When Otilio Arzola, 59, showed up at Galter LifeCenter last summer, the former college baseball player had hit an all-time personal low for fitness. Injured and 30 pounds overweight, Otilio no longer played in the ice hockey league he loved and he’d been in and out of physical therapy for 18 months.

The downward cycle started a few years earlier, when the Lakeview resident was working out at another gym where trainers emphasized heavy-duty weight lifting. The results: a torn knee, aching elbows and shoulders and a bulging disc.

“Those injuries knocked me out for five years,” says the outgoing Arzola, a locksmith who was used to working out six days a week. “I was afraid of going back into the gym so I turned into a couch potato.” He also felt depressed.

His wife urged him to check out Galter LifeCenter—something his orthopedist had recommended five years earlier but that Arzola ignored because another rehab center was closer to home.

Tired of feeling fatigued and sick of the spare tire around his middle, Arzola visited GLC in June and fell in love with the idea of getting healthy again. Today, he’s happier and fitter than ever—and he’s one of GLC’s biggest cheerleaders.  As a hospital-based fitness center, points out Arzola, “Galter’s really a different animal than any other gym.”

His journey began when he signed up for Fundamental Fitness, a nine-week, small group class that teaches exercise and nutrition basics. Even an exercise pro like Arzola was inspired by the class, where he learned, for example, that it’s a myth that we lose flexibility as we age. “You simply need to make time to stretch,” he says.

Arzola signed up for personal training with Peter Marcy, who has extensive experience helping clients lose weight safely and maintain a healthy weight. “Before I started Peter did a thorough assessment, looking at how flexible and strong I was, doing blood work and everything so he knew where I stood physically,” Arzola says. “It was all these things that other gyms never did for me.” 

Next Arzola signed up for Wellcoaching, a one-on-one program where his coach, Maki Uechi-Brooker, guided him toward setting short and long-term health, life and fitness goals.  Otilio wanted to sleep better, for example, and Maki helped him focus on better sleep habits (less wine in the evening, don’t fall asleep on the couch); he now sleeps 7–9 hours a night. Decluttering was also an objective and the two hours spent doing that each week, says Arzola, has freed his mind, too. Maki’s also helped him set realistic exercise goals incorporating cardio, strength and stretching.

Finally, Arzola signed up for the TRX-Kettlebell Fusion class. “I’m building my strength but I’m also doing cardio, which is really important,” the enthusiastic Arzola says. “And the instructors always check in with me to make sure I’m ok.”

Though it’s been just a few months since Arzola started, he’s thrilled with the results. “I’ve got a lot more energy. I’ve been working more, I’m thinking more clearly, I’m more ambitious. I used to go up stairs and have to catch my breath. Now I don’t have to stop. My heart’s getting stronger, too.”

Arzola’s up to three days a week of exercise, and he’ll add a day or two as he feels fitter and better. For now he’s thrilled that life’s back on track.

“I’m going to stay with Wellocaching because it keeps me on task for what I want to accomplish and it’s important to have that support. I’m going to continue to train with Peter and do the TRX-Kettlebell class with Maki—they mix up the workouts so you don’t get bored.”

“Galter’s about life—people go there to make their lives better and it’s made my life better. There’s no pretense and I get a safe workout that’s planned just for me.

“It’s why I’m happy I’ve found this place,” he says, smiling.