| Marcos Prolo June 1, 2005 © 2005, Fitness Organica LLC |
Kicking and screaming, Marcos Prolo was dragged into his first aerobics class 17 years ago by his
roommate at the time. He was an accomplished skater, competing in speed and artistic roller skating,
since his school years in Brazil. Marcos' roommate talked him into joining a gym as part of his
cross-training schedule, and the rest is history.
"At first I thought there was NO way I could do high/low aerobics," Marcos says. Within months, his
aerobics instructor asked him to sub a class for her. "I was so scared, but decided to accept the challenge.
I did so much choreography and broke everything down so fast, that I ran out of combinations 20 minutes
into the class, with 40 more to go!"
From that point, everything snowballed. He started working at the club, managed the front desk staff,
worked in customer service, and sold memberships. He was pretty much a jack-of-all-trades at the club,
until the aerobics manager quit and he was immediately given the position. He began presenting
workshops in-house to his staff. The word got out and some outside instructors started attending. Then he
began receiving invitations to go to other clubs, and before he knew it, "I was all over the place!"
Marcos became an AVIA athlete which opened even more doors within the convention circle. After about 5
years of managing, he decided to travel full-time and present as much as he could. "I had a blast and went
to so many places around the world!"
Meanwhile, Marcos had switched his home club to The Sports Club/Irvine, now called The Sports Club, LA
in Orange County. In 2001, the Group Fitness Manager left, and Marcos was offered the position. He
debated taking on the responsibility due to his hectic travel schedule, but decided to divide his time
between the two. So he cut back his travel schedule, and was able to devote time to managing the staff
and programs (56 team members and 118 classes a week), resume teaching his own classes, plus run
his training and consulting company, Fitness Factory.
Marcos was born in Brazil, where he grew up and went to school. He is actually Italian, as is his entire
family, and says the south of Brazil is loaded with Germans and Italians. His school years were spent in
private Catholic schools, where his favorite subjects were the arts. He detested math, but did well in it.
Although he was a good student, he describes himself as a little bratty -- "I was once suspended for
sneaking into the nuns' quarters. I really wanted to see how they lived, where they slept, etc."
He spent a lot of his school time traveling for skating competitions, so he got used to travel at an early age.
He has traveled all over the world for both skating and fitness events. Does he have a favorite country to
teach in? "Wow, hard to say! I loved teaching in Norway; I spent a long time working there. But I also love
teaching in Japan where everyone is choreography crazy! They LOVE high/low. Peru was fun, too. It's
really hard to pick one or two."
One of his most memorable experiences was teaching a high/low class to a crowd of about 250. "The
stage was super-high. I was facing the crowd and took too big of a 'grapevine-back' . . . I fell behind/under
the stage, right through the little curtain/banner area. It all happened in one second. BANG, I was gone!" ,
he laughs. "Aside from the super-loud noise and a giant bleeding cut on my leg, I continued to cue my
routine as I pulled through the fabric that was wrapped around me. At first everyone was dead quiet, but
once they saw I was moving again, there was a loud wave of laughter!"
Another memory is an almost-crash-landing at the Denver airport during a heavy storm. "The plane hit
some crosswinds just as we were about to touch down, and the pilot had to pull some major G's and climb
up steeply, causing several passengers to get sick . . . and you know what happens when one person gets
sick on a plane! It's a domino effect!" Marcos didn't get sick himself, but couldn't wait to get on the ground.
Then there was Marcos' stalker, another memorable time in his career, although not necessarily a good
memory. An attendee at one of the conferences became obsessed with Marcos. She somehow got his
home address, and the next thing he knew, he was receiving presents, cards, flowers, e-mails, phone
calls, and faxes daily.
What about Marcos' own classes at The Sports Club? I asked Marcos about the choreography in his live
classes. Since some of his choreography, especially that in Stepology, is so intricate, does he teach live
classes that way? "Well, my students at home are VERY good! The combos from Stepology came from my
classes at the club, but are slightly toned down. I do teach a little faster at my home club and teach trickier
moves -- but these are people who attend my classes every week. I like to push the buttons and step out of
the box when I present my step sessions and videos, but at the same time, I want people to learn the
combinations and use them. I love to get e-mails from people telling me that they took my combo, mixed it
with their stuff, and made something super-creative."
Marcos never really pictured himself making videos, but was invited to shoot one and gave it a go. "I had
SO much fun that I decided to produce my own!" In addition to his self-produced Stepology and Cardio
Revolution DVDs, he is getting ready to release two new step DVDs. "We are really hoping to have these
ready by July. The production costs for DVDs are still quite high, and I am working on the business plan to
have these released as soon as possible. I'm very excited that my last workouts have become top sellers,
and I can't wait to share these new DVDs with everyone."
Marcos is also producing three new workouts for other instructors, which will be Pilates, yoga, and a
lower-body workout. "These are also amazing instructors and I can't wait to share them with the world
through their new DVDs!"
At home, Marcos likes to relax by playing with his dog, Kenya. "She is a Basenji, and she is so wonderful
and so smart! She's 5 years old, and I adopted her. She follows me everywhere! She even attended the
IDEA conference with me last year in San Diego."
He also enjoys hockey, movies, going out to dinner, and watching The Amazing Race and Contender on
TV. "My buddy is one of the Contenders on NBC, so that makes it fun to watch (go Alfonso!)." He loves
Italian and Mexican food. His favorite book is The Alchemist; his favorite movie is Shrek; and his favorite
color is green. "Green for now. It used to be purple. I also like black!"
Currently single and age 36, Marcos dreams of getting a pilot's license and learning how to fly an airplane.
