Albuquerque, N.M. – Saturday July 27, 2013 marked the grand opening of Desert Forge CrossFit on Albuquerque’s westside. Owners Tommy Truex and Nick Cangialosi had a dream to bring their passion and love of the sport to the people of the Duke City. They invested in a space located on Eagle Ranch road and opened the doors to a 3205 square foot facility with all the bells and whistles of a top-of-the-line CrossFit Gym. Truex says this was a dream he had because of the benefits that CrossFit showed him.
“I started CrossFit a couple of years ago,” said Truex. “I started doing the WODs (Workout of the Day) and the functional movements and it’s really elevated my athletic game. I’ve been a professional Mixed Martial Arts Fighter for the last ten years and I’ve never been in the kind of shape I am in now. I’ve never been able to recover this fast, I’ve never been able to lift this much weight and I’ve been fighting so much more efficiently.”
Truex saw immediate results from his workouts and said jokingly, “I figured if it could help me, a short fat kid, it could help anyone.”
After a couple years and one deployment later Truex paired with Cangialosi and spared no expense on their new facility.
“I decided halfway through my last deployment in Egypt that I was going to open a CrossFit Gym,” said Truex. “I’m a business major by trade and I’m an officer in the Army so I’m a planner. That’s what I do. I put together a business plan complete with projections. I walked in to a bank and told them my vision and they said, ‘I like your idea,’ and that’s how we did it.
Truex listed two details that he feels separates Desert Forge CrossFit from other boxes.
“We have a top-notch facility that’s for sure,” he said proudly. “One of the main things I wanted to make sure I had was a children’s area so kids can hang out while mom and dad get work done. If you have a three year old and up they can draw on the walls, watch TV and play with the other kids.
“One of the other thing that we have is high level equipment,” Truex said. “Nick and I are good trainers. We are solid and we care about people and have their safety in mind in everything we do. We are meticulous when we train and when we make our training plans. I figured if we are going to be that dedicated I wanted to make sure we had the best equipment. I skipped the start small with what you have mentality and I put a lot of effort into making this facility clean, beautiful and useful. I have a 28-foot Infinity Rig, everything I own is from Rogue Fitness and I wanted to make sure the athletes had the access to the best equipment to help them reach their goals.”
Truex pointed out that along with that equipment his partner Cangialosi is one of the best in the business at forging athletes and helping them reach their full potential.
“Nick has been a huge part of this,” Truex said. “He’s a fantastic trainer, he’s very dedicated it’s been a lot of fun seeing the way he coaches and takes people to new levels of fitness.”
On Saturday, July 27, 2013 Desert Forge CrossFit held its grand opening complete with all the trimmings. The Albuquerque CrossFit community came out in droves to support Truex, Cangialosi and the staff of Desert Forge CrossFit as over 200 people showed up to do the WOD and tour the top-notch facility.
“We just opened our doors and we had around 200 people here,” Truex exclaimed. “I didn’t expect anything less from the Albuquerque CrossFit community. We are a legitimate group of friends and people who actually care about eachother. For them to come out and support us was awesome. The CrossFit community knows that more CrossFit means more people getting fit in our area. We aren’t competing against each other. We are competing against traditional gyms because we want people to realize what they’re doing, although not bad because at least they’re doing something, it is not the best way to get incredibly fit.”
For more information including schedules and contact information visit www.desertforgecrossfit.com
