Fusion Training Center: Working Out Your Way

The influential wellness and healthy effects of Fusion Training Center are written on the wall — literally.

Behind the boxing punchbags, and between the plyo boxes and battle ropes and Concept2 rowing machine and AirDyne Ergometer bike, is a wall adorned with bright paper patches proclaiming Fusion members' proudest accomplishments: 

"I did a full workout today" 

"Ran my second 5K since joining Fusion"

"Beat my time by 2 minutes"

"Down 3 pounds in 8 days"

"Jogged 3.4 miles without stopping"

The accomplishments are a result of Fusion Training Center owner John Trigg, 38, who specializes in one-on-one training at his workout facility that he opened in Montgomeryville in January 2012.

"Personal training is a blocked out hour of time. I don't recommend that to people. If you workout once in a while, then you're spending money on a luxury item and you have nothing to show for it," Trigg said. "I have members that come in and don't know how to exercise or what to do based on their body. That's why we differ: I work with everyone on an individual basis."

Trigg will tell the member he's working with what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Work continues through the course of the exercise.

If nine people are working out at the same time at Fusion, Trigg will go back and forth and work one-on-one with each of them. And the gym is open for members at any time during business hours.

"I assign things to do and fluctuate workouts on what they can accomplish," he said. "You have the option of a complete, customized workout based on what you want to do."

Hitting Bags and Smashing Bats on Tires

Fusion is appropriately named for a workout facility, as it incorporates a bit of everything: Boxing, kickboxing, strength training, endurance, flexibility, and core training.

"Everybody loves hitting bags," Trigg said. "(Working out) is intimidating before they actually do it. The second they hit the bag, it's like they are being liberated. Some members are professional women in their 50s and 60s, who say they don't know how to hit. They throw a punch, then they throw more. They are just ripping on bags and loving it. It's a safe, natural stress reliever."

Fusion has been the workout answer for officers of many local police departments too, such as East Norriton, Lower Moreland, Lansdale, Lower Salford, Lower Merion and Towamencin.

Fusion's workouts are structured in 10 stations, with some having a method of three minutes on and 30 seconds off. As one gets to the higher stations, the workouts are customized to the lower body, upper body and abs.

Name a piece of equipment or training method and it's probably at Fusion: Mats for shadowboxing, plyo boxes, battle ropes, heavy bags for boxing and kickboxing, medicine balls for "ball smash burpees," TRX Suspension Training, bungee bear crawls, speedbags, and free weights. 

And if you want to go out back and flip huge tires, smash bats on tires, or wear a parachute and push sleds with weights on them, there's that too.

"This is your gym," he said. "There is something for everybody, no matter what your fitness level is. When your body works together with itself, you get in shape a lot faster."

Fusion teaches kickboxing for adults and children four times a week.

"This is real kickboxing. This isn't cardio or aerobic or boxercise," Trigg said. "You learn real technique based on Muay Thai kickboxing. Kickboxing isn't real if you're not hitting something."

You won't find organized MMA classes at Fusion, but Trigg does teach grappling and how MMA can be used as self-defense.

"I think everybody should learn something for self-defense," he said.

A Friend's Tragedy Leads to Fusion Training

Trigg's experience in self-defense began with Tae Kwon Do in his teens in high school. Through the years, he would train in judo, American Kenpo and Gracie Jiu Jitsu. A tragedy would lead Trigg to turn to Muay Thai kickboxing to get rid of the numbness.

About eight years ago, Trigg's best friend Andy Schmitt died of cardiomyopathy. It crushed Trigg and he couldn't go to the gym anymore. Muay Thai would make him feel something again.

"It is the most effective form of martial arts out there," he said.

He trained in Muay Thai in Philadelphia and was addicted from then on. Trigg trained in Toronto in the early 2000s in Muay Thai and continued his passion for Gracie jiu jitsu, traveling as far as Anchorage, Alaska for training.

Then, the time came for Trigg to bring his passion to Montgomeryville.

"This is where I live and we had a void," he said. "There was no place to go where you can work out and a trainer doesn't charge you $60 an hour."

Fusion Training Center was born: a place where the body can be worked by portions of muscle at a time, all while having fun.

"You workout to have a better quality of life," Trigg said. "You have functional training to have a better quality of life. We create a workout, and I check in with members every week. There are thousands of exercises; if there is one they don't like, we don't do it."

Trigg promotes the fact that Fusion is a family gym. Parents don't pay anything to have their children there while they workout. Children are entertained by TV, video games or whatever they wish to bring with them.

"I'm a local business," Trigg said. "I'm not a big corporate business with a fee associated with everything."

Interested parties can even try Fusion for free for a week before they sign a membership.

"It's more important to try and see the value in it," Trigg said. "Without experiencing what members get, they have no idea. If you don't like a gym, you won't go there and that defeats the whole purpose of getting in shape." 

Trigg said it is the members that make Fusion a success.

"Members that join here do it because of the way we train," he said. "Members here are the best of any gym anywhere."

Becoming Bullyproof Through F.U.S.I.O.N.

Trigg also teaches something for free at Fusion that isn't necessarily taught at other workout facilities — one-on-one anti-bullying.

"If someone has a kid or knows of one being bullied, we work on making them bullyproof," Trigg said. "I work with the child directly When a kid looks at me, they see a big, tough guy. I'm impartial. It's easy for a child to open up."

You see, Trigg knows about being bullied. In fact, it was the bullying he faced from metalheads in the early 1990s at Upper Moreland High School that lead him to the martial arts.

After years of eating lunch in the stairwell and walking home alone after the school buses left, the jittery, 135-pound 15-year-old Trigg was befriended one day by an upperclassman. He told Trigg he needed to learn karate and self-defense to feel better about himself.

He took his first Tae Kwon Do class and was addicted. He began competing in tournaments, and then that evolved to American Kenpo. Before he knew it, Trigg was waking up at 5 a.m. for judo classes. The martial arts then lead to bodybuilding and powerlifting.

Now, Trigg wants to teach bullied youths how to fight back the right way.

The right way is F.U.S.I.O.N.:

Find a teacher

Use your feet and walk away

Speak with confidence

Interrogate them on why they are bullying you

Offer options

Nullify and negotiate, and maintain control without hurting them

"Bullies want power over you. So, don't give them that power," he said. "Violence doesn't offset violence. There's no reason to strike another kid over words — it's not worth it."

Fusion Training Center is located in Five Points Plaza behind Ruby Tuesday in Montgomeryville. It is a Readers' Choice 2012 Winner for Best Workout in the Montgomeryville-Lansdale Area.

Call 215-941-9866 for more information on Fusion memberships and free one-on-one anti-bullying sessions, or email John@fusiontrainingcenter.com.

Fusion is open Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.