Somerville Personal Training Spotlight Sunday: Frank Pellegrini

Happy Sunday post snow-storm. I hope all is well with you.

We’re back with another awesome edition of the Durbrow Performance Spotlight Sunday. I think they are all awesome, but I guess I’m a little biased 🙂

Check out Frank’s great transformation story here….

My life has been centered around the family business for as long as I can remember.  For most of you who do not know, my family and I own an Italian bakery/deli.  I pretty much grew up in that place.  Since I was 12 I have been involved in one way or another.  Even before then, I would go and just hang out with my family.  These surroundings undoubtedly contributed to my health.  Even though I have always been athletic and play hockey regularly, it couldn’t hide the fact that I used to eat 2 pounds of butter cookies every other day. (2lbs would be about 20 of them!)  That is just one example of the diet I used to have.

 

I wouldn’t say that I was fat before, but I guess I am a bit vain and never had the body that I wanted so badly.  You know, I wanted to go to the beach and not worry about taking my shirt off and things like that.

 

So as time passed and i went further along into my 20’s the desire for me to change my body grew and grew.  I tried everything.  Weightlifting, running, weird creams you rub on your body, playing sports 4 times a week but nothing worked.  The most successful I had ever been was was when I had a workout partner and we would go to the gym regularly.  We’d lift and lift and I got really strong.  It was great except that I didn’t care about being strong.  I wanted to LOOK strong! (remember I am vain)  I mean who cares if you can lift up a car if you have two pounds of fat on your stomach and arms no one will know it anyways.

So later on my workout partner needed some time off and I didn’t want to work out alone.  I was looking for a trainer to kick my ass because i was to lazy to do it alone.  I found Callie on the internet and I signed up.  I remember I knew Callie was cool because when I first met her we had like a little interview she asked me ” so Frank what are your goals?”  And I responded “I want to look like Achilles in the movie Troy.”

 

Well she didn’t laugh in my face so I knew she was cool!  I started going twice a week for the first little while and even though I enjoyed the workouts I just couldn’t get into a rhythm and get consistent results.  I was the typical dummy who figured oh if I just go there it will be enough.  Well that was a very expensive and time consuming lesson because I wouldn’t say I really buckled down and worked hard until about 5 or 6 months in.  So guys when Callie tells you that just training alone is not enough she couldn’t be more correct.

 

I would say that I didn’t hit rock bottom until one day I got weighed and I actually put on weight.  I remember that moment vividly and I don’t think I have been more disgusted with myself in my life.  It was during the Bruins stanley cup run and every other night I would be eating fast food and drinking too much.  From that moment forward I really bought into the lifestyle change mentality.

 

Since then I don’t exactly know how much fat I have lost.  I can tell you on the days I don’t work out in the morning I don’t feel the same.  I really enjoy many of the exercises Callie uses but none more then pushups.  Sometimes when I feel good I feel like I can do 100.  Plus I never realized there are so many ways to do them.  Wide, declined, with weight on you, medicine ball etc.  I’m also really into the new exercise  where you have the val slides on your feet and you are crawling through the gym.  I forgot what it’s called but it’s extremely painful and I love it for some reason.

 

Part of my new lifestyle involves eating healthy 5 or 6 days a week and only going out once or twice a week.  I feel that I am enjoying my life this way so much more because I feel so much better about myself and I really don’t care about eating badly because I know I will be in the gym the next week.  I also have a new reason to work out besides wanting to look good in really nice clothes;  I want to be an inspiration to the people I care about.  I want them to see the changes I have made and know that it is possible for them as well.  I have some overweight people in my family who are younger then me.  I want to make my body so outstanding that one day they will come to me and say “Frank how do you do it? Man I want to be like you can you teach me how?”  And I will then go on to explain how you need to change your lifestyle and so on.

 

Here’s Frank before….

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Here’s Frank after…

 

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