-And what's the story behind this awesome artwork over here?
There's some more over here. These are all super cool.
-That's my mentality.
I believe that we have a monster inside.
I try to tell all my clients that my monster,
it's everywhere.
Wherever you go,
my monster is gonna be with you. [ Dramatic music plays ]
[ Laughs ]
-Right on. Thank you. -Yeah, yeah.
♪♪
-So, this year, I have not been incredibly active,
as you can imagine.
So, you know, even though it is a major chore for me today,
I'm gonna drag myself to the personal trainer...
Florida style.
♪♪
"Personal trainer."
The deeper I go, the worse it gets.
Alright, so I just came across Monster Cast Fitness.
They, uh, seem to have received
quite a few one-star reviews in the past.
Cool. I'll wait for Mike.
Seems to be -- got something going on back there.
Nice.
And I've trained with a Grand Master in the past.
His name was Master Gerry, and, uh, you know,
he put me onto this philosophy
that you have to clean the bathroom
in order to get rid of the dirt.
[ Harp trills ] -Yes!
-Never has Master Gerry's advice rung more true.
♪♪
During my time here in Miami,
it was clear just how seriously people take their physiques.
I wanted to fit in,
and this was the beginning of my physical transformation.
♪♪
Maybe soon, I too could be the kind of guy to work out
on Muscle Beach.
Hopefully, Monster Cast would help me with that
and I could help them with their one-star reviews.
♪♪
-Hey, how are you? Welcome to Monster Cast. -Hey, how's it going?
I'm Taji. -I'm Gabriel.
Nice to meet you. -Very nice to meet you.
-Welcome to my private fitness club.
♪♪
-My fitness journey was about to begin, and to get started,
Gabriel took me for a quick consultation
and a special pre-workout coffee.
-When was the last time you visited a gym?
-So, I've actually trained before in the past
with a Grand Master. And since then, you know,
I've even like, at one point, like, accessed my beast mode.
To be honest with you, it has been a while.
I couldn't tell you. Maybe like a year.
It's been, I think, you know, a pretty rough year
for everyone when it comes to getting fit.
Hopefully trying to, from you, like, get that extra push.
Another thing I've been seeing and kind of striving towards,
just, like, seeing these people, you know,
these group of, you know, guys where I'm just like,
"Whoa."
♪♪
How could I maybe one day be on that level, you know,
where I'm almost hanging out on the beach
and people are walking by and they're just like...
-Look at him. -Right?
-He's working a lot. [ Laughs ] -Yeah, for sure.
-So, tell me about your coffee. Do you like it?
So we can start working out. -For sure. Thanks so much.
-This is my secret. Before every training session,
I need to have an espresso with milk.
It makes my morning better. [ Laughs ]
-This is delicious. Thank you so much.
-It's called a monsterccino.
Like a cappuccino, but in a monster style.
-Monstaccino. Right on.
♪♪
As I continue to consume my monstaccino,
Gabriel took me on a short tour of the gym.
And then I noticed some awesome artwork
that I wanted to learn the story behind.
And what's the story behind this awesome artwork over here?
There's some more over here. These are all super cool.
-That's my mentality.
It's like, I believe that we have a monster inside
and we have to learn how to control the monster
so you can be happy and do the best.
So, for me, it's very special. I try to tell all my clients
that my monster, it's everywhere.
So, wherever you go, my monster is gonna be with you.
[ Laughs ] -Right on. Thank you.
Appreciate that. -We can start doing the workout.
-It was time to warm up, and Gabriel
took me through some basic movements to loosen up.
-Swing those arms and breathe. [ Inhales deeply ]
Shoulder extensions.
We're gonna bring the hands behind the head.
Perfect. You want just like that.
And down. Breathe through your nose.
And breathe out through your mouth.
-[ Exhales sharply ] -Better. And breathe.
And press all the way up. Up, up, up. Excellent job.
I hear the elbow. You hear that?
-Yeah, got a little crack. -Seven.
Yeah, that's -- crack is good sometimes.
♪♪
So, look. One of the things I do,
it's I drink a lot of water during the day.
Water is super important. I love this stuff.
But if I don't plan this, then my monster is like,
"No, don't drink water. Water is no good.
Let's drink a soda." And I'm like,
"No, no, water better."
[ Laughs ] -Alright.
So that almost is like an extension of your monster.
-Yeah. -This right here.
-Yeah, yeah. This right here. It's discipline.
Four...five...
Keep going. Six, seven...
-I was starting to feel the burn
and the presence of the monster
that I had no idea existed before today.
Then Gabriel caught me off guard
with a question about my diet, and I had to confess.
-Tell me, what's one of the foods
that's it's difficult for you for stop eating
and you like it a lot, but you know it's bad for you?
-I would say sometimes late at night
eating, like, an excessive amount of candy.
You know, like the Haribo candy? -Yeah.
-You know, like, the regular size one?
Like, you know, one time recently,
I even got, like, the share size
with the resealable top
and I ate the entire thing. -You ate the whole thing?
Okay, so that's one of the things
that you need to focus more with the nutrition.
Candies are no good for you, for so many reasons.
