Brandon Pinon has owned High Five Fit Club in Fresno since 2019. But he started out as a professional wrestler under the name Brandon P. Net, a play on a website URL. Photo contributed

In the business world, showmanship should never be underestimated. For Brandon Pinon, it has carried him through more than just business.

Pinon, 38, is the founder and owner of High Five Fit Club at 5475 E. Hedges Ave. near the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, which he opened in 2019.

After working as a coach at a corporate gym for about four years, Pinon wanted to establish his own facility to promote wellness and health.

High Five Fit Club offers group training that serves various fitness levels and goals while creating a positive and encouraging community for members, he said.

Prior to opening the facility, he was doing group classes with members in the park.

Even before he opened his own gym, which has around 100 members, Pinon was grinding in the business world with a T-shirt brand, H5 Limited, as a by-product of when he was coaching clients one-on-one.

As an athletic and creative child, Pinon’s aspirations took him to an arena where he could combine all his passions.

“Growing up, I wanted to be a pro wrestler, and being over-dramatic and creative is what pro wrestling has. I ended up following that dream, and after high school I started pro wrestling,” Pinon said.

Pinon, or Brandon P. Net, his wrestling name, was in pro wrestling for 13 years, traveling across the country for matches. He even had some tryouts for WWE and was named a champion with the New Age Wrestling promotion in New England.

His wrestling name was borne out of someone making fun of his URL website name, so he adopted it and created his persona around that.

 

High motivation

The “High Five” name comes from asking his clients to high five him, saying that it’s hard for people to not do it back and hopefully improve their mood in the gym.

The group trainings consist of 10-15 people, with most of the clients being over age 30.

As opposed to traditional gyms with commercial machines, High Five Fitness Club only offers group training sessions and one-on-one training.

Pinon believes that if people go to work out solo on machines and weight benches, it’s less likely they’ll interact with others. And they leave the gym quicker.

Pinon, and other coaches, are present for every class to guide clients to the results they seek.

His H5 brand is still active and really popular with his members.

As smaller, local gyms are becoming more popular, clients have more options, but Pinon doesn’t think it creates real competition.

“If you’re worried about the next man over, then you are in the wrong business,” he said. “If you’re good at what you do and stick to what you do best, it’s going to be easy to attract your clientele.”

The clients that reach their fitness goals with the help of Pinon and other coaches usually tell their friends about the gym, which helps bring in new members.

He said any gym can gain new members, but the harder part is keeping those members.

As he approaches 40, Pinon said he wants to break the stigma that as people get older, they’ll be less healthy and active.

As for any business, the Covid-19 pandemic did bring challenges, such as temporarily closing gyms, but it was a testament to what Pinon is good at that the gym retained all its members.

In 2019, he was featured as one of Fresno’s 40 Under 40, which he said helped his gym thrive.

While anybody can rent a space and set up equipment, what sets gym owners apart is the dedication they put into their location and clients, he said.

“You live and breathe it, it’s not something that you can makeshift overnight,” Pinon said. “People and your members really feel that. We live in 2023 — there is no way to trick people. There’s Google, YouTube, online workouts. You’ve got to really be into what you’re doing to set yourself apart.”

Pinon said small gyms have the same shelf life as restaurants, noting that it is hard owning a business in Fresno.

High Five Fit Club won the Best of Central Valley two years in a row and has worked with workout equipment companies such as TRX and Rogue Fitness.

Pinon said that as a poor Mexican kid from Easton, it was hard to think he’d make it. But he’s alive and thriving, he added.