Sposato completes corporate body transformation
In today’s world, the last thing most employers are concerned with is whether their workers stay in shape, but Tony Sposato is not your average boss. He owns one of the top 100 landscaping companies in the country, and he recently offered his employees a chance to get an education in fitness by participating in my corporate body transformation program. Since Sposato Landscape is busiest in spring and summer, fall was the logical choice to get started. So in September, nine members of the company began the journey to a healthier lifestyle.
The corporate body transformation is a modification of my regular program, designed to teach and guide participants through a 90-day college course in fitness that focuses on teaching company members how to properly eat, weight train and do cardio for optimal results. To measure their progress, everyone was tested in the Bod Pod - a state-of-the-art body fat testing machine - throughout the 12 weeks to get a very accurate measure of their progress and make adjustments if needed to continue accomplishing their goals. We purposely timed the program so that everyone would finish the week before Christmas and go into the holidays in great shape. In the end, Sposato Landscape did an outstanding job and posted some impressive results across the board. Below are a few of the top finishers.
Jorge Yegros was probably the least likely person to join the transformation, but with the support of friend and coworker Rich McCracken, he took the plunge and joined anyway. Both Rich and Jorge have a lot of responsibilities, so the only way to make it work was to motivate each other to get up early and work out together. This sometimes meant working out at 4:30 in the morning before they went to work. Jorge rose to the occasion and lost 25 percent of his starting body fat percentage and gained 10 pounds of lean muscle at the same time.
Ximena Fonseca’s commute to work has always made it difficult to get to the gym. She started slow in the beginning, missing several key workouts, but she never gave up and continued to pick up momentum. Each week, she became more disciplined and made a lot of progress. By the end of the program, she did an incredible job and completely transformed her body, losing 20 percent of her starting body fat, gaining almost two pounds of muscle and becoming much more physically fit.
Denise Bradshaw, a veteran of my program, joined with the goals of running a half marathon and greatly improving her overall physical shape. Denise did an incredible job this time around and more than delivered, posting in the top 3 finishers in the challenge as well as losing 20 percent body fat and gaining almost two pounds of muscle. In addition, she crushed her previous half marathon time by running four minutes faster and also setting a personal best in a 5K race.
On a personal note, Tony Sposato and I were roommates in college and both played for the Salisbury State University football team. We have been through more than our fair share of workouts together, so it has been a privilege to work together again and bring fitness to his company. I look forward to offering my program each fall to continue to bring a culture of fitness to any employee willing to join the program.
Chris Antonio is a personal trainer and former world-class weightlifter. He has been lifting for more than 20 years and has trained a wide variety of clients ranging from All-American athletes to the average person trying to get into shape. To send a question to the Ask the Trainer column, email Chris at Askthetrainer@antoniostraining.com or check out AntoniosTraining.com for training tips, news and inspirational stories.