"I hope to do that before I'm 40. I better hurry, huh?"
roommate at the time. He was an accomplished skater, competing in speed and artistic roller skating,
since his school years in Brazil. Marcos' roommate talked him into joining a gym as part of his
cross-training schedule, and the rest is history.
"At first I thought there was NO way I could do high/low aerobics," Marcos says. Within months, his
aerobics instructor asked him to sub a class for her. "I was so scared, but decided to accept the challenge.
I did so much choreography and broke everything down so fast, that I ran out of combinations 20 minutes
into the class, with 40 more to go!"
From that point, everything snowballed. He started working at the club, managed the front desk staff,
worked in customer service, and sold memberships. He was pretty much a jack-of-all-trades at the club,
until the aerobics manager quit and he was immediately given the position. He began presenting
workshops in-house to his staff. The word got out and some outside instructors started attending. Then he
began receiving invitations to go to other clubs, and before he knew it, "I was all over the place!"
Marcos became an AVIA athlete which opened even more doors within the convention circle. After about 5
years of managing, he decided to travel full-time and present as much as he could. "I had a blast and went
to so many places around the world!"
Meanwhile, Marcos had switched his home club to The Sports Club/Irvine, now called The Sports Club, LA
in Orange County. In 2001, the Group Fitness Manager left, and Marcos was offered the position. He
debated taking on the responsibility due to his hectic travel schedule, but decided to divide his time
between the two. So he cut back his travel schedule, and was able to devote time to managing the staff
and programs (56 team members and 118 classes a week), resume teaching his own classes, plus run
his training and consulting company, Fitness Factory.
Marcos was born in Brazil, where he grew up and went to school. He is actually Italian, as is his entire
family, and says the south of Brazil is loaded with Germans and Italians. His school years were spent in
private Catholic schools, where his favorite subjects were the arts. He detested math, but did well in it.
Although he was a good student, he describes himself as a little bratty -- "I was once suspended for
sneaking into the nuns' quarters. I really wanted to see how they lived, where they slept, etc."
He spent a lot of his school time traveling for skating competitions, so he got used to travel at an early age.
He has traveled all over the world for both skating and fitness events. Does he have a favorite country to
teach in? "Wow, hard to say! I loved teaching in Norway; I spent a long time working there. But I also love
teaching in Japan where everyone is choreography crazy! They LOVE high/low. Peru was fun, too. It's
really hard to pick one or two."
One of his most memorable experiences was teaching a high/low class to a crowd of about 250. "The
stage was super-high. I was facing the crowd and took too big of a 'grapevine-back' . . . I fell behind/under
the stage, right through the little curtain/banner area. It all happened in one second. BANG, I was gone!" ,
he laughs. "Aside from the super-loud noise and a giant bleeding cut on my leg, I continued to cue my
routine as I pulled through the fabric that was wrapped around me. At first everyone was dead quiet, but
once they saw I was moving again, there was a loud wave of laughter!"
Another memory is an almost-crash-landing at the Denver airport during a heavy storm. "The plane hit
some crosswinds just as we were about to touch down, and the pilot had to pull some major G's and climb
up steeply, causing several passengers to get sick . . . and you know what happens when one person gets
sick on a plane! It's a domino effect!" Marcos didn't get sick himself, but couldn't wait to get on the ground.
Then there was Marcos' stalker, another memorable time in his career, although not necessarily a good
memory. An attendee at one of the conferences became obsessed with Marcos. She somehow got his
home address, and the next thing he knew, he was receiving presents, cards, flowers, e-mails, phone
calls, and faxes daily.
What about Marcos' own classes at The Sports Club? I asked Marcos about the choreography in his live
classes. Since some of his choreography, especially that in Stepology, is so intricate, does he teach live
classes that way? "Well, my students at home are VERY good! The combos from Stepology came from my
classes at the club, but are slightly toned down. I do teach a little faster at my home club and teach trickier
moves -- but these are people who attend my classes every week. I like to push the buttons and step out of
the box when I present my step sessions and videos, but at the same time, I want people to learn the
combinations and use them. I love to get e-mails from people telling me that they took my combo, mixed it
with their stuff, and made something super-creative."
Marcos never really pictured himself making videos, but was invited to shoot one and gave it a go. "I had
SO much fun that I decided to produce my own!" In addition to his self-produced Stepology and Cardio
Revolution DVDs, he is getting ready to release two new step DVDs. "We are really hoping to have these
ready by July. The production costs for DVDs are still quite high, and I am working on the business plan to
have these released as soon as possible. I'm very excited that my last workouts have become top sellers,
and I can't wait to share these new DVDs with everyone."
Marcos is also producing three new workouts for other instructors, which will be Pilates, yoga, and a
lower-body workout. "These are also amazing instructors and I can't wait to share them with the world
through their new DVDs!"
At home, Marcos likes to relax by playing with his dog, Kenya. "She is a Basenji, and she is so wonderful
and so smart! She's 5 years old, and I adopted her. She follows me everywhere! She even attended the
IDEA conference with me last year in San Diego."
He also enjoys hockey, movies, going out to dinner, and watching The Amazing Race and Contender on
TV. "My buddy is one of the Contenders on NBC, so that makes it fun to watch (go Alfonso!)." He loves
Italian and Mexican food. His favorite book is The Alchemist; his favorite movie is Shrek; and his favorite
color is green. "Green for now. It used to be purple. I also like black!"
Currently single and age 36, Marcos dreams of getting a pilot's license and learning how to fly an airplane.
"I hope to do that before I'm 40. I better hurry, huh?"
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