Just a few weeks ago, the inside of the old Video Warehouse in Austintown was a wreck. Red and yellow primer covered the walls, where electrical wires hung, most in the wrong places.
The carpet was covered in dust and paint chips, and it smelled like caulk.
But today, that's different.
The floor's been cleaned up, the walls painted. Mirrors line the space and there's a front desk. There are even a couple stripper poles lying around – for exercise purposes. It’s name? The Classroom Aerobics.
It's Debbie Caggiano's dream.
"This is the result of both my education and my hobby,” said Caggiano, 38.
It started nearly 11 years ago, when she was at the midst of another transformation. This one dealt with her body.
She was married and had recently given birth to two sons, Noah and John, now 11 and 14. She had loved being pregnant, but after being skinny her whole life, her outlook on her body started to change after her kids were born.
"I was turning into a mom," she said. "I wasn't a woman anymore."
She cut her hair short. She exercised three to four hours a day. She took laxatives and watched everything she ate.
"I only would eat enough calories to sustain myself," she said. "To be able to breathe the next day. It didn't change the fact there were stretch marks on my stomach."
After awhile, she started losing hair and began having problems with her heart and blood pressure. Now a healthy 118 pounds, she had gotten down to an unhealthy 87.
It wasn't until her dad pleaded with her to eat that a trigger went off in her head that she needed to change.
"He said 'please eat'," she said. "'You are killing yourself. You have a perfect son, my grandson, who needs you.' And there was my youngest, Noah. That did it. I always made my dad proud, and I always went out of my way to do that."
Her doctor suggested medication, which she refused, and therapy.
"I said I wanted to deal with this of my own free will and mind," she said. "I was in therapy for a year. I had to learn how to eat again. And I had to find an outlet that was not only healthy but productive.”
Enter fitness and personal training.
Debbie had always been active and competitively ran for years, so it wasn’t a stretch to become a certified fitness instructor and later, a personal trainer.
She taught classes like Zumba and kettle bell at fitness clubs and trekked back and forth through Mahoning and Trumbull counties several times a day to train clients. At the same time, she waited tables and worked as a cocktail waitress.
She also became involved in Austintown schools, lecturing in health education classes and teaching gym classes, focusing on body issues. She became involved in the Little Falcons football program and helped start a fitness program for those over 50.
In the meantime, she dreamed of opening her own fitness studio.
“I knew what I wanted to name it five years ago,” she said. “My goal was I just wanted something small.”
And back in March, she and her husband, Greg, started working to make it a reality. After finding a building, it’s been a long five months to renovate the insides to make it the perfect fit for her dream.
Set to open Aug. 23, the studio will offer personal training, TRX suspension training, several group classes like pilates, yoga and kettle bell and even urban strip tease, which will incorporate those stripper poles.
“When I’m teaching Zumba or strip tease, that’s when my passion shines,” she said. "And it’s all about accountability, forming relationships. If you go on vacation, you come back and we ask where you were. People like to be driven by someone else."
She also has a line of clothing she designed herself and three other instructors.
“We have a passion for pushing people, and it usually comes from pushing ourselves,” she said. “We all have a story."
When it comes to hers, she said she couldn’t have made it this far without her kids, whom she often toted with her from gym to gym, and her husband.
"I hope to make my boys proud, and I thank them for all their support," she said. "They have spent all of their lives in a gym."
When it comes to her own health, she said, it’s a struggle every day.
"There are days where I'm like 'Oh my God, I'm starving, but I don't want to eat. Am I cured? No. It's controlled."
But she said her years of hard work, faith and concentration on her goal have gotten her to this point.
"I am so beside myself with pride and humility," she said. "I thank my God for seeing me through this and teaching me that when you do the right things in life, life is good."
An open house is set for Saturday, August 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The studio will officially open August 23.
