Al Guarino – Executive Training Success Story

“I’m Al Guarino, I’ve been training here for approximately two years. I found the gym through a mutual friend of mine whose son was and has aspirations to become a professional baseball player. And I was talking about the fact that I needed to change my life as a lot of health issues were starting to creep in as I aged. And this friend of mine said, you know what you know, LPS does not just train professional athletes, but also trains executives that are serious about getting healthier. And it turned out that at the same time LPS moved from downtown to this location in North York, which happens to be very, very convenient. So I was introduced to clients at LPS and I’ve been here religiously for the last two years. When I started to I was 239 pounds.

I’m just short of six feet and I know I should be 200 pounds or less. Today I’m 205 pounds, so I’m down approximately 35 pounds. But in terms of fat loss, I believe I’m down even more because I’ve gained a lot of lean muscle mass. So even though my weight coming down, I think I’ve lost probably 40 or 45 pounds and fat and gain 5 of 10 pounds of lean muscle mass. And you know, it was a fun way to do it. Not only was I training regularly but the program that I was using kept changing every two or three weeks, so it didn’t get stale. I didn’t get bored. You know, they did my periodic measurements and assessments, they would change the programs so that I would see progress or I could influence even the progress in some of the areas that I was really interested in strengthening.

So we worked together to do that. And you know, I think the competitions that we ran here really, really motivated me. I’m an individual that likes motivation and a challenge and I found that it was a friendly competition. The first one was a pure weight loss competition. The second was a gaining lean muscle mass and losing body fat competition, but we were all in it together and everybody was encouraging each other to do that. And I think that, and together with the various coaches at LPS really made a difference for me in terms of keeping me on track, keeping me motivated. And here I am 35 pounds lighter, feeling great still got another 5, 10 pounds to go, which I’m sure the team’s already working on in terms of what my next are to achieve what my ultimate goal was.

I must say that getting to this point, I have actually achieved the objectives that we had set out when I joined LPS, but now I keep moving the bar because I see that there’s more room and more room to grow and you know, and it’s fun. It’s fun. So you know, it’s been a great ride. In the past, well, I had not been exercising at all for about 5 or 6 years, although I was active when I was younger and that had caused me to gain approximately 40 pounds. That was starting to manifest itself into a whole bunch of conditions like gout and prediabetic and just the general lethargic. So I spoke with Clance, we worked out a program and, and really the first part of it was just to get my body back into the training mode.

We talked quite a bit about diet and I was working on that, but the real focus in the beginning was just getting my body used to being active again. And once that happened, and that was a few months, then we really started working on diet, which helped me considerably in terms of dropping pounds and gaining lean muscle mass. Well, the first day was really an assessment. So you know they spent quite a bit of time… Clance and the other coaches here with me in terms of what were my goals, what were the issues with the health issues that I have. They were quite concerned in terms of any musculoskeletal issues to make sure that they knew what to train, what to avoid, where to strengthen. So that was really the first few sessions. We really just didn’t jump into training right away.

It took a few sessions and then a personalized training program was created that fit my needs, my health needs as well as my objectives. You know, LPS has many professional athletes, Olympic athletes, local athletes. Obviously I’m not any of those, but you know, the, the approach that they took with me in my program, I felt like I was one of these professional athletes because of the time, attention and care in designing a program that was unique for me and was incredible. And I really felt like I was part of the team and that I belonged here. Even though I’m surrounded by these incredible athletes at every level, Professional, Olympics and local athletes. It’s an extremely welcoming environment. I feel very comfortable. The coaches here go out of the way to make sure that everyone feels comfortable and that there’s no nonsense in the gym.

So from really from the first day, I felt like I belonged here even though I really wasn’t an athlete. I’m 63 years old. So most people, you know, I’m sure some people would actually think that there’s no point. You can’t train, I’m proving to them that they’re wrong. It’s never too late.

You know, if you want to have a healthy later old age and retirement, this is the way to go. We spend so much time and effort on everything around us, our cars, our homes, but we don’t focus on our own bodies. And I can tell you that by achieving the goals and working out and being active no matter what age you are, but certainly at an older age, you will feel better. You will enjoy life more. You will be a better member of your family.

You will be able to enjoy all the community events and activities and vacations. So I think it’s a well worthwhile effort to spend the time and money to invest in yourself first, regardless of your age. But certainly, you know, as you get older in life, I think it’s even more necessary than when you’re a youngster. So I encourage everybody out there that’s starting to see the same health issues creeping into their bodies that I was experiencing to jump on this, get involved. This is a great environment, you know, set your goals and you’re going have a whole bunch of helping hands along the way. And you know, you’ll be walking 15, 20 kilometers a day, just like I did on my last trip to Europe a few weeks ago, and not even blinking in terms of the physical exertion or, you know, it was just fabulous. And that’s the way I want to drift into retirement, not hobbling into retirement.”

– Al Guarino, 63, Executive

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