Business Profile: Xtreme Training Botticelli Fitness Facility, Thornwood
After being flooded and losing everything to Hurricane Irene last August, Anthony Botticelli, owner of the Thornwood-based Xtreme Training, is back in business and bigger and better than ever.
It comes as no surprise to those who know Botticelli well. The consummate athlete who played baseball, basketball and football growing up, Botticelli is a workhorse, not just to stay in shape but in his willingness to build a solid business based on a fervent passion for fitness.
After graduating from Westlake High School in 2004, Botticelli obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Pace University. After graduation, he took a job as a trader on Wall Street, but left after eight months, deciding instead to pursue a master’s in physical education, a qualification he earned from Manhattanville College.
With a graduate degree in hand, Botticelli opted to teach in the Bronx, where he currently works as a physical education teacher at a public school. But his love of a good workout never waned, and to satisfy that craving, he also worked part-time at a local gym. While there, he found himself training high school athletes and others who wanted to strengthen their bodies. As he acquired more clients, Botticelli, a Westlake High School assistant football coach, was convinced he could create a business of his own. In December 2010, Xtreme Training was established.
Since then, Xtreme Training has become a magnet for high school football players, mixed martial arts fighters eager to improve conditioning and strengthen their bodies, and women who want to stay in shape through kickboxing, boot camp classes and TRX/kettlebell training. He also offers beginner, intermediate and advanced-level boxing classes to women and children. Botticelli said his business has even attracted local corporate executives who want to stay in shape.
Xtreme Training, which reopened in its new Commerce Street location in November, has all the equipment you’d expect a modern gym to have—battling ropes, resistance bands, weight sleds and weight machines—all located above a surface of artificial turf and rubber floors.
Whatever the type of workout, Botticelli said his main goal is to create a strong foundation to build upon.
“We believe in creating core strength in all of our clients,” he said.
Training, while rigorous, varies from class to class. The most intense work is with the core group of MMA fighters who come to the facility in preparation for local and regional competitions.
It’s the type of training that Botticelli particularly enjoys. A two-hour training session might include several conditioning exercises, weight lifting, hip rotations, hip thrusts and explosive power training. In addition to getting a total body workout, Botticelli said it’s also important to help clients prevent injuries by offering cross training. The concept is to condition different muscle groups, to vary the stress, and to reduce the risk of injury from repetitive strain or overuse.
More than anything, Botticelli is heavily invested in the training of the young football players who train at his gym. He has known most of them since they were young.
“I usually include every set of exercises and repetitions that I want them to do; it makes a real difference when they can actually see it written down,” Botticelli said.
The results of each performance are also recorded in a notebook and entered into the computer.
Discipline and determination are necessary to do well in the fitness industry, qualities that Botticelli believes are especially important for children and teens.
“This is really a lifestyle,” he said. “It’s like anything else; you have to be smart and you must have a good work ethic to succeed.”
Xtreme Training is located at 637 Commerce St. To find out more about Xtreme Training, call 914-984-5551, or visit www.botticellifitness.com.
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