Meet Tony Arreola of Total Body Project in Orange County

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Arreola.

Tony, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Thank you so much for the opportunity. I want to start my story by asking you one question.
What if Christmas lost its meaning?

You’d probably be sad. You’d probably worry about ever being happy again. You’d probably wonder, why me?

Christmas 1999, I received the strangest phone call ever. My uncle called and urged me to rush to his house. Oh, oh, I thought. My uncle was involved in, let’s just call it “extracurricular activities,” kind of like the energy drink industry, except for the drink part.

Anyways, I hurried over to see a police car stationed in the driveway. Oh no, my uncle is going to the big house. But wait, he’s standing next to the police man.

The officer slowly walked over to me. His boots echoed across the eerily quiet Los Angeles streets. “Are you Tony Arreola?” I nodded. “Is Richard Arreola your brother?” I nodded again. His eyes watered as the words that threw my life into chaos leaked out of his mouth.

“You need to call the coroner’s office.”

My life ended that Christmas. Horror, sadness, and tragedy engulfed my world. Two days before my 21st Birthday. I hated life.

My only escape was alcohol. I cried and cried, and drank and drank. For the first time in my life I blacked out. I was sure if the alcohol didn’t kill me, the sadness would. But I didn’t die.

Luckily, my brother left his weight-lifting set behind. I began lifting weights. The pain and anger would be released in a punishing workout. When I worked out, I felt better. With each rep, I grew stronger. Both physically and emotionally, I regained control. Fitness was the answer! I found my life’s purpose. I wondered, if fitness could miraculously bring back my happiness, could it help others? I decided to forgo my engineering future to become a personal trainer.

As you can imagine, mom wasn’t too thrilled. In all honesty, she thought I was still checking out basketballs. I explained, I climbed the corporate ladder going from personal trainer to General Manager. It didn’t matter.

At 24-Hour Fitness, I thrived. I lived, breathed and did everything possible to succeed. But 24-Hour Fitness and I never saw eye-to-eye. A fundamental difference existed between us. I believed in good ideas, and well they, let’s just leave it at that.

I should’ve seen it coming, but it tore me apart. The day I lost my job. I wept on the beach that very night. I pondered life. I gave that company everything in me. And without any feeling the cold corporate culture spit me out. Why me? I allowed myself one full day to be sad. Losing my job destroyed me, but I knew it could never hurt as much as that ill-fated Christmas night. I survived hell, and I would certainly survive 24.

After Sad Day 2009 (that’s what I named it.) I woke early the following day to workout. No matter what happened in my life, and unlike my invisible father, fitness never let me down. As I continued to work out, the answer became glaringly obvious. But, dare I?

The moment I decided to create my own fitness company, I was born again!

Has it been a smooth road?
Starting a company is tough. Starting a company with bills looming is even tougher. As a General Manager, I had a steady and healthy paycheck. As an entrepreneur, I had a blank paycheck. Not blank as in write in whatever you want. Blank as in nothing. Try explaining to your girlfriend, we might be ‘Netflix n Chilling’ for a while.

I grew up with no money. The constant fear of poverty followed me like a dark rain cloud. My biggest fear grew and grew. Would I be destined for struggle like my single mother? Why me?

There’s a saying that goes, “Everything happens for a reason.”

I completely disagree. I believe everything happens, then we find reason.

Life was happening to me. Life knocked me down. But it wasn’t life’s fault. Life is indifferent at best. I knew, if it was meant to be, it was up to me. So, I worked my tail off. Through sheer grit, and determination, my company grew. I set little goals like making enough to order guacamole. Little by little, my company grew. This year we celebrate 8 years of Total Body Project, eight of the most incredible years of my life.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Total Body Project story. Tell us more about the business.
Total Body Project isn’t like everyone else in the fitness industry. For one, we can’t post pictures of our big butts. We’re guys and it probably wouldn’t look quite right. Second, we pride ourselves in education. All of us are graduates from UC Irvine. I hold the title of NASM Master Trainer with seven national certifications. Our books, including my best-selling book, “Get Me Skinny” has separated us from others. We don’t simply write to write. We write to empower others with a simple approach to fitness. We lead by example. We’ve gone from losing 50 pounds, to finishing the Boston Marathon.

The industry makes fitness way too complicated. It’s like the more complicated the workout sounds, the better. Wrong. The best workout is the one you actually do. We have an incredible 90% success rate. I know this is true, because we measure and check. Our clients stay with us for years. Over the years, we’ve spent zero dollars on advertising, our company has grown organically through happy, successful clients.

Total Body Project has published books, presented keynote speeches, community outreach, but by far the most rewarding part is our incredible client transformations.

Losing weight and achieving great health resonates in every aspect of your life. You thrive at home, you excel at work and you take chances. We’ve had over 100 clients lose over 20 pounds, 32 clients completed half marathons, 15 triathlon finishers, 10 marathon finishers (including the Boston Marathon) and one biked the West Coast (Canada to Mexico.) Reliving this sends chills down my spine. Helping others achieve makes my heart smile. This is why me.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The fitness industry continually falls victim to fads. Whether it be no-carbs, no-gluten, step classes or the shake weight (my personal favorite.) Few innovations help our country progress. We keep getting fatter.

I believe you’ll see a shift to a more personal approach. People need others to succeed. Whether through technology or live connections, people need people. And we need health.

My ultimate dream would be for the fitness industry to mature enough to be taken seriously by the health industry. But that might be just a dream, hold on, I need to take gym selfie of my abs. 😉

Contact Info:

• Address: 405 Rockefeller Suite 302
  Irvine, CA 92612
• Website: www.totalbodyproject.com
• Phone: 949-923-1611
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @tbp_fitness
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tbpfitness/
• Twitter: @tbpfitness
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/total-body-project-irvine

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.