From Adversity to Success: Alex Zuniga's Journey
In this episode of the Infinite Gold, Growth and Greatness podcast, host Anthony Goldner interviews Alex Zuniga, the president, CEO, and founder of Elite Spartans, a high‑intensity functional‑training gym in Silicon Valley. The conversation traces Alex’s life from his upbringing in Mexico City and military college, through a catastrophic car accident at age 17 that required 23 reconstructive surgeries, to his early career at Bally’s Total Fitness and the eventual launch of Elite Spartans 13 years ago. Alex explains how discipline from the military, a love of soccer, and the trauma of his injuries forged a resilient mindset that drives his business philosophy. He details the gym’s core differentiators: high‑intensity workouts, a "wow" client experience, and a mandatory staff fitness assessment modeled on military standards. Alex shares leadership lessons about placing people in the right role, avoiding hiring friends or family, and the importance of mentorship—crediting Pedro Scullion of Fit Body Bootcamp for shaping his hiring and leadership skills. The interview also covers his approach to health and nutrition (emphasizing muscle building for longevity), his daily recharge rituals (working out while listening to podcasts and dedicated time with his wife), and his ten‑year vision to keep Elite Spartans a single‑location community focused on people rather than rapid expansion. Throughout, Alex underscores resilience, community, and purposeful growth as the pillars of his personal and professional success.
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All right, welcome back to another amazing episode of Infinite Gold, Growth and Greatness, Life, Legacy, and Laughs with the Goldners. We'd like to welcome Alex Zuniga. He's the president, CEO, he's the man of Elite Spartans, and he's got an interesting backstory. And, uh, we got to know him over at Operation Blacksite and it was a good time. And a little bit about him is he actually, uh, grew up in Mexico City. He went to their prestigious military college and then he moved here 20 years ago. His idea was to go to college and change things up a little bit. And he graduated from San Jose State with a business degree and a minor in communications. He actually worked at Bally's Total Fitness, if anybody could remember Bally's from back in the day. He was there for about 5 years and grew up all the way, moved up all the way to a general manager there. And unfortunately they, they folded. So he thought, well, you know, why don't I create my own? I've learned enough. So that's where Elite Spartans came to be about 13 years ago. And then about, about 2 or 3 years ago, he decided, you know, Elite Spartans did pretty dang good. Why don't I start helping some other people doing it as well? So he started doing some one-on-one coaching for small businesses and he's done a lot of amazing things and we're extremely happy and excited that he's on, uh, the podcast with us today.
Well, thank you guys. Thank you for, for having me. It's an honor to be here and then Happy to share my, my story with you and your audience.
Of course. Of course. So we under— have a slight idea as to why you started your business because of Bally's going under, but kind of where did the whole passion of, uh, fitness and nutrition and lifestyle, uh, come to be?
Well, it comes from my military background, right? I was there from, uh, 18, when I was 18 to 22, and I learned the discipline. And I learned that the importance of discipline and take care of your body and trained and have that mindset, right? Uh, from there, I play soccer competitively for over 20 years. And when I moved here, I played for South State. I played for two other colleges, uh, community colleges, Evergreen, South State City College, and, uh, and I competed track and field too. Uh, when I started looking for a job here in America as a student, you cannot work legally more than 20 hours, right? I moved here to this country as an international student. Um, and the only thing I wanted to do was either retail, kind of like, oh, I'm going to college, I'm going to work retail. But then I found one of my friends, uh, we used to work out together and he said, have you ever, sell memberships. And I'm like, memberships, like gym memberships. And I'm like, I mean, sales are sales, like not never, but I can learn. And then once I started, uh, uh, I got the job as a sales rep at a bodybuilding fitness. And that's when I fell in love with the industry. The, everything clicked at that point, right? My military background, my passion for soccer, my passion for sports, and then all the injuries and surgeries that I've had at that time. I had a really fatal car accident when I was 17 that pulled me through 23 reconstructive surgeries. Uh, and with everything that I learned in, uh, as well, uh, I decided to help people, to help others. And I ended up being really good at selling memberships, uh, from there. I wanted to help people, train them and help them rehabilitate and, and I got my certification. So that's how everything, uh, uh, started back then.
