Coach opens established martial arts and fitness center in Albert Lea, brings over 40 years of experience
Published 3:01 pm Thursday, May 22, 2025
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The Albert Lea community has a new option for fitness and martial arts training thanks to a coach who decided to bring his Austin business to Skyline Plaza.
Troy Williams, owner of Impact Martial Arts and Fitness, has trained athletes in southern Minnesota for the past 15 years. His journey started long before that, though, as he has over 40 years of experience. This has helped him establish a solid reputation in the community, he said.
Originally located in Austin, Williams said he moved Impact to Albert Lea because he wanted the location change. He said his goal was to bring something to Albert Lea that the city does not have.
He also said working with the people at Skyline has been great. His new space has areas for martial arts training, turf for athletic training, a room for cycling and a weight room. He also said he plans on converting the basement into a space for floor hockey training.
Williams describes his business, Impact Martial Arts and Fitness, as a one-stop shop with classes for children as young as 4 and continuing through adulthood. He calls his youngest group of martial arts athletes Lil’ Ninjas, and the next age group older are the Tigers.
For the past 35 years straight, Williams said, he has had an athlete compete in a national martial arts championship, so the program is highly successful.
Impact offers martial arts classes, kickboxing, glow-in-the-dark cycling and more.
Additionally, Williams runs a student athlete training camp called F.A.S.T., which stands for functional athletic sports training. Taking place during summer, it focuses on improving speed, agility, strength, flexibility and other essential skills. Williams said the camp begins with a pre-assessment and ends with a post-assessment so athletes can see their progress.
Williams said he also does other specialty training.
“I have cage fighters, I have kick boxers so I coach the MMA side of things,” he said, explaining he is currently getting ready to bring four competitors to a competition in mid-June.
Williams said his focus right now is getting the word out about his new fitness center. He has mainly been doing this through social media, but he is also working on reaching out to local schools before classes let out for the summer.
“Once the word gets out, I think it’s going to be a very, very go-to spot in Albert Lea,” Williams said.
Impact offers classes every half hour during weekdays and also has opportunities for free classes before people commit to becoming members.
Williams said the best way to get in touch with him to learn more about Impact is by texting him at 763-228-1591 or by going to the Impact Martial Arts and Fitness Facebook page.
Williams also posts things on his Instagram, @fast_austin, which has over 10,000 followers and millions of views. He said he eventually plans to change the name to @fast_albertlea.