Three, two, one, jump.
-So far, so good.
Gabriel was being great and didn't seem vain
or have an ego like the reviews had suggested.
Even though I was here to start my fitness journey
and slay my monster, the main reason I was here
was to get to the bottom of these one-star reviews,
and now was the perfect time.
How about reviews? I actually checked out a few.
before I came here. -The reviews are very important.
I love my clients 'cause they always give me
a good vibe with the reviews.
-You, like, weren't on time once, they claimed.
And then, you know, you even, like,
tapped into their lesson and still ended it at the time.
-Yeah. Oh.
-Like, you were late, but then you didn't extend the class.
It was kind of, like, abrupt, I guess.
-Actually, I always extend the class, you know.
Someone wants to put a bad review
and they're lying, 'cause like, that's what I'm saying.
You know, everyone said it's the truth.
Usually, the people that comes here, they never leave.
Okay, keep going. Three, two, one.
in this kind of industry,
you need to motivate people, and it's difficult
'cause a lot of people, even if you push them,
they don't want to be pushed.
And I think that's one of the biggest challenge
when you want to help somebody,
but they don't even want to help themselves.
It's a lot of people that they just don't like me, like,
maybe it's some competition sometimes, you know.
But you're always gonna have some people
that have something bad to say about you and your service.
So far, do you think it's true what people say about me?
-I mean, so far in my experience,
you know, like, they were even mentioning,
there's like a bunch of dirty dishes laying around.
-[ Laughs ] No, no dishes.
And actually, I have a barista that do everything for me.
♪♪
-Just use the restroom really quickly, if that's okay.
-Yeah. We can go through here.
It's at the end of the hallway. Yeah, perfect.
-I was happy that Gabriel had addressed
the dirty dish allegations,
but I couldn't just take his word for it.
So I excused myself
so I could assess the situation with my very own eyes.
[ Urinating ]
To my relief, it was one of the cleanest bathrooms
I have ever seen,
and not one sign of a single dirty dish.
-And you know what? The most funny part about this problem
is that somebody called the city after this, uh, bad review
and the city came here and did an inspection.
And guess what? I pass it. [ Laughs ]
-Really? -Yeah.
And the inspector show me the email and I read everything,
and it was with a lot of hate. [ Laughs ]
This person was a monster.
And if you don't control your monster
and you don't know that you can affect somebody else with a lie,
that's not true, then it's something bad.
But most of the people, they like to do it.
They don't want to work.
They say, "No, no, I'm not gonna do it.
I'm gonna stop and try to do something better," you know?
-And when you receive these, uh, reviews,
do you ever have to kind of battle with your monster?
Is your monster ever saying,
you know, like, go off on these people?
-Uh, no, 'cause I actually laugh.
[ Laughs ] -What about your monster?
What's your monster do? -He laugh. [ Laughs ]
-Do you talk to your monster? -All the time.
One of the things that my monster
wanted me to do is stop training. [ Laughs ]
-At what point, though, did you, like --
Was it like overnight that you, you know,
took hold of the monster? Or was it like a slow process?
-It was overnight. Yeah.
I wake up at 3 a.m.
and I lost someone that was very special for me.
And when he passed away, he thought he was a monster.
But the way I saw him, it was like my angel.
If you see him, that's my monster.
That's why it's a ghost, 'cause he was someone
that was very special for me.
It was my grandfather. He have two kids,
but they were lost 'cause the monster consumed them.
And that's when I said I need to make him proud.
-He's with you every step of the way.
-Every step of the way.
♪♪
Get ready.
♪♪
Speak with your monster and -- and show him who's the boss.
Keep breathing. Don't give up. The monster wants to stop,
but we're not stopping. My vision is that
if I help more people to understand their monster,
I can help them be happier.
I can help them work to be better.
-No matter what the monster says.
-Six, five, four... There you go.
Monster mentality. Three, two, one.
Control the monster. [ Laughs ]
And we do the last round.
-And after an amazing session with Gabriel,
I felt right at home in Miami.
♪♪
I enlisted the services of Monster Cast Fitness
in hopes of fitting in around Miami with a new body.
The reviews had led me to expect Gabriel
to carry not just an inflated ego,
but a big pile of dishes as well.
However, neither showed through.
Instead, he went deep and broke down the metaphor of the monster
and made me feel comfortable and enthusiastic in a world
that could easily feel so intimidating.
I could see that his connection to fitness goes
far beyond superficialities because he truly believes in it
and does not just want it for the perfect beach bod,
but also to help others live happier lives.
From now on, the monster inside of me has nowhere to hide.
I recognize and understand its influence.
And Gabriel taught me that it does not define me.
In the end, I left with a far more stable head on my shoulders
and a set of goals for the perfect body.
And it's not just for the beach, but for my life and my health.
♪♪
I'll just chug this shake and, uh, be on my way.
Thank you so much, Gabriel.
-Do you like the chocolate chips?
-Yeah, I like the crunch you got going on, for sure.
-That's the chocolate chips.
But you have to control the monster, no?
-Alrighty. Yeah.
We're gonna wrap this up. Thank you.