After more than a year of battling my pandemic woes with habitual snacking, I ended up with weight gain. Tired of the usual quick fixes (name the diet and I must have tried it!), I changed my game. The first step was to seek help.
Help came in the form of a fitness and meal plan carefully curated by Coach Sandro Roman, an online fitness and diet coach, a bodybuilder, and an ultrarunner. With what many of his clients refer to as the #SandroMagic, I found myself starting to shed the pounds I needed to lose in no time while enjoying the use of dumbbells I used to dread.
What’s behind the magic trick?
“I offer a completely customized training and diet plan that is tailored to a client’s specific needs,” Coach Sandro explained to me what the Sandro Roman Fitness Program is all about over a video call.
He simply put it, “I aim to provide a specific routine that will basically dictate how my client will eat and train on any given day.”
The now sought-after fitness coach makes sure to follow it up every day with guidance and unlimited chat support, seven days a week. This is to make sure his clients stick to what he proudly calls the “solid plan.”
“What’s harder is sticking to it in the long run,” said Coach Sandro as he described his easy-to-follow plans that require his personalized coaching and motivation to be fully maximized. A lengthy questionnaire is filled out by his would-be clients at the start of the partnership and he keeps his services premium by limiting his number of clients per month.
Coach Sandro has been in the business of coaching for three-and-a-half years and you can tell by the tone of his voice that he truly loves what he is doing. He matches his passion with a large amount of discipline. While he would wish to have cheesecake and egg tarts every single day, Coach said he knows that choosing chicken breast and seafood is the way to go. The same discipline is applied to fitness. “I try to work out 365 days a year. Working out is my joy. It’s harder for me to stay away from it than to be lazy about it,” he said, making me say “Wow!” in my head.
Credibility for Coach Sandro was achieved by having polarizing experiences in his fitness journey. He experienced both the struggles of a lanky kid trying to bulk up and the dilemma of a college student who has ballooned to 210 pounds due to stress eating. He knew where people are coming from whether they are in a thin or a heavy state.
“It has been my passion, my only job. I have no side hustle,” he shared. “There’s nothing better than going to sleep at night knowing you’re able to transform people wherever they may be in the world or whatever walk of life they come from.”
Waking up to messages from clients and reading about the impact of his program on their lives keep Coach Sandro going.
“When someone tells me he lost 50 pounds because of the routine I’ve given him or when a bride becomes confident and ready for her wedding day, that keeps me going,” he said, describing in detail what gives him a boost as a coach.
“As cliché as that may sound, I find more joy in helping others, than just helping myself.”
Secret to success
Asked if there’s an indicator beforehand that a client will become successful on the program, Coach Sandro noddingly said yes but clarified that things are not always black and white. He just could sometimes tell by the way answers are written on his sign-up sheet. “Someone who has a higher motivation is more likely to succeed,” he said. “Someone who is coming from a harder place in life is going to have a harder time but I always welcome the challenge.”
Coach Sandro’s clientele now ranges from the busiest politicians to college and professional athletes, CEOs, and stay-at-home moms. “I adjust the intensity of my method according to how much help they need. Some may need more help than others,” the fitness enthusiast explained.
Consistency, Coach Sandro said, is what he has observed through the years to be the key to weight loss and fitness.
This is what he tries to train his clients to develop while trusting the process. “I teach them good habits, I teach them how to do workouts intensely, I tell them what to eat, and most of all, I try to be flexible by making sure they still get to enjoy the things they love in life,” he said.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, I asked Coach Sandro if anyone can have the much-coveted six-pack abs as he does. His candid answer is that it depends on genetics. He said, “For some people, there’s a chance that they might never have abs. But is it possible for anyone to achieve low body fat levels? Yes. Our bodies are God-given. You can shape it as well as you can but genetics are beyond your control. Getting six-pack abs is not automatic but anyone can achieve his or her fitness goals. The only way to find out is to try.”