Greg of Devil Dog Fitness talks about Hurricane Irma and his early tennis pro days before Crossfit.

Good morning. This is Peter here, with Fringe Sport, and today I'm talking with Greg Moya from Devil Dog Fitness.

I first met Greg when I came down to Miami for WOD-apalooza a few years ago. And he was a Fringe customer, and I reached out and met up with him, and had a great workout, at his space at Devil Dog Fitness, at Hialeah Gardens. Am I pronouncing that correctly?

Greg Moya: You're right, Hialeah Gardens, correct. In Florida.

There you go. So, as I speak with Greg, what is it about a week after Irma? Or am I a little further out?

Greg Moya: Irma? Almost two weeks.

Almost two weeks out. And so, Greg's an awesome person. I follow him on SnapChat, which I recommend everybody to do. But I saw him, kind of the area kind of get pummeled by Irma. And then he got his box up and running as fast as possible, even without power and was having his members come back by and workout, with no power.

So, Greg, tell us a little bit about Devil Dog Fitness, and then we'll move into recovering from Irma.

Greg Moya: Well, the name Devil Dog, I'm a Marine Veteran, for nine years I served, as a Marine. So, my experience as a Marine, that discipline, intensity, with the whole Crossfit mentality.

And also before I joined the Marine Corp. I also played professional tennis. So that whole discipline and fitness all comes together.

I like helping people change their lives to get fitter, and for people who are athletes, hey, let's do it! I like people helping people.

I love it, man. And I didn't realize that you played tennis professionally. Was that before the Marine Corp?

Greg Moya: Yes, correct. I grew up playing tennis, since the age of six, when my mother taught me. My mom played professional tennis herself.

I also have a younger cousin that was number one, in the world, on the ATP tour. His name was Carlos Moya. He's actually coaching right now, Rafael Nadal, which is currently number one in the world. So, we do have a background in sports.

I also have a cousin that plays professional soccer, for Athletico, Madrid. Miguel Ángel Moyà. He's a goalie for the team.

And then my sister played pro beach volleyball for a few years until she hurt her lower back and hip. So, I mean, we come from either Military or athletic background, and a few scholars.

But I've been grateful that I've had family support and motivation through everybody. Especially my father, that he was a shooter and a sniper in the Army. He was in the Army for 23 years. And he taught me a lot of things, when it came to discipline, and the way the mind works when you're training for something, and then the physical and mental aspect of how to focus.

So, one question that always comes to mind, if you say your father was in the Army, why the Marines?

Greg Moya: I wanted a challenge. I got hurt at 19 playing professional tennis. I graduated high school and turned pro immediately, and I had scholarships to play tennis everywhere, and one of my sports that I liked to do on the side was aggressive in-line skating. And so, I used to jump on rails, ramps, half pikes, and my dad once told me, "Hey, don't mess up your tennis career for a crazy sport, because you're going to feel it down the road." He's not kidding, I'm 43 years old and trust me, it hurts every day when I work out, but I still grind.

But the issue is, I got hurt, I was young, dumb, and I wasn't afraid of anything. So, I was just able to, you know, be able to skate. And then I got hurt, my tennis career ended. And then I joined. I dislocated my shoulder twice, and then my tennis career ended shortly after that.

Then I joined the Marines, and I got going. I got motivated. That was my calling. I served nine years, I was a RECON Marine out at Camp Pendleton, California. And it was the best thing that ever happened to me, because the RECON unit that I was in, I got into fitness.

Then I got into bodybuilding. I competed three years competitively in bodybuilding, and then I got out of the Marine Corp in 2004, because they diagnosed me with PTSD, so they would not even let me re-enlist.

So that's when I got out, and I had an escape with fitness, working out. And then I tried doing again, the pro tennis tour, at an older age. I didn't get to the level that I was before, but at least I was successful for a couple years.

Then in 2007, I met my wife. In 2008, she got pregnant. That's when I opened up my tennis academy. In 2011, I retired my second time, playing professional tennis. And in 2012, I start Crossfit. And we're in 2017, and I haven't stopped.

And in 2012 I decided to start competing, because she called it, because I have that competitive blood. And I didn't want to compete and I did. WOD-apalooza was my calling. You know to that made me want to compete. Three months into Crossfit. And the next day after WOD-apalooza I signed up for the open. 2012, they didn't think it was going to be that hard, seven minutes of burpees at 12.1, which destroyed me.

Yeah, I remember that one. That was a.) A surprise and b.) Surprisingly rough. So, let's ...

