A real eye-opener

"The key to this business is having fun,'' trainer Dan Dal Colletto says. Perhaps that's how he lures people out of bed for grueling workouts.

By LOGAN D. MABE

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 2, 2001

[Times photo: Mike Pease] A workout in progress at the 6 a.m. Boot Camp at the Westchase Swim and Tennis Club.

KEYSTONE -- Dawn is still an hour away when Dan Dal Colletto greets his troops and begins putting them through their paces.

Crunches, push-ups, sit-ups, and lots of grunt-inducing calisthenics meant to get the heart thumping.

Dal Colletto, a former champion body builder, now is in the business of building better bodies for his clients. On this morning, they include four members of his rigorous "Boot Camp" class at the Westchase Swim and Tennis Center.

"It pushes you, no doubt," David Herman said after his 6 a.m. workout. "It's a lot harder than you think."

Herman is one of about a dozen Westchase residents who signed up for Dal Colletto's Boot Camp when he launched the program four weeks ago. He heard about it from his wife, who had employed Dal Colletto as her personal trainer.

"I was highly skeptical when she was telling me about all these great workouts she was having using rubber bands," Herman said of the elastic cords campers use for strength training. "But I'm converted. I've lost about 8 pounds, and the workouts give me a lot more energy. That alarm goes off about 5:30 a.m. and you hang out in bed for another five minutes, but it's worth it. By 7:05, you're ready to take on the day."

Dal Colletto's business extends far beyond Westchase and the Eagles, where he has lived since 1996. He began personal training in 1983 in San Francisco at the tail end of a successful career as a competitive body builder. As his client list expanded, he began adding trainers to the staff. He now employs more than 40 trainers in Florida and California.

One of them is his wife, Catherine O'Neil, who is vice president of the company and runs a "Mommies in Motion" class for women.

The couple actually met on Clearwater Beach when both were on vacation. They fell in love, married and have a little boy who just turned 1.

"We are so fortunate to be in control of our destiny and to help people with physical and mental growth," O'Neil said. "We firmly believe that good nutrition and exercise is the best medicine out there."

"The key to this business is having fun," Dal Colletto said. "You have to care, be empathetic and warm. It takes a lot of courage to make that call, to pick up that phone and say, "I want to make a positive step in the right direction.' "

-- Logan D. Mabe can be reached at (813) 226-3464.

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