Well, we're glad you're okay and you had, unfortunately you had to go through 23 surgeries, but I feel like you—
Part of the journey. Yeah. Sounds like part of your journey, part of your process.
Yeah. And you've learned a, a lot from it.
Yeah, I did. I did. And, um, and that's been my, my journey. And I mean, at this point, I'm happy. I don't think I will be the person that I am right now. And I would be able to help my community, my clients, uh, even my employees, if I would have learned and gone through all those, uh, struggles.
Yeah. And then to tack it on, you just recently had another surgery.
Yeah, yeah, I, uh, my bicep, my right bicep, I completely tore it, uh, and it was a full tear. So they had to reattach it and then that was, uh, August last year. So yeah, so it's almost like a 90%, uh, it's getting—
Oh my gosh.
The fact that you're still recovering from that.
Yeah, yeah, I'm recovering from another surgery.
Crazy.
Oh my gosh. Well, like, let's hope that that's the last of your surgeries.
Fingers crossed for your health.
Right. So I'm curious to how your mental state is with going through 23 surgeries and starting a business and going through the ups and downs of a business. Like you mentioned the mental side. Can you talk more about that?
Yeah, it is definitely, uh, it put me, uh, I went through a dark hole. So I'm telling you right now after. 25 years almost of that car accident. Um, it's easy to say, right? But no, I've been an athlete. I mentioned earlier that I was playing competitive soccer, right? And from being playing competitive soccer my entire childhood, uh, and then I got rear-ended by a drunk driver. Uh, I was like completely— my car, that stuff. I was in the back, my friend, my friend was driving. I got in the back of the seat and then this guy, 70 miles per hour, just completely rear-ended us. Uh, I woke up 2 days later after coma. I mean, I was in coma for 2 days. When I woke up, one of the first things the doctor told me, I don't think you are going to be able to ever walk again. And if you walk, it's going to be, um, you're going to have, uh, uh, some type of sequels. I don't know if you're going to be able to either. Like, this is when I was 17, right? That's crazy. It took me, it took me, uh, I was in a wheelchair for a couple months and then I was in crutches for almost a year. And then it took me over 2 years to just being able to walk normal and not limping on my left leg. Uh, from there I started the rehabilitation. I think it's the mindset and the resiliency. Um, I started affecting me, obviously, uh, I Sports and soccer, it was my everything. It was my passion. It was part of my identity. And not being able to do that, it started affecting me psychologically too. So I ended up not only going through the process, surgeries and therapies and rehab, but also with my therapist because it was, it was a very dark moment in my life. And, and I have to come back from that. So. To answer your question, where does that come from? I think just the resiliency that I got from all those, uh, that experience, uh, and, uh, the mental part, it is the most important thing. People think that just being fit or being successful at any, as an entrepreneur, it's just like, uh, just an idea and then you make it happen. But I think the most important people, uh, underestimate the, the, the time and effort and energy and And, and how resilient you need to be to achieve those goals and overcome any obstacles, right? Whether if it's in personal life, business, or, uh, fitness.
That's wild. I mean, like to say that you had, you got to go through that at, at such a young age.
Yeah.
You went through that at such a young age and you really tested your, your mindset and your strength and your resilience to get through all of that, which I think in turn really helped you just be a stronger individual in every way into who you are now. Like that, that's just wild. That's crazy.
Amazing story.
Yes. That's, I can't believe you went through that at such a young age.
It was, and then it affected me a lot mentally, right? Right now I'm in my late 40s and, uh, and I mean, you can understand it, but when you are 17, you don't know anything better. I actually, uh, one of the things, uh, I like to help people in the mental aspect. And we have a lot of clients with depression because I went through that. And at some point in my life, I, uh, I wanted to commit suicide too. Wow.
So in a sense, that like makes you qualified.
