A Passion for Health

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No-one could ever accuse Omar Isuf of lacking passion for his work! At the tender age of 21, Isuf is has transformed himself from an overweight, unhealthy teenager, into one of the most sought-after personal trainers in Toronto.

A born entrepreneur, Omar not only leads the 'Buns of Steel Bootcamp', but promotes his business through an impressive website, posts numerous videos on his You Tube channel and takes full advantage of the new social networking media such as Twitter and Facebook. He is so busy in fact, that one wonders how he ever finds the time to squeeze in a workout for himself!

Taking a different approach

Judging from the numerous client testimonials on his website where he is described as being 'awesome', his workouts 'intense' and the results 'amazing'. Omar tries to be an inspiration to a great many people and continues to educate them about getting into shape, eating healthy and learning that fitness can be fun. In particular he strives to give his clients an alternative to the standard 'cookie cutter' gym workouts and lacklustre, uninspired personal training programs.

He believes that many personal trainers these days are woefully inexperienced and are often more interested in checking out their own physique in the gym mirror than monitoring their client's progress.  Omar's philosophy is that with hard work, anything is possible. This philosophy not only helps his clients lose the weight, but learn valuable ways that help them keep it off and maintain an overall happier  and more productive life. 

Personal Motivation

Like many fitness and diet gurus Omar has battled with own weight problem in the past and unashamedly displays a particularly unflattering photo of his former shapeless self on his site. It's a story that may be all too familiar for some of us - an active kid who becomes sidetracked with the usual trapping of the teenage years and, before he knows it, ends up flabby, overweight and unhappy.

However, unlike many, Omar decided to do something about it. Despite being intimidated by the buff hard bodies at the gym, he slowly took steps to regain his shape and his wellbeing. The journey wasn't easy though, "It was shaky at first, but I kept at it. It was when I decided to set goals and develop habits, that success followed," he said. This is when he made the decision to become a personal trainer, eventually working his way up to become fitness director at the prestigious Yorkville Club.

Giving Back

In addition to offering  one on one training sessions and shooting his various YouTube videos, which include him taking on the comical persona of 'Chef Buff', creator of delicious, healthy home cooked meals and the '12 keys to a Leaner You' instructional series, Omar is also well known for his charity work. After having been active in food bank volunteering for a number of years, he noticed how the majority of donated foods were unhealthy, over-processed and generally poor quality.

With the belief that everyone should have access to healthy, nutritious food - he decided to incorporate the weight loss of his Bootcamp clients with healthy, nutritious donations to the food bank. For every pound of weight lost, Sun Valley Foods donates a pound of healthy food to the St John's Mission.  An obvious win-win situation, the system both encourages and motivates those losing weight and benefits those less fortunate!

Anyone interested in training with Omar can get more details by checking out his website at www.omarisuf.com.

- Fiona Bramzell -