Greg Moya: Yeah, and my new coach just gave me that one about three weeks ago. 12.1 all over again and I crushed it. So, I was happy with that.

Awesome. I love to hear it.

Well, lets move into Devil Dog Fitness, on the way to talk about Irma and kind of coming back. So, tell us a little about Devil Dog Fitness.

Greg Moya: I'm a functional fitness gym. I'm not Crossfit affiliated, because a lot of people know I do Crossfit. The whole thing about not being affiliated ... the word Crossfit intimidates a lot of people here in South Florida. And I know some of the people in the Crossfit community and not insulting. If it doesn't say Crossfit, you're not Crossfit. You're not teaching Crossfit.

I don't think that's right, if you're level one, and you're using the Crossfit methodology you are doing Crossfit. Just because you are not an affiliate, I don't think you should insult or downgrade somebody, because they don't have the money to afford $3,000 a year, to use a Crossfit name.

I don't have $3,000 a year to be able to spend on the Crossfit name, I wish I could, but I don't. But what I love about it is, it's the whole method of fitness, the whole intensity, the whole comradery within the community. Especially when they compete.

But here we use Crossfit style workouts, bodybuilding, muscle building workouts, power lifting, strong man, Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics. We do everything when it comes into the fitness aspect of life.

I love it. And who is your clientele? What is the typical person who is coming by your gym?

Greg Moya: I have adaptive athletes, I have mom and pops. The majority of my clientele ... my members are in their 20's. Ranging from 20 years old, to 30 years old. You know I have a lady that's 50-something, 56, I believe, late 40's. But the majority of my clients are 20-30 years old.

Got it.

Greg Moya: And I'm actually surprised.

How are you surprised?

Greg Moya: Because I'm 43 years old, and most box owners that I see are in their 20's, it's a young crowd. For me to be 43 and carry on to a whole aspect to coaching you people, young men and women, it's an honor because they look up to me, as "Hey, he's a Marine, that guys 43 years old. I want to look like that at 43 years old."

You know, my wife works out, she's 40, she just turned 40. She is the backbone of this place, she runs the office. And I have a great support system in here. Not only from my wife, and the coaches, but the members. I have so much support, love and support, in this box. I haven't felt that in any box that I've worked at before. Between one of my members, John, and my wife, and my nephew, and a few others, they put in money and in like two weeks time, and they got me peg boards, two of them.

Awesome.

Greg Moya: Yeah, they got me two peg boards and I was just surprised, and it blew me out of my mind.

I love to hear that.

So, tell me a little about Irma. What did it do, and tell me about getting the box back and opened up for your members, what did that mean for your members?

Greg Moya: That meant a lot to them, because a lot of boxes were closed, because they had no power. Luckily I live five blocks away. I was literally here all day. My son didn't have school, my wife didn't have work, so we were literally here all day. Opened the box till 7:00 pm. I lit up one of those construction light tripods and put it up against the wall and was like: Hey, we're working out till 7:00 pm, because it starts getting dark about 7:15. So we worked out till 7:00 pm.

If I had LED lights on my jeep, I would have just brought it in here and lit it up till 9:00 pm, until my last class. But I wish I could have, but it was really a lot, I understand, family is priority, your house is priority, so you've got to take care of your house first. But I wanted to take care of my members first too.

I love that, taking care of the members first.

So, how long was power out? And how long did it take you guys to get it back on, and to get back to a normal schedule?

Greg Moya: Irma was Sunday, and at my house I got power back on Wednesday evening around 6:00. And here at the box we just got power back this Saturday around 3:00/4:00 in the afternoon. And we started the class the moment I found out we had light I turned it on. I was like "Yes! I turned on the air conditioner in here, I'm like, let's run it like a normal day." No, don't get me wrong, the AC is not on all the time, I don't spoil them like that. But at the same time, I'm like "Let's run the AC, it hasn't been running," let the lights on, let's feel the vibe again that we have power. Let's thank God that we have power.

Sunday, I trained and then Monday we started with full classes again, and there was a full house. Yesterday was a full house. Let's see what today is, because I know that they're probably beat-up today, and sore, but guess what? That's what it is.

I love it! Well, Greg, that's about what we've got time for. Is there anything else, or how would people get a hold of you if they wanted to check you out?

Greg Moya: You guys can go on the Instagram for the gym, it's @devil_dog_fitness

Or you can reach me at SnapChat: BDF GREG

Or my personal Instagram of: USMC_CF_GREG

Or on Facebook: GREG MOYA

Sounds fantastic, Greg. Thanks for sharing with our audience. And best of luck.

Greg Moya: Anytime.