Yeah. Yeah. So it was rough. It was rough, but looking out at where I'm on the other side and, and, and the things that, that, that What I learned from all those experiences is pretty much the foundation of my mindset and the success, right? And it doesn't matter what happened being a business owner with like 20+ employees. It's just not easy. And people come, people go, people quit, no-show, and making payroll here in Silicon Valley, which is one of the most expensive person in the nation, right? Uh, it's, it's not easy, but you just have to be resilient and, uh, and count your blessings, right? So, um, I'm healthy. I can walk. My family's healthy. Uh, and I have the opportunity to provide and to continue creating this awesome community here in Silicon Valley.
No, that's awesome. So I'm curious, what would be, what would maybe the main advice or what would be a couple of advices you would give to somebody who is maybe like, they, life and everything has to do it around a sport and then they get injured and, or like, they're like, I'm gonna go to college, I'm gonna do all of this stuff. And then next, you know, I have a knee injury, um, or I've got an arm injury and I can't pitch. Like, what are some tactics that helped you along and what would you recommend to help them out?
Well, the mindset, right? Um, I think that's the number one. For me, uh, the mindset and, and again, going back to being resilient, uh, and then just continue. I believe that in success, uh, struggle and failure, it is part of the journey, right? As an athlete, uh, when you said if you are a soccer player and you mess up your knee, or you are pitching, you're playing baseball and you messed up your, your arm, um, you have to be able to overcome and continue trying and being able to, to, um, um, how can I say, being able to, to identify those struggles and, uh, continue being persistent in what you want and regardless of the time, because most people give up. Because they don't get the results according to the expectations that they have, right? If you said, oh, you have an injury and then you thought it was going to take you 3 to 6 months and then it's like 7 months and you're still struggling with that injury, just don't give up. Don't, uh, most people, most people underestimate how long it's going to take and also underestimate the amount of energy and, and time and effort that it's going to take. And as long as you don't give up and you continue, uh, focused on those goals and, and, and, and you're, you're being persistent, I think definitely that's one of the main things that I can, I can say that will get you through any obstacle in life, not only in engineering.
That makes sense. And especially when you talked about your business and all the strength and tenacity that you built up along the way that's probably helped you immensely and kind of makes you and your business different than maybe some others that may have not have gone through that?
Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely that, uh, that, and also, uh, because of this struggle and everything that I've been through, uh, I've been able to hire great people too, so, people who really want to help others, not the typical girl who wants to grow a bigger booty or the guy who wants to show abs and it's like, no, I'm fit. I want to be in the fitness industry. No, being able to, to identify those, uh, candidates and then just, uh, and then surround myself with, with the great team. I can tell you that the reason why we're so successful is because of my team, but at some point I had to, uh, I was the one who hired them. I was the one who gave them the first interview and I was the one to, I was able to identify their talents and then just to put it in the right place. Right. Uh, I also have made mistakes on my company when I have the right person, but I put it on the wrong, on the wrong position, right on the wrong seat. Uh, I, I can have a great person that I thought was going to be great personal trainer., personal training manager, and then that person ended up being the best assistant manager because that person, even though it was fit and had a certification and a kinesiology degree, that person was more comfortable dealing with retention or not being in front of the client and things like that, and vice versa, right? So you got to be able to identify, uh, and then surround yourself with, uh, with the good, uh, with a good team, right?
That's awesome. I love how you mentioned that, uh, the person in the right seat, because that makes the world of difference. Do you mind, uh, touching a little bit more on that for maybe some small businesses or people that are thinking about starting a business and they're like, I don't know, like, should I hire this person? Should I not? Like, they're my friend. Like, what position? They think they want to be in this position, but I don't know. Do you mind a little bit touching on that?
