Fitness Together Owner Settles Down into Business of Health

Matthew Gagliano knew two words of Japanese when he moved to rural Haruno, about three hours west of Tokyo, to teach English. 

“I wanted to travel, and I wanted to get paid,” said Gagliano from his studio in Prince's Hill Plaza on County Road in Barrington last week. 

He ended up spending three years in Japan, learning far more than two words, and hiking and biking all over the country and the Far East. His adventures also included India, Indonesia and Nepal, where he climbed 27,000-foot-high Island Peak, hiked in the Himalayas and biked 2,500 miles to Katmandu. He carried his bike with him the entire time he was in the Far East.

So, it’s no surprise that Gagliano continues his love affairs for sports, recreation, and fitness as a personal trainer and entrepreneur.

Gagliano recently bought a second Fitness Together studio in Lincoln and moved it to a new location in an industrial park not far from the Amica Insurance Company.

Gagliano earned a degree in physical education and health from the University of Rhode Island. He came back to the U.S. from Japan to enroll at Boston University, where he earned a master’s degree in health and wellness. 

“I like to help people become better human beings,” he said. “I always worked at it, and I knew the science of it.”

Initially, he thought he might teach health and fitness in college. Instead, Gagliano is making a career in the health and fitness business.

Gagliano started out working part time as a personal trainer and eventually went full time when he was offered a management position with Fitness Together. He bought the studio a year later and is now a regional director for Fitness Together as well as the owner of two studios.

Gagliano and his wife, Nicole, have lived in Barrington for five years. They have a baby boy due in August.

“I love people, I’m an extrovert,” he said.

Could you be anything but an extrovert if you go to Japan to teach English and know two words of Japanese?