One, two, three, one.
C'mon.
My name is Coss Martey.
I'm from New York City, and this is ConBody.
(door slamming)
I grew up in the lower east side
and it was a very different neighborhood
than what you see now.
People would ask me, "What do you
want to be when you grow up?" and I would
them I wanted to be rich, and the
first opportunity was through the world of drugs
so I pursued that because I saw
people on the corner hustling with the
big chains and cars and that's what I thought
you know, life was all about.
At 23, I was sentenced to seven years in prison
for selling drugs.
At the time, I was 70 pounds overweight
and that's when I found out I had a lot of health issues.
The doctors told me in prison
that I could probably die.
I was pretty shocked and taken back.
I started running the yard, working out
in my prison cell.
Eventually, I lost 70 pounds in six months
and I didn't look back since then.
One day, one inmate came up to me,
his name was Bus, big heavy guy
and he was motivated and he was like,
"I want to start running with you."
And so I said, "Let's do it."
And then, I think a week later,
two of his other friends started running with me
and then we just started forming a circle
and it became just a bigger crowd
and people were just attracted to what we were doing
and wanted to just work out with us.
It was not until the end of my incarceration
where I started thinking about and reflecting
of what I should do when I come home.
I just started writing my workouts
and I said, this is what I like to do.
I'm already helping guys in the yard.
I want to come home and do this.
I was released from that prison a year later.
I came home and nobody wanted to hire me.
I was a three-time felon.
I'd been in and out of the system
since I was 13 years old and so
that was one reason why I just had to
create this out of desperation.
My first client was my mom,
and I started going up to random people
and pitching them on the subway.
Four, c'mon.
I hired people coming out of the prison system
to train and teach these fitness classes
because I felt the pain of coming home
and not being able to find an opportunity or a job.
20 more, yeah. One.
Anybody can come and get fit,
all it takes is getting into that mindset
and that motivation and the persistence
to just do the time.
Three, one, good job.
(applause)
Coss' story is so important in so many ways,
but I want you guys to look at this.
This is what Coss looked like before his incarceration.
It's incredible, right?
It really is.
And he did it in just six months.
Please welcome Coss Martey to our show.
(applause)
Hey Coss, how are you?
Welcome.
Thank you for having me.
So Coss, you know, I'm sure you're proud of yourself
but I'm just thrilled to meet you
because I'm so proud of everything you did.
I think it's so important, the part of your story
where one guy came, and then three guys came,
and then all the guys came.
Did you feel a connection spiritually and mentally
when you started to lose the weight
and workout more, did you feel better on the inside?
Absolutely, I felt like there was something
within me that was keeping me going
and after doctors told me that I could probably
die in prison, was really motivating me
to not die in that situation.
It scared you, yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
But then once you got your physical fitness
to a better place, it really is spiritually uplifting,
don't you find that?
Absolutely, my mind was way more clear.
Even because I was in that situation where
you're incarcerated, I felt freedom.
I felt freedom for those, that time being
that I was working out in the system,
I felt like I was free out of that situation.
It's so beautiful, and I love that
you were so inspired, that when you left,
yeah, who's going to hire a person
who's had three separate run-ins with the law?
You didn't let that hold you back.
You were like, whatever, I'll train mom. (laughs)
I mean, did you really have it in your gut,
like, yeah, I think this could be a business?
Yeah, so I came up with that idea while I
was in solitary confinement and I was
in this 24-hour lockdown cell
Wow.
with limited space,
had no idea when I was going to come home.
I got into an altercation with an officer.
And at that point at my life,
I was like, I don't know what to do with my life,
but I want to get back to society,
so I started praying for the first time.
Wow.
And I said, I've already damaged so many people
in my life, I wanted to get back.
And for the first time, I said, fitness is
what I love, fitness is what I'm doing in the prison yard.
Follow what you love, yeah.
And I started coming home.
(applause and cheering)