Oh yeah, definitely. So, well, two things you said. The first one you said, having a person on the right seat, you got to be able to identify, right? Their skills and their talents and what they are comfortable with, right? Uh, you may need a person in that position. And because the fact that, the, the, the fact that you need that person in that position, I'm applying to my business. I need a person as a manager, right? Manager 3, 4 years ago, they quit. We need to replace that spot. And I was personally, I was making a mistake giving that position to employees who had been for 3 or 4 years with the company, but they didn't have the skill and they didn't have the skill or the ability to manage others, right? But I was given that position because I said, well, that person is hardworking. And that person also is loyal because he's been with me for 2 or 3 years, but it was that person wasn't the right person for that seat, right? That's the first thing, putting the person, identifying who is going to be in which seat. And the other one you said, you mentioned, On the friends and family, based on my experience, I don't have a lot of family. My entire family is in Mexico City, but I also have made the mistakes where I had a good client. We became friends. The person was fit. They asked me for the position because it was a great relationship. I give them the job and I learned that lesson the hard way. I don't like to mix friendship with business. And as a matter of fact, I don't want to have a good relationship with a client or with a friend. I like to keep it that way based on my own experience and what I learned. Uh, and I like to just hire someone that, uh, I don't have any personal relationship with them. And that's how it works better for me. As a matter of fact, now I'm going through this process where I'm parting ways with my general manager for 8 years. And I feel that that relationship, she's such a great gal and she's one of my closest friends, but I think after 8 years, the professional relationship wasn't working anymore because we had such a strong connection and she became such a part of my family and she's one of the closest friends of my wife and she's like adopted aunt to my kids. Uh, and because of that, um, we, We have our ways, right? The best way to be successful and to continue having the person in the right seat. And it just, as hard as it is, just don't mix business with pleasure, right? Friends and family, I wouldn't recommend it personally. Didn't work for me. So, but that's just my advice.
Yeah.
Can get sticky sometimes. Yes. Yes. Right. You cannot give them feedback. Yeah, you cannot, uh, you, you, the constructive feedback when you have a friend or family and then their feelings are involved because you're my friend and I cannot believe you're telling me this. It just, it just doesn't work. Yes.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I'm curious, um, what sets your gym apart from other gyms? I mean, you've gone through all of these ups and downs, but in general, what sets your gym apart from other gyms in the area?
Well, great question. Uh, well, if you ask me, I can be a little bit biased. Uh, one of the things that we focus a lot on is two things. Uh, high intensity, because the high intensity is going to give you results faster, right? And the— we have something that we call in our core values that we have to deliver the wow experience. Right? Let me explain. Uh, one of the things that I work on my, with my staff every, every month, it is, uh, when you go to the gym, right? And you're a mom or dad or a girl who is going through school, is struggling, stressed. Uh, the mom who come to take our classes and have two kids or going through a divorce and have a million things, but those 45 minutes or 50 minutes that they go to our gym. It is the best 45 minutes of their life. It is those 45 minutes most people and most gyms don't understand the importance of those 45 minutes. So I've been training myself for the past decade and how important it is to make that client feel special. When you walk into Elite Spartan, and we have hundreds and hundreds of reviews online, Yelp, Google, uh, one of the things that we focus a lot, it is Every single person, we call them by their name. We have 400+ clients at our gym, and every time you come in, we have the app where you log in and we call you by your name. How you doing? When my trainers are teaching the classes, we have 15, 20 people. You have to memorize most of the names of your class. Incredible. You are calling them by their name. You have to be encouraging. Even though we're training at high intensity, But we have, we, we make sure that they feel accomplished and they are reaching their fitness goals in a, in a funny and great environment and great community and not just go to work out and do the biceps and burpees and box jumps and then okay. We, we work a lot on the experience. I think that's what sets us apart. It is the high intensity. We train like Spartans. That's the, the motto of the company. Uh, we train like Spartans. Starts from me. One of the things that we have at our gym that I don't know any other gym in the United States, or at least in Silicon Valley, we have a fitness assessment. Every single member of my staff, they have to pass a fitness assessment that is very similar to the military, right? For me, it's 12 minutes and you have to run every single— whether you are from this or training, you have to run the mile in 8 minutes or less. You have to be able to do 15 pull-ups, uh, 50 push-ups, and 30 burpees in under 12 minutes. Wow. That's incredible. That will make you puke. We have— you trust me, people say, 12 minutes, I can do that. Everyone says that, but once you throw it, you gotta start from me. As a matter of fact, we just do every quarter, we do it with my entire staff. And, uh, and it happened that I beat every single one of my trainers, uh, last quarter, and I got the best time on. 10, 20, uh, which is pretty fast. Uh, yeah, no, that's amazing. It starts— leadership starts from the top and from within, right? So I cannot, uh, tell them to train harder, to, to be fit, to, um, to deliver that Y experience if I, I don't, I don't, uh, lead by example, right? I, I train the hardest. I try to run the fastest. I love running. Uh, and then all my trainers are in the early 20s, middle 20s., and it gets harder and harder, but I'm very competitive. And, uh, I think that culture and that, that fitness test plus the high intensity plus the Y experience is what set us apart from any other gym, at least in the Bay Area. Wow.
