09/04/2026
Ten years ago this Labor Day weekend, we opened the doors to our first gym.
Getting there was an uphill battle.
I was young and I didn’t have much on paper that proved I was capable of doing what I was trying to do. I was fortunate enough to have a landlord take a chance on me and a city willing to approve our space for a gym.
But I knew exactly what I wanted to build.
Surge started with me training people and realizing how naturally I loved helping others find their strength. Watching someone get excited about training, believe in themselves, or accomplish something they didn’t think they could do never got old.
That first gym was 2,500 square feet. About 1/5th of the size of where we are today.
And honestly, we didn’t have much.
What we did have was a lot of passion, energy, and people who believed in what we were creating.
Looking back, that taught me something I still believe today: equipment matters, but equipment alone doesn’t create a great gym.
People do.
My dad, Jackie and I spent countless late nights cleaning, building and pouring everything we had into that space. I can still remember standing alone in the middle of the gym around 3 AM one night before we opened, just looking around and taking it all in.
I knew it was the beginning of something special.
What I couldn’t have imagined was how many people would eventually walk through those doors or what Surge would grow into over the next decade.
We’re bigger now. We have more equipment, more coaches, more programs and more people.
But the reason we exist hasn’t changed.
We want this to be a place where people can find their strength, find their people, and feel like they belong. Especially if they’ve spent a lot of their life feeling like they didn’t quite fit anywhere else.
“Strength does not discriminate.”
Thank you to everyone who has supported Surge and helped make these last ten years possible.
And if you’re still looking for your place, our doors are open.
The gym may look a lot different now. The heart of it is still the same.