If you watched The Biggest Loser last season, you may have noticed that the emphasis in the gym was on martial arts. With trainer Cara Castronova‘s background as a 2 time Golden Gloves boxing champion and trainer Brett Hoebel‘s emphasis on Capoeira, as well as many past BL contestants who ha vediscovered a love of Muay Thai boxing, the exercise workouts were definitely not typical. What was the reason that these two completely different forms of martial arts were chosen?
At first glance, these two forms of martial arts have almost nothing in common. Muay Thai is an ancient form of combat fighting that utilizes all of the limbs, plus elbows and knees, in striking. Commonly called The Art of Eight Limbs, this stand up form of martial arts combines elements of boxing as well as stand up clinch techniques, as opposed to boxing which uses two (hands) and other forms of martial arts which utilize four (hands and feet).
Most competitive forms of marital arts place an emphasis on conditioning, and Muay Thai is no exception. Designed to help increase endurance for ring competition, most Muay Thai classes incorporate shadowboxing, jumping rope, running and often weight training. A cornerstone of Muay Thai training is working pad rounds, in which a student works one on one with a coach in hitting specially designed pads, called focus mitts. The focus mitts are created to absorb impact and help a fighter learn to hit correctly without harming their training partner.
Biggest Loser’s new trainers have introduced the masses to a new way to stay fit: fighting. New trainers Golden Gloves winner Cara Castronuova and Brett Hoebel have truly brought out the fight in each of their team members and it shows. While many thought that the only way to drop double digit numbers each week was with Bob and Jillian’s state of the art technologically advanced equipment inside the Biggest Loser gym, Cara and Brett have shown all you need to get a killer workout is a few ropes and a boxing gloves.
Fighting isn’t a new fitness fad, and you might catch a jab to the face for calling it so, but it is growing in popularity in the mainstream fitness community. Last night’s episode of Biggest Loser even featured Bas Rutten’s Elite MMA Gym, and for most, MMA is a term you aren’t familiar with- but should be.
Her name is Cara Castronuova. Her job title is Biggest Loser trainer. She’s one of two new faces everyone has been dying to see and we’re thrilled to be amongst the first to introduce you.
Listen now to our exclusive interview and get to know more about the new Biggest Loser trainer!
Cara, a certified personal trainer, will soon be a household name, but for some time she’s been a fairly familiar one in boxing circles. The two-time Golden Gloves winner has been boxing since she was five, a sport she took up with her father, a former Marine, in the family garage. She cites boxing as having given her a lot and that it made the relationship with her dad closer. He passed away when she was just 14 (her mom passed in a car accident just four years ago) and continued boxing in his memory. Cara recalls the first time she got punched in the face and how much she liked it. “Wow! I love this! It made me want to fight back harder.” (more…)
Week three of Biggest Loser is when people on the show really start to “get it.” Everyone starts to figure out their workouts, their diets, and generally what is working for them. But we still don’t know what the deal is with these new trainers. They are finally revealed!
Cara Castronuovawas taught to box at the age of five by her father. She has also been boxing competitively since the age of 20, winning two Golden Gloves and at one point was ranked number two in the country! She brings that fighting spirit to the Biggest Loser and hopes to help the contestants with their battle against obesity.
Brett Hoebelhas been in the fitness industry for nearly 20 years. He has studied a wide range of martial arts from capoeira to muay thai, as well as holding a degree in science with double majors of biology and psychology. He believes there is a science to everything and wishes to bring this to the contestants and really shape their formula for weight loss. (more…)
NBC is staying pretty tight-lipped about who will be the two new trainers for season 11. They teased us during the season 10 live finale with silhouettes and blurry-faced preview videos training the contestants, but have offered no confirmations or any other identifiable information. Of course, everyone is curious who will be joining ranks with Jillian Michaels, leaving after this next season, and Bob Harper.
Cara Castronuova is the first real candidate we’ve been able to identify for the job of Biggest Loser trainer, with the rumor starting over at LisaJohnsonFitness.com. She says she received an anonymous call from someone connected with the show saying that Cara was the new trainer. She seems to match the vague description given on the finale. Cara is a two-time Golden Glove champion. We’re not sure what else her fitness background includes, but LJF says “I can’t find one single reference to a fitness certification anywhere. I also couldn’t find a reference to her being a personal trainer anywhere. I don’t know if she’s ever had clients in real life.”
She’s been working on an acting career the past few years, with six films under her belt, according to IMDB.com.
Whether Lisa’s source is right or not, one thing is true, there’s not a lot of information about Cara online, about her background, certifications, or what else her career has involved.
Published content is provided from businesses that have been compensated by this website. This can potentially affect the appearance of the stated products. Not all companies or products are represented, but efforts are made to offer full transparency. Any and all published editorial content is offered without any sort of influence.
