Personal Trainer's Mission is to Help Others Achieve Their Dreams

Israel Ortiz is no stranger to the struggle when it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, but looking at him now, it’s hard to believe he was ever overweight. Today, the self-employed personal trainer devotes his energy to helping others achieve their dreams of getting – and staying – in shape.

Ortiz began running marathons when he was 13 years old. During an average week, Ortiz bicycled 120 miles and ran 40 miles. However, despite maintaining an active lifestyle for over 30 years, Ortiz found it difficult to shed pounds safely due to complications associated with his diabetes. When Ortiz’s doctor told him that he would have to lose a significant amount of weight in order to get off the pills he was taking to control his diabetes, Ortiz knew it was time to make a drastic lifestyle change.

“I don’t think anyone wants to take medication unless they absolutely have to, so when I saw a chance to get off those pills, I knew I had to do whatever it takes,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz enrolled in a nine month personal training course at Remington College in Tampa, during which he lost 34 pounds while working toward his certification with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. In the last 2-and-a-half  years of putting his cross-training education to use, Ortiz has lost an inspiring 72 pounds and is healthier than he’s ever been.

Last spring Ortiz incorporated his business, Endurance Training Institute, to help residents of Bradenton and Sarasota reach success with their own personal fitness goals.

“My goal is simple," he said, "what I really want to do is help other people achieve what I achieved.”

Ortiz works part time at the 59^th Street in Bradenton, where stands in as a substitute trainer for cardio classes and teaches a “Boot Camp” twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays. When Ortiz isn’t working at the Y, he trains his clients individually and runs his “Metabolic Fit Camp,” which incorporates sleds and parachutes to offer resistance while walking, running and sprinting.

“After spending 5 or 6 weeks in my Metabolic Fit Camp, I can guarantee that you’ve used all of the muscles in your body" Ortiz said. "The body is like a chain, and your muscles are like the links. You need to exercise and strengthen every one of those links because if any of them become weak, the chain can break. That’s why my training focuses so heavily on strength and endurance.”

Because big name fitness centers like Youfit and Lifestyles are competition for Ortiz, he pays special attention to his clients on a one-on-one basis to separate himself from his competitors.

“The personal touch is what gets lost in a lot of big name gyms,” said Ortiz. “I used to work for Youfit and kept getting more and more referrals from my clients. I realized that if I could do this successfully [for Youfit], why can’t I do it for myself?”

When Ortiz takes on a client he does a full assessment with an unobtrusive scale that measures weight, body fat, BMI, visceral weight, and skeletal/muscular weight. From that point forward, he works with the client to develop an individualized fitness routine to help that individual achieve his or her fitness goals.

“Basically I do everything a gym does – except that I don’t have a gym in the back of my car,” said Ortiz, who travels with stability and medicine balls, dumbbells, flex spans, a parachute and sled, speed cones, and lateral resistors.

Generally, Ortiz’s training sessions are one hour long with 55 minutes of training and 5 minutes of stretching, including assisted stretching, in which Ortiz personally stretches his clients’ important muscle groups in a hands-on manner.

“The benefit of working with a personal trainer is that you have not only accountability, but someone who is focusing solely on you. For the hour that I’m with you, I’m focusing all of my attention on you and no one else. At bigger places, you can get lost in the shuffle, but when you’re working with me, I’m running specific programs tailored just for you. I’m seeing what you do on a day-to-day basis and I can tweak programs for you.”

Ortiz’s dedication to adding a personal touch extends beyond his training sessions. He also sends out hand-written cards that thank each of his clients for their business and takes them out to lunch to talk about any issues they may have or ways that he provide better help in achieving their goals.

“Sometimes I feel like the heart has been lost on society,” Ortiz said. “Nowadays it’s all about business and making money, but my goal is to help people. I’m thankful that I can afford to pay my rent and live on my business, but at the end of the day, what I really care about is helping people accomplish their dreams. When I go to sleep at night, if I can say I helped someone, that’s the biggest accomplishment I can imagine.”