“Working out was never something I enjoyed, until I started training with Larry. After every session I feel a sense of accomplishment, stronger, and rejuvenated. My sessions with Larry are always full of variety and unpredictable, which makes them fun and exciting. I work out with Larry three days a week, and I can never get enough.. He has helped me look at life in a different way and I now value healthy nutrition and life style. My kick boxing sessions have built my confidence of self defense, in a level that I never could have imagined seeing my self in. Larry is an incredible martial arts instructor, and as a girl I am thrilled to know that I could defend my self in any circumstance if I needed to. Larry has really changed my life and I feel privileged to be trained by him!”

November 18, 2009
—Electra, singer,
Woodland Hills, CA
www.electrabarakos.com

“Keep the work out interesting!”

Philip and I met Eleftherios Zarpas the first day of workout at the gym in the Brown Center of Achievement. We spent a semester in the program, and decided in order to make progress that would help Phil deal with the degenerative effects of Parkinsons we needed to kick it up a notch, and find a program that enabled him to feel he could gain more control over his life by being more proactive in work out. Eleftherios is Phil’s assistant for the spring semester, and what a turn around it has been.

At the top of the hour Eleftherios starts the session by spending some time stretching Phil’s muscles. He spends several minutes coaxing his muscles to loosen up, and that enables his movements to be more fluid. As he stretches the muscles I can see my husband unfurl, and look like he did before the Parkinsons had pulled his posture into a stooped position. The stooped position in his posture does not sound all that serious until you consider that it throws his center of balance off, and has made him prone to several falls.

Phil was viewing the world from the confines of his electric wheelchair before we started coming to the Brown Center of Achievement. As the exercise table goes down to the floor position, and we make our way into the gym, Eleftherios is formulating what he is going to emphasize in today’s work out. He watches Phil to see how he is moving and asks him how he is feeling. With the combination of those two factors, plans his attack for improvement. From the onset of the semester I have noticed a spark in Phil’s eyes, I have seen him change his attitude towards working out.

Eleftherios has provided challenge, tempered with the reality of his fitness level. He has demonstrated his commitment to the program. Eleftherios is creative, and constantly open to change to keep the work out interesting! When he introduces a new machine or movement, he watches Phil carefully to fine tine the movements to extract the best effort for positive results. When a new machine or movement is difficult he demonsrates the machine or movement, then encourages Phil to follow through.
Phil loves to hear Eleftherio’s validating comment (Nice!). The word (nice) has taken on a whole new meaning since we have worked with Eleftherios at the Brown Center. When we share a conversation and the response is…”nice”, we both think of Eleftherios, and a job well done.

May 4, 2009
—Philip and Katherine Plastere,
Palmdale, CA

“I’ve been training with Larry for 3 years, and I feel like I am in better cardiovascular shape now at age 39 than at age 19. I am in a high-stress profession and view my 3x-a-week training sessions as mandatory stress relief therapy. Not only that, as someone who gets bored very easily, I like the fact that Larry consistently mixes up my routines – we do weight-training, circuit-training, kickboxing, stick-fighting, grappling, etc. I highly recommend him!”

July 01, 2009
—Michael Kao,
Los Angeles, CA