About Zarpas

Eleftherios "Larry" Zarpas

Eleftherios Zarpas, born 12/09/1975. Trained and certified under Guru Felix Valencia founder of Valencia Lameco. Graduate student at Cal State Northridge with a degree in exercise science. Currently working at the campus Brown Center of Achievement, in the adaptive therapeutic exercises department working with the disabled. Eleftherios has been a certified personal trainer for the past 5 years and also holds two championship titles in international martial arts tournaments.

Myths and Misconceptions

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Carbs make you fat. They do NOT. The truth is that carbs are our energy source. Fat burns in a carbohydrate fire. Carbs are needed to oxidize fat. Your carbohydrate input should be at least 55%-60% of your daily diet.

Fat Zone Heart Rate. by training in the “fat-burning” zone you are training your body to metabolize fat, but at the same time, your body is storing more energy as fat to provide fuel for later. So you are actually training your body to be a more efficient fat machine.

Fat turns in to muscle. Adipocytes are fat cells. These do not magically turn into muscle. First the fat cell gets dehydrated by exercise, and only with constant exercise can this adipocyte eventually vanish. (Browning published study)

Lifting weights makes you bulky. Many times we have heard, “I don’t want to lift weights, I’ll get bulky.” The truth is the human body is not designed to get bulky, we are designed for speed and agility. Resistance training is the only way to build lean muscle, but this must be done along with cardiovascular work to burn fat. Many times people up their protein intake and focus on heavy weight training and no cardio. What happens is that they build muscle under fat, and add more fat by increasing protein intake.

Testimonials

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"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."

—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!"

—Michael Kao,
Los Angeles, CA

"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. Larry has really changed my life and I feel privileged to be trained by him!"

—Electra, singer,
Woodland Hills, CA
www.electrabarakos.com

Videos: Competitions

Larry Zarpas Knife Fight

This video was taken at Dogbrothers annual gathering of the pack. Eleftherios demonstrates a full range of mixed martial arts as he ultimately winds up on top of his opponent in a dominant position with his blade performing multiple “kill shots” to the neck.

The International Blade Fighting Championship

The following videos are from The International Blade Fighting Championships that took place in the summer of 2009 in San Diego, CA.

Nice Stab

Eleftherios went undefeated in this competition an earned the title of International Knife fighting Champion.

Eleftherios Zarpas Knife Fighting

This competition was strictly for blade fighting, there was no other contact allowed. He advanced unbeaten through the single blade, double blade and tactical blade divisions.

Disclaimer: Attempt to practice exercises demonstrated in videos on this page at your own risk.