Lower Burrell's Mat Factory 'not a huge gym' but finding ways to train variety of competitors

If you’re not actually looking for the Mat Factory, you may drive right by it.

Situated at 2827 Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell, the Mat Factory has a mat space of just 22 feet by 75 feet, which is just fine with founder Isaac Greeley.

“I’ve always loved that atmosphere of the Mat Factory,” he said. “We’re not a huge gym, but we’ve really honed in on the people we have coming in and really sharpened our blade with that.”

Greeley has been training in small gyms his entire life.

He was a two-time All-American wrestler and national runner-up at Pitt-Johnstown under legendary coach Pat Pecora in the late ’90s and was inducted into UPJ’s Hall of Fame in 2009.

“Pecora had a small room at UPJ, which has since tripled. It was big enough to hold one wrestling mat with 30 college athletes,” Greeley said. “We always complained that we needed a bigger room, and Pat would say, ‘It’s not is the room big enough, it’s are you big enough for this room?’ ”

Plenty of people have become big enough for the space as the Mat Factory has seen multiple medalists from world championships and the Pan American games step through its doors to train.

Greeley opened the Mat Factory with fellow wrestler Chris Como, whom Greeley coached with at Burrell High School. Today, the two still coach as assistants under current coach Josh Shields, who also coaches at the Factory.

“My biggest thing was I wanted a place that was open for everyone,” Greeley said. “We get a lot of cross training with other gyms in the state because we leave our doors open for everyone to come in. We feel we can get more growth that way. The atmosphere is wholly attributed to the people.”

Greeley and Como are two of a host of coaches who train people in every combat sport from wrestling and MMA to jiu-jitsu, boxing and kickboxing.

There are also programs implemented that take into account the skill level of those who train.

“We don’t sugarcoat that our curriculum is pretty hard. It’s physically and mentally taxing,” Greeley said.

“It’s not for everyone, and we understand that. We have programs in place for fundamental beginners, and we don’t want to exclude people from that.”

The Mat Factory gets a wide range of people from different backgrounds, each with their own reasons for training in one of the disciplines that are offered.

“A lot of people want to keep that competitive edge that can help them in their everyday lives,” Greeley said. “For regular Joe’s who have families and a 9 to 5, they still have an outlet to get out there and have access to all that.”

Along with those looking to keep an edge, Greeley says the Factory gets a lot of people coming in to better themselves.

“We have a 64-year-old five-time world champion that trains with us all the time,” he said. “He started training when he was 57 after a hip replacement. We also train with females who are some of our toughest training partners, and we have programs for kids.”

Greeley has a philosophy he and his coaches live by, which he calls “leading from the front.”

“Our philosophy as coaches is, if I’m going to expect you to go out and perform at the level I expect, then I better do it as well,” he said. “We’re not going to let our athletes do something we wouldn’t do ourselves. All our coaches are still active competitors.

“Our athletes really trust that we’re there for them and we can feel what they’re doing technically, knowing we’ve been in that ourselves.”

Those interested in any of the combat sports who want to try them out for themselves can stop by the gym or visit the Mat Factory on Facebook.