That's incredible. I mean, the way that you set the standard for your, your business as a whole and that all of your employees aren't just employees, like they're They're learning everything from you so they can get better, and then that way they're able to provide the best experience possible to your clients. And the fact that you guys make it fun and so personable, I don't think I've heard of any other gym or business that does what you do and does stuff like that.
I think that's awesome. Yeah. Oh my gosh. And then we, uh, and that's, we, we take a lot of pride in that. You know, I, most of my, my entire staff, 22 employees, they all, and we have goals for men is 12 minutes, for women is 30 13, uh, and it's modification, right? So it's going to be the pull-ups, I believe is 5, the push-ups are 10 or 15, and the burpees are 25, right? So, but you have to complete that in 20 minutes and including my managers and the front desk girls, they have to pass that test. As a matter of fact, when you come and apply with us, the first interview, just pretty much like a 20, 30 minutes, second interview is with me and the managers. And the third interview, you have to pass the fitness test. And if you don't pass it, which a lot of people don't pass the test on the first try, we give them 7 days. Oh, okay. If they don't pass it in 7 days, we give them another 7 days until they pass the test.
That's awesome. I like the way that you vet your employees before you, like, you hire them and making sure that they're all like qualified to pretty much do the job, even if they're just working the front desk. It's not just working the front desk. You're setting the example to all of your client, your clients and potential clients that are coming in that this is the standard that we hold here at Elite Spartans. That's incredible.
I love that. So I'm curious, what, yeah, what challenges did you face when starting this? Like, did you come out with all of this and all this idea right off the bat? Like, yeah, this is what we're doing. Or is this something that took a long time? Because as we know, like a lot of people that are starting small businesses, they keep telling themselves and thinking, Oh, I've gotta have everything.
Where do I start?
It has to be perfect. It has to be perfect. I gotta know all of this. It's gonna happen like this.
Like, explain to us and walk us through your journey on getting to where you are today. Yeah. Okay. No, not at all. So when, when I started Elite Spartan, I have the vision, right? I have the vision that I learned so many things, uh, in bodybuilding fitness. But it was a corporation. And also I learned the way that you should, you shouldn't be treating your employees, right? You shouldn't never make them feel like they are a number, they're employees and they don't care about you, right? There's a reason why the company went out of business, right? After two Chapters 11, they filed bankrupt previously, 5, 10 years before, but I learned how to not treat your employees right. Because of that, I wanted to change. I called it, I wanted to change the industry and I wanted to create something different where I was going to be able to train and to teach, but also at the same time to give my employees the opportunity to feel better. They, they, they, I didn't want them to feel the way I was feeling about this as an employee and most of my, uh, coworkers were feeling. Like sometimes you will hate going to work there and it was just like numbers and sales and whether you're a trainer or whether you're a sales rep, uh, it was just, it became really bad and that's something that I didn't want to do. Most gyms also, one of the things about Elite Spartans, most gyms here in the area or studios, when you become a personal trainer, they give you a quota of the sessions and the packages that you You need to sell on a monthly basis, right? And if you don't sell, sadly, 24 Hours, they still do that because I have many friends at 24 Hours and many managers who went there. Uh, 24 Hours, uh, uh, like, uh, uh, Planet Fitness, they, they approach the client and if you don't sell sessions, they eventually, they're going to cut your hours because you got to, you have to sell, right? One of the things I did to spark class, every single trainer that you see at my building, they don't have to sell. They love training, they want to be trainers, and we just make sure that they're the best trainers in the industry. We have, from this, we take care a lot of our sales and managers. I have managers who also take care of the sales, right? But as in my trainers in my studio, no trainer is going to be selling. You want to be a trainer and I need you to be the best trainer. But that's it. Your hours never be cut. We ask for referrals. That's the only thing. And