Rob Roberts is one of Straight Blast Gym Buford’s longest tenured athletes, having joined the tribe way back in July of 2014.
Rob is a regular in SBG Buford’s evening Fitness Kickboxing classes, something that dates back for the better part of the last decade. When he first started training at Straight Blast Gym Buford, you could find him participating in Muay Thai, Fitness Kickboxing, and Fitness Performance classes. After a couple of years, he settled into the Fitness Kickboxing classes and became one of the leaders of that program.
When we asked Rob about his experiences at SBG Buford, he told us the following:
“I initially joined SBG because I was sick of just lifting weights and I wanted to learn how to protect myself in some capacity. Fast forward to now and it’s the best decision I’ve made as far as doing something for myself. The Coaches and the Tribe are the best! There are no egos here, which is a huge plus for me, and the knowledge they have is next-to-none!“
Straight Blast Gym’s Kickboxing classes aren’t “fighting classes”, but we still pride ourselves on teaching legit kickboxing skills. All of the coaches at SBG Buford have competeded in Kickboxing and/or Muay Thai and actively train in striking-based martial arts. While our Fitness Kickboxing program doesn’t involve any sparring or fight simulation, the athletes in these classes are 100% learning REAL kickboxing strikes, movements, and combinations.
Rob is one of those guys that, based on the way he looks and performs, you would think he’s about 37…..maaaayyyyybe 40. Believe it or not, Rob is actually 50 years old. Rob’s efforts in our Fitness Kickoxing classes are already impressive but the fact that he’s 50 and it’s just down-right incredible!
Coach Carmen Garcia said this about Rob:
“Rob is always pushing himself, even when he is completely gassed. I was even more impressed by him when I found out he was 50. I thought he was in his 30’s.”
Typically, it’s the coaches that nominate one of our students to be the Fitness Athlete of the Month, but the first person that spoke up on Rob’s behalf was one of his teammates and fellow Kickboxing enthusiast, Farrah Lee.
“Rob never complains, and he always busts his @$$. He’s also really kind and friendly to everyone, especially the new people in class.”
Farrah hit on something that’s very important to us, and that is how welcoming Rob is to our new Kickboxing athletes. It can be intimidating walking into a new place, surrounded by new people, and preparing to start an activity that you’ve never done before. Rob is AWESOME at making his new teammates feel at home and at ease.
