When Troy Williams found out last year that he would have to move Impact Fitness out of the Oak Park Mall, he panicked at first.

The gym had been thriving at the mall, and a new place could be difficult to find. But after some searching, a lot of long days of renovation and a strong support from Impact’s members, Williams has found a home for his gym in the old Cashwise building at 1300 C 18th Ave. NW in Austin.

The new gym will have six more spaces for the TRX workouts, and it has 6,500 square feet that make the boot camp a much more expansive experience.

“It’s 110 percent better,” Williams said. “We had to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was kind of dark there for awhile with the unknown and the whole mall situation. We weathered the storm and rode it out.”

Impact was built in what used to be the cooler area and frozen foods section of Cashwise, but Williams made it his own by putting up a 195-foot wall that is 16 feet high and features a set of curved monkey-bars. He spent a lot of time painting the gym to his liking. He also made use of the old Cashwise’s resources as the Impact sign in the gym was made out of the letters Williams found laying around the store.

During the renovation, Williams spent some 16-hour days working, but it’s been worth it for him.

“Our member loyalty was incredible. We couldn’t have done it without them,” Williams said.

Bree Phillips has worked out at Impact Fitness for the past year, and she said there was a sad feeling among gym members when they found out it would no longer be in the mall, along with an uncertainty of where Impact would end up.

Now, the gym is as good as it has ever been.

“It’s amazing,” Phillips said. “There’s so much more space and there’s so much more room for boot camp. We love it. It’s very unique. A gym with monkey bars, that’s pretty cool. Troy gets to know you and he’s a good guy. He’s a good trainer. He pushes you when he knows he can and he kind of lays off when he knows you’re at your breaking point.”

Williams said that the new location is much more visible, and it offers a much better parking. He said the number of kids in his karate class has tripled since there is much more space available, and he has a lot more versatility in his classes with much more room available.

Impact Fitness offers a variety of classes, including cardio kickboxing, partner focus mitts, Total Resistance Training, cardio Latin dancing, boot camps, kids karate, adult martial arts, and there will soon be self defense and elite athlete training courses.

Impact is currently holding a grand opening special for any interested members.