their original facility in downtown Sacramento. Several professional fighters have trained under Team Alpha Male, including Joseph Benavidez, Justin Buchholz, Danny Castillo, Chris Holdsworth, Chad Mendes, Paige VanZant, the former UFC Bantamweight Champion, and the current UFC Bantamweight Champion, Cody Garbrandt.

Espley, who is also the CEO for Team Alpha Male explained how today’s fighters rely on a wider variety of fitness routines to maximize strength, speed, endurance and flexibility. “We just basically put together what our fighters were doing. Our fighters are better rounded athletes. Many participate in strength and conditioning classes, cross fit classes, functional fitness programs, cardio boxing and even kick boxing programs. To build endurance and coordination, they’re involved in yoga, Pilates, stretch based fitness and even footwork classes, which we also offer here as well”, said Espley.

The vision for Urijah Faber’s Ultimate Fitness is to evolve from a primarily fighter customer base at the midtown location to more of a family oriented facility in East Sacramento. “This gym is really a culmination of putting all of the knowledge Urijah’s gathered over the years in the fight community and using it to give back to the community he grew up in. He’s a very humble and down to earth guy, and very appreciative of everything he’s got”, explained Espley.

Based on Faber’s extraordinary background and business acumen, along with Espley’s experience with Team Alpha Male and as the former Vice President of a successful supplement company, I would say it’s safe to say that Urijah Faber’s Ultimate Fitness has more than a fighter’s chance of achieving incredible success!