Hidden Gems: Meet Wes Budge of APEX Performance Facility

Today we’d like to introduce you to Wes Budge.

Hi Wes, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Justin and I both come from a background at a world-class sports performance facility, where I started in 2016 as an intern under his supervision. That place combined physical therapy and sports performance, and I did everything I could to stay around—front office, back office, PT tech, whatever kept me close to learning. At the time, I hated all the odds-and-ends work, but looking back it gave me an invaluable education on how a business operates. Eventually, they had no choice but to bring me on staff, and that experience shaped everything I know today.

Before that, I was a football player at Scottsdale Community College (Go Chokes). My second ACL tear changed everything, ending my playing career and shifting me toward coaching. While rehabbing, I worked with the football team as a student coach and realized coaching sport wasn’t my path—strength and conditioning was. That injury flipped my perspective from being the athlete to helping athletes.

When the facility I worked at sold in 2020 to a corporate buyer, I stepped away. I didn’t want to get stuck in a system that didn’t fit my values. Justin had left a year earlier, and I followed him to a smaller boutique gym. Then COVID hit. Overnight, we were hauling racks and bars into garages across the Valley, training our guys five days a week wherever we could. It wasn’t glamorous, but it kept athletes ready and built a culture of loyalty, trust, and grit that still defines us. Those months made us realize—we could do this on our own.

After some friction with the gym owner, we decided it was time to build something ourselves. Within weeks, we found a building, bought equipment, and went all in. Our days were spent training athletes in the morning and building the gym by hand until exhaustion at night. In March 2021, APEX Performance Facility opened its doors in Mesa.

Since then, we’ve outgrown our first space and moved into a larger, fully equipped facility in downtown Phoenix. What started as two coaches with a vision is now a place where athletes—from high school to professional—come to maximize their performance. At APEX, both the grind and recovery are built into the culture, and every athlete knows they’ll be pushed to bring their best every single day.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all. The journey to APEX has been anything but smooth. Early on, the hardest part was uncertainty—walking away from stable jobs, saying no to the corporate route, and betting completely on ourselves. Then COVID hit, and we were hauling racks into garages, driving house to house, training guys in the Arizona heat just to keep them ready. It tested everything, but it also proved to our athletes that we’d do whatever it took.

Once we committed to building APEX, new challenges showed up fast. We weren’t just coaches anymore—we were business owners. That meant wearing every hat: coaching in the morning, building the gym in the afternoon, handling leases, bills, marketing, scheduling, and everything in between. We had to learn how to work in the business and on the business at the same time, which was overwhelming at first.

Even after opening, growth came with its own struggles—balancing expenses, managing a facility, and outgrowing our first space much quicker than we anticipated. None of it was easy, but every struggle forced us to level up. Those experiences shaped the culture of APEX: resourceful, gritty, and relentless. It’s the same mentality we instill in our athletes—control what you can, push through setbacks, and keep moving forward.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about APEX Performance Facility?
APEX Performance Facility is a high-performance training center specializing in offseason development for elite athletes. Our niche is working with MLB, NFL, and NBA athletes, along with NFL Draft prospects preparing for the biggest stage of their careers. We’re known for building comprehensive programs that combine strength and conditioning, speed and power development, physical therapy, and integrated recovery so athletes can perform at their highest level and extend their careers.

What makes APEX unique is our standard. Every athlete who walks through our doors is held to the same expectation we place on our professional athletes: show up prepared, do the work, and commit to long-term growth. That standard has shaped the culture we’re proud of today—focused, gritty, and relentlessly professional.

Beyond performance, we specialize in return-to-play protocols for athletes coming back from injury. With on-site physical therapy and a dedicated approach to recovery, we make sure athletes not only get back to competing, but return better prepared than before.

Brand-wise, we’re proud that APEX has become more than a facility—it’s a stamp of commitment. Athletes wear the logo because it represents the grind, the discipline, and the standard they’ve chosen to live by.

For readers, the biggest thing to know is that APEX is built for athletes serious about their craft. Whether you’re a professional in the middle of your career, a draft prospect preparing for your shot, or someone rehabbing with the goal of coming back stronger—we provide the environment, the systems, and the support to make it happen.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I think luck has played a role, both good and bad. Bad luck showed up early—two ACL tears ended my football career and forced me to pivot. At the time, it felt like the worst break imaginable, but it ended up being the moment that pushed me toward coaching and strength and conditioning.

There’s also been timing and circumstance. The facility we both came up in was sold to a corporate buyer—that was out of our control, but it pushed us to leave and eventually start building something of our own. COVID was another one. Shutting gyms down could’ve ended us, but it forced us to adapt, training athletes out of garages around the Valley. In hindsight, that stretch built the culture and loyalty that APEX is built on today.

I wouldn’t say we’ve relied on luck, though. More often than not, “luck” just showed up as challenges or circumstances we didn’t ask for—and our job was to figure out how to turn them into opportunities. If anything, the bad breaks shaped us just as much as the good ones. And at the end of the day, whether it’s good luck or bad luck, we both know we’re truly blessed to be where we are.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.apexapf.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apexperformancefacility/ | https://www.instagram.com/wes_budge/ | https://www.instagram.com/justin_wakefield_/