Since September 2010, the Fairtex Muay Thai Fitness Center has served residents in Newark and surrounding areas, providing Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fitness in efforts to encourage Bay Area residents to embrace a healthy lifestyle.

The gym marks the third United States location for Fairtex, with another gym in Mountain View and one that recently closed in San Francisco.  Fairtex also has gyms overseas in Japan and Thailand.

Co-owner Chris Ninomoto explained that the decision to open a new location in Newark was based on the large amount of Newark members they received in their other established locations.

“A lot of them were driving a long distance to either go to Mountain View or San Francisco, so by opening this up, we allowed some of our members to not drive as far,” he said.  “Plus, there were a lot of other people we knew we would attract to our gym.”

With the ever-present sight of people of all ages passing through, Ninimoto greatly emphasized how Fairtex is considered a family gym, where men, women and kids can benefit from what the gym has to offer.  There is a heavily-present family bond amongst the attendees, as everyone supports and cares for one another in whatever they do, he added.

“We’re a family gym; we teach kids and adults.  You may see some baby strollers pushed around here.  We like to keep it that way but we keep it real, you know?  Real fighters teaching real stuff, so we train hard,” said Ninimoto.

When working out at Fairtex, Ninomoto spoke of how he once read an article in a men’s health magazine that explained how in a standard Muy Thai class, one can burn about 1,000 calories in an hour.
Essentially, a practitioner gets the benefits of both a really good workout and learns new skills as well.

Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand.  While it may take on the appearance of boxing, the martial art uses a wide variety of techniques to strike off opponents.

“It’s broader than Western boxing where you just box with two hands.  You’re actually using elbows, knees, kicks, [giving you] a lot more weapons,” Ninomoto explained.

Muay Thai isn’t the only martial art taught at Fairtex.  Classes are also offered in Western-style boxing, jujitsu, MMA and strength and conditioning.

Ninomoto explained how everything that’s taught at Fairtex is applicable to that of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters.

The gym has attracted professional MMA and UFC fighters like former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz.

Ninomoto expressed his desire and plans to secure well-known talent, whose identity was not disclosed, to Newark’s gym within a month’s time.

In the year and a half since its opening, the Newark location has gotten a strong, favorable response.

“It’s been really positive.  I haven’t had to advertise very heavily; Fairtex has a pretty well-known name for what we do,” related Ninomoto.  “We built up a pretty good membership, around 300 members now in a year and a half, and that’s really fast.  We’ll easily exceed 400 by the end of the year.”

Looking into the future of Fairtex, in addition to upgrading classes Ninomoto hopes to open at least one or two more gyms in Northern California.  He also hopes to open some gyms in other states as well.  Already, there has been some interest for the East Coast.

Closing off his interview with The Pioneer, Ninomoto emphasized on the meaning of the trademark quote for Fairtex, “We Inspire.”  The quote serves as a motivational tool for the gym’s attendees to accomplish whatever goals they set.

“Some people are here to lose weight.  Some people [are here] to actually learn a skill like Muay Thai.  We try to accommodate whatever anybody wants to actually work on,” he expressed.  “We’ve had people come in here and drop six pounds in three months.  We’ve had people not know anything about Muay Thai learn the basics of Muay Thai in three or four months.  It’s just awesome to see.”