Grafton High Grad Expands Westborough CrossFit

Tony Piscillo's Westborough fitness center has become bigger after one year.

Tuesday, officially moves to 178 Turnpike Road (Route 9) after 12 months at 3 Summer St.

Piscillo says the business started in his garage.

The new space has a 1,700- to 1,800-square foot gym, and "our entryway is probably the size of our whole space over at 3 Summer St.," he said Friday.

"That was my whole goal to start: was just (to see it as a) 'stepping stone.' I got in there, and at first, this place was a good enough size," said Piscillo, a 2004 graduate of Grafton High School, where he played on the 2003 state champion boys soccer team.

"As soon as all of our equipment went in, it shrunk down. It was like, 'Now, this just needs to be a stone to get to the next level.'"

Small Town CrossFit is among two CrossFit: Forging Elite Fitness affiliates in Westborough. opened at 50 East Main St., at the former Rugged Bear, on Saturday.

Piscillo discovered CrossFit while working as a personal trainer at Boston Sports Club.

"It was amazing, because I was able to do things I couldn't do with one-on-one training," he said.

"I love to train people. And if you are my client, I want to be able to train you whenever, wherever, and not have to charge you more for it."

Clients will train in classes. The class sizes range from three to eight people, the business' website says.

"Everyone's going to have their own fitness goals, and their own things that they want to do," Piscillo said.

"But basically, we say, 'We need you to do this first, and then we can attack the extra things that you want to do.' If I get you to where I need you to be, you'll be fine."

Piscillo said he initially worked alone on Summer Street, then added coaches.

Here "we're going to have two coaches almost at all classes," but are "not going to be able to fit in a ton of people," he said.

"That's actually good for us. We want to remain smaller, and we want to give people personal attention. That's huge for us. Just to have that feel of 'people care about me.' And if there's eyes on me and I'm not doing things right, someone's going to call me on it."

Tires and Atlas Stones are being added to the new space.

"We're just trying to implement anything that's real world fitness-type," Piscillo explained.

At the Summer Street site, "we could do some things. But we had a wood floor," he said.

"It was hard to drop weights. We were in there with other businesses. It was kind of difficult for us. We had to kind of keep our noise level really down."

Piscillo said he will "probably do a grand opening in October."

He is working through the Westborough Recreation Department on a two-month special discount at his facility, he said.

"Basically, your first month is a lot of teaching: get you comfortable, get you up to speed, and then jump you right into the program," he said.

"We love working with other people in town, and just getting involved in the community."