Bigger, faster, stronger, leaner at new gym in Gilroy

For local athletes seeking to get bigger, faster, stronger or leaner, Robert Otis, 40, owner of Fact Fitness has the plan to get it done. Otis, the head girls basketball coach at Christopher High School, crafts individual training programs based on the athlete’s individual goals.
With his new location at 7433 Monterey St., Otis has some of the newest and most innovative exercise equipment and techniques available to get local athletes to the next level.
“Fact Fitness is founded on the concept of training athletes,” Otis said. ” I work with athletes in various sports try to make it to the next level and obtain scholarships. I train them to get better at their sports, not as a bodybuilder or a weightlifter.”
Otis has been operating Fact Fitness in Gilroy for about three years, subleasing space at Net Fitness and Pulido’s Pro-Fitness. Opening his own gym had been his long-term goal and it took three years and a substantial investment to get his facility off the ground. Otis works primarily with athletes from grade school to the college level. He also works with clients hoping to lose weight or recover from injury. Training can be done individually, in a class setting or as a team.
At Fact Fitness, there is no ‘one size fits all’ kind of training program, he says.
“All of our programs are individualized based on the sport and position the athlete plays,” Otis said. “We work on the goals they want to accomplish and we work on any deficiencies that they may have. I look at the biomechanics of the individual athlete’s position and sport. Each athlete’s program is different.”
Fact Fitness stands for Foundational Athletic Coaching Techniques–which means, “Building athletes from the ground up, using coaching, technology, biomechanics and advanced programming,” Otis said.
Fact Fitness boasts some of the latest training techniques and equipment, including SpeedFit Curved non-motorized treadmills, Airdyne Assault Airbikes, frictionless slide boards and YokeFit bars, along with more traditional training equipment such as Smith machines, leg presses, squat racks and dumbbells that weigh up to 150 pounds. The gym includes an area for exercises that can be found at a Crossfit box and a turf area for functional movements like running and lateral movement.
He invested about 90k in equipment and pays $2400 in rent.
Once he’s fully operational, Otis will also have an area devoted for a chiropractor.
“One of the themes you’ll find here is that we have a lot of things you won’t find in a traditional gym,” Otis said. “70 percent of the things you find in here you won’t find in regular gyms.”
Among the athletes that Otis has trained include Gilroy High School star pitcher Lauren Castro, who earned a D-1 scholarship to Canisius College, Patti Soria a Christopher alumni who plays softball at Coppin State in Maryland and Cydney Caradonna who played at Gavilan and earned a scholarship to play basketball at UC Merced.
“Not only are my athletes getting scholarships but they’re going on to perform well and do good things in college,” Otis said. “I’m super proud of them.”
Otis is walking proof of his ability as an athletic trainer. He is a large man, with bulging biceps, a barrel-like chest and legs like redwood stumps. He has a long history in sports, athletic training and especially, coaching. In addition to being the head basketball coach at Christopher, he’s been an assistant coach at Gavilan and has worked as a strength and conditioning coach in football, soccer and track and field.
“I’ve been training here for about three years; I’ve been subleasing until now and now I get to have my own facility and set it up the way I want,” Otis said.
Otis grew up in Detroit and played basketball, football and track in high school before enlisting in the Air Force, where he was stationed at Beale Air Force Base near Marysville California. Otis moved to Gilroy in 2007 with his wife Angelica, who grew up in Gilroy.
“The rates vary depending on the needs of the athlete, how many people per session and if it’s a class or small group versus a personal workout, ” Otis said. “My sessions run six weeks to eight weeks, so the total cost would depend on how many times a client would train a week. A typical, two workouts a week for six weeks, package would cost $630.”
At Fact Fitness a personalized workout can range from $50 to $115, a class could be $10 to $15 per person, per class. The cost for a team depends on how many people are in the team and it’s broken up among the group. A further breakdown of prices can be found on factfitnesscoaching.com.
For meal plans, Otis uses Evo Prep, a company that specializes in producing customized meals that go along with the athlete’s individual needs. The initial meal plan consultation is $100 and $25 for each follow-up needed for changes. For a week’s worth of meals, usually two a day, costs $80.
“My meal plans are personalized and are based on the client’s goals; gain weight, lose weight, competing in a sport or competing in a physique competition, it’s very individualized,” Otis said. “One plan would look completely different from another.”
Fact Fitness will celebrate its grand opening on Wednesday, June 14, when he will welcome the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce to participate in a ribbon cutting ceremony. While the gym is on busy Monterey street, there is plenty of parking behind the gym on Gourmet Alley.
“We got the largest parking lot in all downtown Gilroy, so we have plenty of access which is a big deal for businesses downtown,” Otis said.