A PERSONAL TOUCH TO FITNESS
Advantage Personal Training offers one-on-one fitness training
By Leslie Rovetti (Mystic Times)

OLD MYSTIC -- When Greg Drab was at the University of Connecticut, earning a master's degree in exercise science, he went to a gym to work out. Something there looked very odd to him.

"The majority of the people there were under the age of 30", he recalled, and relatively fit. And that made him wonder, "Where's the rest of the population?"

Where are the older people? He wondered. Where are the overweight, the injured, the arthritic, the people who have fallen off the fitness wagon?

Today, those people are training at Drab's gym, Advantage Personal Training, located in the renovated Old Mystic Mill on Route 27 in Old Mystic. The word "personal" in the name of his business is not just a marketing gimmick; his gym truly provides one-on-one personal training. All workouts are with an experienced personal trainer, and are by appointment only.

Drab, a Groton native and Mystic resident, is only 28 years old, and that is probably on the young side for a successful businessman. But he made a goal, pursued it, and now co-owns not only this gym in Mystic, but another Advantage Personal Training facility in Harbor Plaza in Niantic.

"When I was in graduate school, I knew I eventually wanted to own a fitness center", Drab said. " I knew I didn't have the resources to compete with the larger gyms in the area, so I had to create a new type of facility."

When a new client has their first appointment at Advantage Personal Training, Drab or one of the 22 other trainers will conduct a fitness assessment. During that time, the trainer and client will "go over what their goals are, their exercise history, and how they want to utilize a trainer".

The trainer will also administer "flexibility-type tests", Drab said.

What happens next depends on the needs and wants of the client. Some clients may just want the trainer to suggest ways to make their current workout more productive. Other clients may want the trainer to devise a regiment they can do at home. Others may use the assessment as a spring- board to regular appointments with the trainer at Drab's gym. Appointments are available seven days a week, "most hours of the day", Drab said. "Our evening appointments are really limited", he said, and the most available time of the day is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.

The most compelling stories behind Advantage Personal Training are the stories told by the clients.

Marianne Mastronunzio of New London has been working out at Drab's gym for more than three years. She started "to gain more muscle strength" she said, "and maintain my weight".

She began coming to the gym once a week, and six weeks later she felt better than when she was working out on her own three times a week.

Now a fit 48 years old, Mastronunzio has met and exceeded her original goal. Her weight has stayed the same, but the extra toning has her wearing smaller-sized pants. She now works out twice a week and has no intention of stopping. "I love the personal training. I need that for motivation", she said. "I stay really motivated coming here".

She also praised the trainers she works with. "They are always up on the latest information", she said. "Every time I come, I am doing something different.

Bob O'Neill had a totally different reason for coming to Advantage Personal Training. His motivation was to get his legs back. "I was supposed to go to a gym, but I never did," said the 67-year old Mystic resident.

Trainer Jen Pinto pointed to a spot just above O'Neill's knees. "Both of these tendons were ruptured", she said, and his quadriceps muscles had pulled away from his knees.

After a few months of rehabilitation, O'Neill began coming to the gym to get full use of his knees back. "We are kind of the next step after physical therapy", Pinto said.

Like Mastronunzio, O'Neill also praised the motivational power of one-on-one personal training. "Its perfect. It is the only time I have ever showed up consistently. I do not volunteer to go to the gym very often".

Since he has begun training in February, he has gone from being able to lift 15 pounds with each leg to 40 pounds.

"You wouldn't know about the injury if you saw him walking around", Pinto said.

More than his knees have benefited from these workouts. "This is smaller", he said as he patted his stomach.

O'Neill also plans to maintain his gym workouts after his goal is achieved. "I am going to keep doing this as long as I have the means to pay for it. It has become part of my life."

Drab would like people to know that anyone and everyone can, and should exercise. Exercise is not just for the young, or the already fit, or the people who like how they look in spandex.

"If you can move, and the doctor approves, we have an exercise for you", he said.