if you bring referrals, that's okay. And if not, we, we want you to be the best trainer, right? That's one of the things that we also have early, just part of it. It's also the trainer, the fitness industry is very common that a lot of trainers apply with us because they hate sales. They love training and they hate sales. And when they get the job and then they have to sell on top of everything, all the training. It's just hard. And some of the things that I also learned about literal fitness, not to do that, right? And when I started my business 13 years ago, you asked me, do you have everything ready? Do you have everything in your head? Do you know the ABCs I was going to do? No, I only, I just had an idea. I just had an idea and a vision that I wanted to create a I wanted to have my own gym where I was going to be able to, I call it, to change the industry or to set the bar higher, right? And then everything, like a year after year, everything started getting clear and everything started getting better. But I went through a lot of struggles. I made a lot of mistakes. I hired the wrong people. I put in place the wrong systems. I had people who were in charge of charging the monthly fees and wouldn't even be checking on the iPad when the client was checking in. The clients weren't on Zoom for a month or two months, and it was terrible. So I learned the hard way. No, I didn't have that. I had a great mentor, which was Pedro's. It was Pedro's Koolian. He is the CEO and founder of Fit Body Bootcamp, and he's the one who started telling me He's— I had the idea, I had the passion, I had the vision, but I didn't have that clarity. And when I hired— because I hired a coach and a mentor, Pedro Scullion, he's the one who taught me how to hire. He's the one who taught me how to be a great leader, right? Because if you are not a great leader, doesn't matter what idea or product you have, if you don't lead by example, you're going to fail. Myself, right? And that's because of him. He gave me the guidance and the tools to create all this.
Wow. So since you mentioned it, uh, we were going to ask you this later on, but what, what is that importance to you about having a mentor and having a coach into getting you to where you are today? And what would you say to somebody else who is dabbling with the idea of hiring a mentor or a coach?
If you want to achieve your goals faster, if you want to achieve faster, hire a mentor, hire a coach, which is going to help you. They've done that. They've been there. They've been in the trenches and they know everything. And what they're going to teach you, they're just going to time collapse everything. And just, it's going to cost you money, but it's going to be an investment on yourself, on your business, on your family, and whatever. Goal, whatever that is, the goal that you have, hire a coach and a mentor. I highly encourage people, and you don't have to hire me, you can hire any person that you think is going to be the best coach or the best mentor, but hire that person who is going to time collapse and is going to avoid you a lot of mistakes, right? Or you can try to do it on your own and it's going to take you longer, it's going to cost you money, more time and more energy.
Wow. That literally, that tapped into like all 5 bank accounts of life.
Yeah. Yes. It's—
wow.
So what do you enjoy most about running your gym and everything that comes with it?
I, what I enjoy the most, the community and the opportunity to coach and mentor my employees. It's very rewarding. It's very, very rewarding. Most of our employees, they're young. They're like early 20s, middle 20s. And then just to coach them and mentor them, uh, when they get the job, every, every trainer, every, every candidate who applied with us, interviewee, and when they're going to get the job, I always let them know. That at Elite Spartans, you're going to grow physically, mentally, and financially. And when you stop growing at Elite Spartans physically, mentally, financially, that probably will be the time when you need to find another job, right? Uh, but, uh, I enjoy that a lot. I enjoy coaching them. I enjoy investing in them. Um, I will say 9 out of 10 times it's very rewarding, right? You also, you're going to have that person who you invest in, then all of a sudden They do something wrong and they leave. That happens too, but that doesn't change who I am. And that doesn't stop me from continuing pouring into my people, coaching them, mentor them. And, and that's the main thing that I look for on a daily basis to go to my gym and see my staff and then see all my clients.
And it's more like a community.
That's awesome.
I wanted to kind of lead into the next question, seeing how busy you are running your business and you've got a family of your own.
