Shaping the Machete body

Celebrity living is getting to be more and more complicated. Today’s TV-movie stars, for instance, now have to have the following:

• A car — with a spare vehicle for color-coding.

• A driver — although it is advisable for a celebrity to learn how to drive because the chauffeur also needs to have a day-off, can get sick or play diva.

• A house — if possible a halfway house, too —   anywhere near ABS-CBN or GMA 7 for freshening up or naps in between commitments.

• A coterie of production assistants or PAs — the size of which depends on the star’s magnitude or state of helplessness.

• A personal fitness trainer.

The last item is a new addition to celebrity must-haves. It must have been Madonna who started this trend in Hollywood. Local celebrities had since picked up this practice — although Tom Ortega of the old fitness center Systomor had been training celebrities even as early as the ‘70s. Evangeline Pascual trained with him prior to joining Miss World in 1973.

Having a personal trainer had become a necessity because show business now requires on-screen stars to be in perfect shape — if they don’t want to get nasty comments from a now very judgmental public.

It had also become part of a female celebrity’s goal today to be included in FHM’s list of 100 sexiest and for the male stars to take part in the annual Cosmo event.

The key to achieving the perfect physique is to get a personal trainer.

The services of personal trainers are actually available (yes, even to non-celebrities) in most fitness centers. Majority of showbiz personalities have their own in their respective gyms.

The downside of maintaining a personal trainer in the major fitness centers, however, is the erratic schedule of people in showbiz. The really busy ones do not know when they could squeeze in a workout.

Oftentimes, these stars are forced to cancel their appointments with their personal trainers at the gym. Or they come in late and lose their slot because most personal trainers are busier than P-Noy. They will not wait for you. If you don’t make it to the appointed time, they just move to their next client.

Local celebrities have found a solution to this problem: They get a personal trainer — on call.

They pay a bit more, but if you add up the figures, this arrangement comes out more economical — and you end up with better results.

In the really big fitness centers, stars pay as much as P1,000 per session (one hour) and this is outside of the monthly dues. But the standard rate is actually P700.

The problem here, however, is that if you cancel at the last minute, you’re already charged for that. And then, since the more popular gyms are located in shopping malls, you can lose as much as 45 minutes to traffic (or it is next to impossible to get parking). Oftentimes, you squeeze in the 15 minutes left because your trainer has to attend to the client scheduled after you (pray that the next one is also late).

There are a growing number of personal fitness trainers on call today. But if you ask around within the showbiz circle, they will point you toward the direction of Billy James Renacia. He was responsible for shaping Aljur Abrenica to make him worthy of the Machete role on television. Billy James chiseled Aljur into that perfect body with regular workout and a special diet (yes, it includes Century Tuna hotdog).

Billy James is a winner of countless body building competitions, but I only have space to cite a few: He figured prominently in Mr. Physique Philippines (2005 and 2007), Slimmers World Great Bodies first runner-up (2006), Slimmers World Bikini Bodies finalist (2007) and Mr. Slimmers World first runner-up (2008).

From Aljur, I discovered that his arrangement with Billy James is most flexible. If Aljur has to work the whole day, but feels the need to sweat it out, he and Billy James jog in the Tomas Morato area (where the actor lives) even at 2 a.m.

Several times a week, Billy James trains Dennis Trillo in his condo at past midnight, which is when celebrities have their free time.

The best part of the deal, Billy James doesn’t charge per session. It’s a package and if you have the stamina to work out seven times a week, then it’s seven times a week — regardless of time. Ask Tim Yap, who usually calls on Billy James at 3 a.m. — usually after Dennis.

If Billy James’ schedule is full, you can work out at the same time with the rest — at Fitness Express (along Roces Avenue), where the fee is very minimal. At Fitness Express, you can actually see Aljur, Mark Bautista, Kylie Padilla, talent manager Rams David and Ejay Falcon sweating it out in two’s and even in three’s under the guidance of Billy James. You have an instant gym buddy and you don’t get bored even for a minute.

If you want to work out solo, he’ll put you on cardio first and assist you as soon as he is free. That’s the advantage of having a personal trainer — on call.

The best thing with Billy James is that he can sculpt your figure to your desired shape. Aljur Abrenica is the best proof.

Until last year, Aljur and I worked out in the same fitness center. The bulkier ones among us scoffed at his body, which was far from fit. Then he disappeared and made his presence felt again during the promo for Machete. How did he get into that shape? The malicious ones (I was one of them — guilty as charged) suspected that he went into steroids. 

All along he was just being trained the proper way by Billy James — his secret weapon — and that proved to be the key to his Machete body.