Trainers Work Together to Impact the Community, and the Globe

Dominic Mazzeo and Tim Coco are a faithful pair, and the two believe that their teaming up to open a personal training facility in Windham was more than just a business opportunity.

"We're trying to help people, it's not all about money for us," Mazzeo said.

It was only last October that Mazzeo, who has two decades of experience in health and wellness training, was trying to help himself. 

Due to a back operation that left a rod in his back, he was overweight and sleeping all the time. But Mazzeo was ready to make a change.

He snapped the typical "before" picture, and after telling his wife that she was never going to see him that large again, he got to work.

By March, the "after" picture had arrived. Mazzeo was back in the physical shape of yesteryear when he was a model and bodybuilder. 

It was later that Coco, a friend of Mazzeo's after meeting in Waterville Valley, and later through their membership at Granite United Church in Salem, agreed that a physical facility was the way to go.

Victory Fitness launched in May, tucked into the small commercial plaza near Policy Well and Pump.

Mazzeo attributes his faith in God for what got him off the couch.

"I started exercising again, had more energy, was happier, and it just totally changed my life. I felt that if it could change my life so dramatically, I owe it to myself and others to help as many people as I can to change their life. Not only their bodies, but their spirits."

Perhaps a perfect compliment to Mazzeo's personal tribulations are the global experiences that Coco has endured.

In April, he joined 30 members of his church on a mission trip, traveling to Guatemala to build an orphanage for children. While working at other feeding centers, he saw the smiles on the faces of the kids who had nothing.

"That just brings me joy, and just to be grateful for what I have to live in this country. Anybody that would need help in this country, I would just be glad to extend a hand out to them. Whatever situation they are in, I'm just here to tell them, no matter what you're going through, someone is always going through something worse."

Now the two want to make the people in the world around them feel larger than life.

Through the Blue Sky Inc. organization, the two have agreed to train bullied kids and young adults for free.

The goal, Mazzeo says, is to help raise their self esteem.

Now forever connected to Guatemala through his experiences, Coco also worked with Mazzeo to organize a raffle at the business, which raised $480.

"I was told that feeds an entire food center for a month," Coco said.

Victory Fitness operates on an appointment basis, with Mazzeo and Coco helping everyone from middle-aged women to teenagers.

For more information on the business, visit their Facebook page here.