How do you recharge? Uh, great question. I recharge every day. Uh, the gym is my therapy, right? I recharge, uh, every day. Uh, it is the gym is my therapy. I, when I'm working out, I like to listen to podcasts, right? And I'd like to listen to very inspirational podcasts, stories, uh, ethos, things that continue giving me the mindset while I'm working on my body. I have like an hour, an hour and 15, hour and 20 when I'm working out. Just listen to podcast. I don't listen to music. I just like to listen to podcast. And that's my day-to-day, uh, battery recharge. And then my wife. My wife is, I'm so lucky to have her. I'm blessed. And, uh, I tell her that every day. That she is my motivation. I don't know how would I score that, but I'm a lucky guy. I'm a very, very lucky guy. I'm deeply in love with my wife and I look forward every day to come home and to spend time with her, even if it's with the kids. So after we watch Netflix or we talk or we play table games, we always make time for each other to spend at least 30 minutes on a daily basis and spoil each other and and take care of each other. We're very romantic and we go on dates all the time. We don't need to wait for Valentine's. We, we try to go on a date on a weekly basis too. And that's something that we look forward. Uh, she's my best friend, honestly. She's my best, best friend. So the gym and my wife are my two, my two, um, uh, main sources of, uh, which I love that.
Oh my gosh, you almost made me cry.
I love that. Yes. I'm sorry.
Can't wait to break down with you. Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. She's definitely my rock and definitely helps me recover from work and get back to more of a civilian life and or away from that whole mindset. So it is nice. And then I like how you mentioned the date night once a week. That's one thing that we've definitely been incorporating more into our life and Yes, it's very hard when you've got kids, you have a business, you have this and you have that, but that connection and those dates and that being with each other makes everything worthwhile. Like if you're not doing that, then why are you doing everything else? Like there's no point in it. So I love how you tapped into that and that's definitely one thing that we've been trying to do more of. And then we kind of recommend and tell anybody like that you need to do that.
You need to put time into that. Yeah. Yeah. And even, uh, and even, um, even when you can't, right? Because we, you guys and us, like we have a great friendship and we have kids. It's hard with kids when they're little, uh, 3 and 6, but at least, um, you know, so as long as you know that you have to make time on a weekly basis and sometimes we don't have family, we don't have any help and sometimes we don't even have sitters. We just make sure that we spend time together on Saturday or Sunday. We don't go out a lot. And when we go out, we go to the movies, or even when we don't have a sitter, we put the kids early in bed and then we just watch a movie. And that's our date night, right? Popcorn and Netflix. But we make sure that we have to have that time for us on a weekly basis. So we can reach out to. And we look forward, guys, we met you at Operation Blacksite last year, I believe. And you guys are an awesome couple. You guys are definitely a couple that we will like to hang out. We live like 6 hours away from each other, right? But we definitely, we really like you. We appreciate you guys. And you guys have a wonderful family and a couple, young couple that that we look up to, right? At your young age, you guys are doing amazing and we are looking to call you our friends too, Anthony and Bri.
Oh, I have no words. No, seriously, you guys, I feel like we had like an instant connection with you guys at Operation Blacksite and you're one of the handful of relationships that we've made since then. And I think you've, uh, you guys have really brought, had an effect on our future. I really just, the relationships that we've built, building the relationship with you and Allison, we love you guys. And I think we kind of look to you guys as well and to your success and everything that you've done. And like, you have kids too, but they're a little bit older. So seeing how you guys are managing your day-to-day with running your businesses and still, you know, making time for each other and making time for family and recharging and all of those things. Like we're, we look to you as an example as well.
And, you know, I'm, I'm really happy that we have you part of our circle.
Thank you guys. Likewise. So I'm curious, what is your thought on the whole health, nutrition, fitness kind of world that we're kind of in right now? I feel like there's like, we're teetering on two different ideas and thoughts and everything. And I mean, even to tap more into it, you know, you do a lot of high-intensity stuff, and then people talk about CrossFit, and then there's that other craze that's coming out. I forget where you do like, it's a mile run, and then you do like, um, you do the sleds, and then you do a few things. I'm thinking what it's called. Um, but, and then there's heavy lifting, there's all these different things, and then there's a health industry and all this. So like, where do you guys fit in with this, and like, what are your thoughts on it?
