BY CHRISTOPHER CORREA
Turlock Journal
Name of business: Nexus Gym
Type of business: Gym
Specialty: Arsenal Strength Equipment
Location: 2705 Geer Road, Turlock
Hours: 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Contact: (209) 552-5797 or contact@thenexusgym.com
History of business:
The Latin term “nexus” originated in the 17th century to describe a connection or link between things, persons, or events especially as part of a chain of causation, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Connecting community members with as many resources as they need to live healthy and fit lifestyles is exactly the goal of Alvin Prasad and Chantal Castro, a married couple who founded the recently-opened Nexus Gym in Turlock.
The two decided to open their own gym as a way to be fully immersed in physical fitness instead of working their regular nine-to-five jobs.
“We had the regular jobs, but we didn't want to do that for the rest of our lives. We wanted to do something bigger and something that would bring more (fulfillment),” explained Castro. “We asked ourselves what we wanted to do. A big hobby of ours is working out. That's when we started looking into doing our own. We always look at other big, modern gyms online and on TV, thinking, ‘I wish we had something like that around here.’ We talked about and just decided to do it and bring one here.”
Nexus Gym is located at 2705 Geer Road, a space that was the longtime home of Turlock Fitness Club before housing Fitness Evolution and Spirit Halloween. With the foundation already in place for lifting and cardio equipment to be placed inside, the family renovated the space in about eight months. But there’s far more to the equipment than those provided by other gyms.
Every piece of equipment itself is from Tennessee-based company Arsenal Strength, high-quality and durable machinery to sustain heavy weights over time. The sleek machines also compliment the unique black aesthetic of the space.
The gym provides services like personal training, body scanning, compression therapy, IV infusions, custom nutrition plans, meal preps and cryotherapy while also having a red-light sauna and a selection of vitamins and supplements.
“We want this place to be a one-stop shop for everyone’s fitness needs,” Prasad said. “Just like nexus means to link things together, we want this to be a link to all things, to connect with all types of people with all types of lifestyle goals.”
Arsenal Strength equipment is laid out across the gym floor, with each section organized by type of exercise. All the leg machines are in one place, arm machines are weights are placed together, and so on. In addition, beside their cardio area is an open space complemented with a turf floor to accommodate those interested in speed, agility and other forms of strength training requiring open spaces.
“A huge thing for us is convenience,” Prasad continued. “We knew we wanted there to be enough space and enough equipment to keep people from having to wait around. And we wanted every type of equipment to be close by so that people wouldn’t have to be walking back and forth to get a full workout in.”
Nexus Gym offers two types of memberships. The first is a standard membership for $59.99 a month that includes access to all lifting equipment and machines as well as the sauna. The premium membership that includes access to unlimited body scans, two cryotherapy sessions per month and full access to other recovery equipment is $89.99. Day passes are also available for $20.
For those without memberships, access to scans or any other recovery methods can be purchased for one-time uses at varying price points. Those with standard memberships can purchase access to recovery machines at a discount.
Those interested learning more about Nexus Gym, their resources and their memberships are encouraged to contact them by calling (209) 552-5797, emailing contact@thenexusgym.com or going to their website at www.TheNexusGym.com and to follow them on Instagram at @NexusGymTurlock.
