It’s Saturday morning at Manhattan Plaza Health Club and Gonzalo Garcia is barking orders. There will be no sitting in his class. Active rests only. His questions to the group -- three generations of women sprinkled with gay men -- will be answered. Loudly, collectively, and with enthusiasm. Twelve minutes into Garcia’s high-octane workout I look at the clock. Six minutes later I do it again. I’m not certain I’ll make it through the remaining 42.
Garcia’s star is well on the rise. Just 30, he has been a trainer at MPHC for five years. His weekend pick-me-up (wear-you-down?), called Evolve, has been featured in Time Out New York. Garcia also operates an independent personal training outfit called Full Throttle Fitness NYC, with a corresponding website that offers indispensable free advice. And since fall 2009 he has appeared regularly on the Sirius OutQ Radio program “The Morning Jolt” as the resident fitness guru.
Training clearly suits Garcia, but it wasn’t his destiny. “I did everything I could to get out of gym class. Now I teach gym class,” he says, referring specifically to “suicides,” Evolve’s seriously fun, PE-like drills that distract me from watching the clock.
He got into the fitness profession on a fluke. Growing up in northern Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood, Garcia had aspired to become a performer, a goal that was realized as early as age 9, when he landed a three-year gig playing Gavroche in Les Misérables. Some time after Garcia graduated from NYU, a close friend working at MPHC noted his audition fatigue, introduced him to the club, and new success quickly followed. Gonzalo remembers one early client, an overweight guy in his early 40s who had never set foot inside a gym. Devotion replaced ignorance, and the trainee dramatically improved his body and health. That drastic transformation, plus a reputation as a tough trainer, spread. And today we have ourselves a multimedia hardbody.
If Garcia earns even more acclaim, then it will be because he matches toughness and generosity. Beneath the drill-sergeant exterior Garcia is not unlike his fourth-grade-teacher mother, aware of the importance of his subject and passionate about spreading the gospel. “I really enjoy that people go to the website and email me for advice; I’m not greedy,” he notes, saying the same for his radio listeners. Another piece of evidence to that effect: Garcia has prepared a workout specifically for truck drivers, which long-haulers of any variety may reference on his blog.
And so I’ve decided to exploit that good spirit. I’ve asked Garcia to take readers through a series of instructions and workouts to get them ready for the Fire Island season. Watch this space for advice that will have you feeling your best for the beach.