Sam Noyola '13 and Danny Rubalcaba '13 came up with a fitness challenge to raise money for UTSA scholarships.
(June 28, 2017) -- Meet Sam Noyola ’13 and Danny Rubalcaba ’13. These alums and best friends are helping the community get fit thanks to their degrees from UTSA.
Noyola was born in Brownsville and raised in Corpus Christi. After high school, he attended a local community college with the hopes of opening his own business someday. Ultimately, he set his sights on UTSA to pursue a degree in business management.
“I had friends that attended UTSA and they always told me what a great school it was, so when it was time for me to transfer, I knew exactly where I wanted to go,” said Noyola.
Between his classes and his studying, Noyola worked as a personal trainer at Spectrum Athletic Club, which sparked his interest in fitness.
“I fell in love with personal training and working with people,” said Noyola.
Shortly thereafter, he decided to pursue an additional degree at UTSA in kinesiology. He doubled-majored and graduated with both degrees in the Spring of 2013.
While Noyola was at UTSA, he met Rubalcaba, a fellow kinesiology major and independent trainer from San Antonio. They bonded over their passion for fitness and came up with the idea to start a fitness club during their junior year.
“We knew that to accomplish our goal of opening a fitness club, we had to stay focused and put in the man hours,” said Rubalcaba.
After years of hard work, the two friends purchased an existing gym and spent more than a year building the fitness club they had envisioned. They opened Alio Fitness Club in February of this year.
Their club is a modern boutique gym, the only one of its kind in Texas. The gym's design is chic, with tinted windows, state-of-the-art equipment and high energy music to support its 21 and up clientele.
Alio’s staff is also unique. Each of its personal trainers has a degree in kinesiology or exercise science, just like the one Noyola and Rubalcaba obtained from UTSA.
“During our time at UTSA, we learned so much about our field and became even more confident about fitness and helping others achieve their fitness goals,” said Noyola. "We’re introducing a gym with a unique business model that will provide professional personal trainers with a successful career and a highly respectable compensation plan.”
Both Noyola and Rubalcaba are proud UTSA alums and encourage their fellow Roadrunners to pursue their dreams. They want Alio to be known as a place where UTSA students can intern and develop their careers in the health and wellness industry.
They recently came up with the Alio Fitness-On Challenge. During this 24-hour event, the Alio team will train 24 different groups of fitness enthusiasts. Their hope is to raise $24,000 – with 100 percent of the proceeds going to UTSA scholarships.
“UTSA gave us the knowledge we needed to turn our passion into a successful career. We want to help others accomplish their goals and know that it is possible to be successful in our industry,” said Rubalcaba.
Learn more about the Alio Fitness-On Challenge.
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