My father was one of the early pioneers of Japanese martial arts in the United States. He always had dojos (karate schools), and one of them — in Marlboro — had an empty area he decided to fill with weightlifting equipment.

This was around 1983, when weightlifting wasn’t nearly as popular as it is today. I was about 15 years old.  The ordered equipment arrived… and was left outside in the parking lot. My brother and I put it together ourselves after school.  My brother drove us as I was too young to drive.

Once it was assembled, my father handed me a 600-page exercise book and said, “Learn it.” My dad — my Sensei — told me to do something, and I did it. Soon, we started selling gym memberships, and I began helping people with exercises and programs. That’s how it all began. I later went on to train 100’s of people including professional BodyBuilders .

I was instantly hooked with working out. I loved the challenge of the workouts, the way they made me feel, and the changes I saw in my body. College didn’t feel like my path, so my father and I decided to open a new facility with a dedicated weightlifting room alongside another karate school.

That first gym in Freehold, NJ, was a learning experience. Without the internet and without a gym to model ourselves, we had to figure everything out through trial and error. My father was still working full-time as an accountant, and I worked at the gym from opening to closing every day.  15-hours from 8:30am-11:30pm.

We came very close to going out of business but took a chance on an expansion and we refined our model.  The Freehold gym became extremely popular, and we expanded into Old Bridge, Matawan, and Marlboro, eventually running four locations. In my 20s, I was managing a staff of over 260 people. We were approach to sell the gyms and in April 1998, we sold all four.

After selling the gyms, I began consulting. Then a good friend — a former Mr. America and top NYC personal trainer — asked me to run his new personal training studio. While I had personal training in my gyms, this was my first time running a studio dedicated entirely to it. I took the challenge and headed to New York City, where I met incredible people and gained valuable experience before deciding it was time to return home.

Friends approached me with an idea: bring back the original gym name and concept my father and I had started years before — OVOX. In 2017, we opened our current location on Route 34 in Morganville.

Since opening, we’ve added a 5,000 sq. ft. upstairs class studio and a large expansion we call the “Red Room.” Our mission at OVOX is simple:
– Provide the best possible member experience.
– Offer a friendly, welcoming staff.
– Keep the facility impeccably clean and organized.
– Create an environment that’s motivating, encouraging, and community-driven.