Today we’d like to introduce you to Rory Singer.
SBG Athens was originally known as The HardCore Gym and has been offering martial arts instruction for over 20 years in Athens, GA. Owned by Adam and Rory Singer, collectively known as The Singer Brothers, SBG Athens teaches Mixed Martial Arts; including boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Self Defense. SBG Athens is affiliated with SBG International (SBGi) with locations all over the world. One of the most notable SBG fighters is Conor McGregor; a two-division Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) World Champion. The gym also offers a stand-alone group fitness program called Training for Warriors. TFW is also an international organization with gyms all over the world.
The Singer Brothers originally began teaching at the University of Georgia while working on Biological Engineering degrees (Biomedical emphasis). Adam graduated with both a BSBE and Master’s Degree and Rory graduate with a BSBE. It was during their time a UGA where they met Forrest Griffin (former Light Heavyweight UFC world champion) and thus began the gym’s storied history as one of the type fighting gyms in the world.
The HardCore Gym (as it was known) would go on to create a second world champion in Brian Bowles and put over a dozen athletes in the UFC and four fighters on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality television show. Rory Singer, coached by his brother Adam, made it to the semi-finals of Season 3 of TUF and went 2-2 in the UFC (12-9 as a professional).
Although the gym saw great success as a top “Fight Gym”, Adam and Rory felt they could do much more to help everyday people change their lives. Over the years they slowly put more emphasis on creating a family environment with SBG’s “One Tribe, One Vibe” philosophy. The gym still has success in the cage but people from all walk’s of life (and ages 3 to over 60) are now losing weight, getting in shape, fighting addictions, gaining confidence, learning valuable self-skills, and becoming part of something bigger than themselves.
This has led SBG Athens to be housed in over 12,000 ft^2 with over three hundred members. Every year the SBG Athens Tribe provides a great service to its community in the form of blood drives (collecting 40 units of blood for the American Red Cross), food drives (raising over 26,000 meals a year for the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia), toy drives (raised 500 toys for Toys for Tots), raising money for Cancer survivors, offering free self defense seminars for women and children, keeping Athens Beautiful (road adoption program), working with a local women’s shelter, and building homes with Athens’ Habitat for Humanity.
This is something Adam and Rory are most proud. As they say: This is SBG, you will be okay.
Has it been a smooth road?
The first and biggest struggle was realizing that if you build it, doesn’t mean they will come. We had to actually learn what it meant to be a business owner. That meant seeking out those that were successful and allowing them to help teach us the methods that made them that way. It’s a constant investment to continuously bring the best methods to the business as well as the best methods of coaching in order to make sure our members are always getting the best we can offer.
The next biggest struggle was learning that your vibe attracts your tribe. Going from one of the top Mixed Martial Arts gyms in the world to one of the top Martial Arts gyms in the world meant losing some of the identity the former provided. Although the rewards of doing so has been just as great if not better.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the SBG Athens story. Tell us more about the business.
As I touched upon earlier, SBG Athens is the best Martial Arts gym in Georgia and one of the tops in the world. We specialize in teaching people how to defend themselves in all ranges: standup, clinch, and the ground. Most of our members train for fun, fitness, and self-defense (likely in that order).
Through TFW, we are slowly getting known as one of the top group fitness facilities in the area as well. By taking the same ethos from the martial arts, the found of TFW (Martin Rooney) has created a fitness program where people help to build up one another while lifting heavy and sprinting. This has created incredible results for people that would rather not train martial arts.
One of the things I like to say about SBG Athens is that the least important thing we do is martial arts. Martial Arts (and fitness) is just the thing that has brought the incredibly diverse group of people together inside the walls of the gym. The Tribe we have created is that which I am most proud. All kinds of people supporting one another, lifting each other up, and giving back to the community is something you can’t find in most other businesses period. We change lives here and have fun doing things like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu while doing so. The Tribe is strong and I’ve had people that work with Fortune 500 companies tell me that they could learn a thing or two from us.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I believe that Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) will continue to increase in popularity as people realize the incredible benefits they can gain from the training. The large majority of Traditional martial arts like Karate and Tae Kwon Do don’t provide the level of alive training that can be found in BJJ. The type of alive training of which I mean leads to greater physical fitness, greater confidence, and an ability to defend oneself in most situations.
I see the trend in children training BJJ to be ever increasing. This is due largely in part because children gain confidence, focus, discipline, respect, and self-respect (amongst other valuable life skills) that is backed up by training against a resisting opponent. A resisting opponent is one that is also trying to win. Many of the traditional martial arts don’t have this very important aspect of their training which creates a false sense of confidence. That can be very dangerous to a child who thinks they can defend themselves and can’t.
In regards to Training for Warriors (TFW), I see it continuing to grow as one of the top group fitness programs all over the world. The training methodology behind it has created some of the top athletes across MMA as well as the NFL. But you don’t have to be a fighter to train like a fighter, and that is why TFW has created such incredible transformations for everyday people.
Contact Info:
- Address: 240 Collins Industrial Blvd. Suite G
Athens, GA 30601 - Website: www.athensfitnessandmma.com
- Phone: 7068508444
- Email: info@sbgathens.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/sbgathens.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/sbgathensfans
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/sbgathens
- Other: www.tfwathens.com
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