Name of business: Insomnia Gym

Type of business: Fitness center

Location: 2930 N. Walnut Rd., soon to be 671 N. Golden State Blvd.

Hours: Open 24 hours to members seven days per week; Staff on site from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Contact information: 703-554-0305

Specialty: On-site meal prep

History of business:

Turlock resident Adan Escriba has yet to turn 30, but he already has nearly a decade’s experience as a gym owner and is only just getting started. 

His business, Insomnia Gym, a fitness haven that’s open 24 hours per day, will quadruple in size by the end of the year when its dumbbells, treadmills and squat racks move into the new 5,000 square-foot space waiting for them in the Turlock Town Center. 

The endeavor began when Escriba was just 19 and opened his first gym, Combat Zone Fitness, on Walnut Road. The U.S. Marine used his unique, military-like approach to working out to build a clientele, but the brand took a hit several years later in 2017 when his business partner backed away from their collaboration. 

Shaken but still determined, Escriba continued his gym dream and gave it a new name — Insomnia Gym. He also revamped his business model, establishing a self-serve, 24-hour gym model for clients which gives them control of when and how they work out. Thanks to a special Insomnia Gym key fob, gym members can enter and exit the premises at any time of day or night. 

“If you can't sleep, you can go work out. That’s where the name Insomnia came from,” Escriba said. “You can come in at any given time, so there’s really no excuse.”

By the new year, Escriba expects Insomnia Gym’s new location in the Turlock Town Center to be open to the public, adding yet another flourishing business to the retail and food hub which has welcomed Smart & Final! Extra, Jura’s Pizza Parlor and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in recent years, to name a few, and will soon see Turlock’s second Dutch Bros. Coffee serving customers. 

“It’s a really prime location,” Escriba said. “It just shows that anything is really possible; you just have to have to plant that seed and have a vision. With our growth and moving into this new spot, it’s hit me that we’re really competing with these bigger gyms. I’m the little kid on the block, but I’m on the block now.”

The larger space will allow for more exercise equipment, of course, but also the addition of showers, locker rooms and a sauna, Escriba said — all amenities that his clients didn’t have before. At both the current Insomnia Gym and at the future location, they do have the chance to purchase ready-made, healthy meals through his meal prep company Insomnia Meals, which his sister and brother-in-law help operate. 

Locals who want to join the gym can call and sign up with zero enrollment fees, he added, and will receive 50% off their key fob.

Through it all — the ups and downs with his gym’s first location, setbacks with constructing the new space and everything in between — Escriba credits his work ethic and family with where he is today. He was born in Guatemala and doesn’t come from wealth, he said, but anything is possible with a strong support system in place.

“I think this is just one stepping stone. I think that there's still a lot more for me to accomplish,” Escriba said. “I feel that everything happens for a reason, and everybody you meet is a lesson or a blessing. It's just how you take it and use it.”