And as far as, like, uh, I'm sorry, to understand, let me see if I understand your question, uh, correctly. Uh, my opinion about which one is the, the best practice that can get you the best results is, uh, whether it's a CrossFit or— we do our Elite Spartan, we don't do CrossFit. What we do is functional training with cross-training, right? Okay. Um, and you, you mentioned that bodybuilding, right? Or or any, any, any category, whether it is yoga, Pilates, number one, stay active, right? Number one, stay active. You have to stay active whether you do yoga, Pilates, you're a runner, you are a lifter, you take classes. Take care of the proper nutrition, take care of the recovery is important. And regardless of the practice that you do, the sport that you play, cycling, running, yoga, weightlifting, bodybuilding, CrossFit, just focus on building muscle. Focus on building muscle. When you build muscle, your bone density increases, right? Especially, I talk a lot about this with women, right? One of the things we try to educate, we do seminars, usually once a month and how to educate the client more and, and whatever sport you play, but being aware of the importance of how important it is to develop muscle and maintain that muscle, especially with females. And then also, especially with females that are runners, right? When you start running, you also lose a lot of fat, but you also can go through muscle, right? And then you can burn your muscle. And those are some of the things that If you're 30s, if you're 20s, you're 40s, you're okay. But when you're 50 and 60, you don't have that bone density. That's when you fail. That's when the problems are going to happen. When you break a hip, when you have to go to hip replacement or knee replacement, you don't have the muscle. You didn't build the muscle, didn't take the time to build, uh, develop that muscle. Um, focus on, on, on regardless of the sport, regardless if it's CrossFit, cross-training, functional. But build muscle, that is gonna be your armor for the rest of your life, and it's gonna add so much longevity.
Yes. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, she talks a lot about that, about your, about muscle being your muscle, your organ of longevity.
I love, I love Gabrielle Lyon and her book too. She has a really good book, right?
That I always recommend.
I'm gonna have to read that. Yeah, definitely.
That's a really good book.
Yeah.
So lastly, where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
Oh, when it comes to business, uh, the company, I, I see, I always tell my staff, my wife, that, uh, Elite Spartans will be there until the day I die. Elite Spartans is my Disneyland. Yeah, I don't see myself selling my business. Um, not right now. Uh, we do very well. We're very profitable, but we don't, uh, but I don't go to Elite Spartans because of the, of course I'm a business owner, revenue is important. And, and, and, but I don't, I don't, that's not my, my, my main focus. My main focus is just to continue. Investing in people in San Jose. We have created this awesome community that we're number one top gym in San Jose. Everyone, if you go to San Jose, you know, everyone knows about Elite Spartans. Um, and, and then it's just for me, until the day I die, I don't see myself doing anything else other than Elite Spartans. At some point, probably I'm gonna be, uh, 60, 70, and I'm gonna be like, okay, I think I think I'm getting tired, but for now, the next 10 years, continue growing the company, continue growing our community, uh, continue pouring into people because that's very rewarding for me. For me, one of the best things in my job allows me to continue doing that is just pouring into my people. Uh, and then just continue growing, continue growing the, the company, right? Uh, at some point I wanted to open a second location. Even a third location in 2018. And I almost signed up the lease to open a second location a couple of times. But after all these years, 13 years, I think I'm okay with just this location, having 20 employees and having just like this small army of Spartans where we're one location and we are, everyone is working as a team, as one, as a one unit. And not just focus on the revenue and trying to grow the business and start like just losing control of what I can do on a day-to-day, right? Because I'll have to be in one location and my other money in another location. So right now, continue growing this, this community and my building.
And, um, and that's it for the next 10 years. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, we'd like to thank you again for coming on. You've been tremendous, provided a lot of interest, and if anybody wants any information that lives in Northern California, definitely check out Elite Spartans, or if you're a small business owner, definitely check out, uh, Alex Zuniga on Instagram. And thanks again for having me.
We appreciate it. Thank you for having me, guys. Uh, we'll be in touch.
I'll talk to you soon.
Take care. Thank you, Alex. Bye.
