AMBROGIO Castellana grew up working in his family’s business, Post Road Auto Body Shop in Cos Cob. Ambrogio is named after his grandfather, who opened that business in 1971. As the story goes, the elder Ambrogio’s car suffered a flat tire as he was passing through the area. Two Italian neighbors helped him fix it. One mentioned he wanted to sell his house. The auto mishap was an intro to the warm vibe of the town where Ambrogio would move his family and establish his shop.
The younger Ambrogio now has his own body shop of sorts-transforming human bodies, as a personal trainer. It began when he found himself in a gym as a high school freshman, with a bit of an Italian-food-fueled tire around his middle. He also ended up with a flat tire—in the form of a six-pack.
That was just the beginning of a journey that offers valuable lessons about fitness, health, perseverance, and even parenting, from a guy with more heart than you would ever imagine finding under a bodybuilder’s armor of muscle.
Ambrogio grew up working in the family business, Post Road Auto Body. Today, his business, Ambrogio Fitness, specializes in human body makeovers. Clients who work with him receive: customized workouts, personalized meal plans, video tutorials, accountability check-in’s, exclusive app access and a private Facebook community.
At his first bodybuilding show in 2015, Ambrogio neglected to work on his posing. “I got on stage and froze,” he recalls. “I have dyslexia and was on the wrong side of the stage. I got discombobulated and was nervous—in no shirt, with a ton of people watching, under the lights. It was a pretty traumatic experience!” He placed fifth anyway and says it was a great learning experience. A decade later, he’s looking very relaxed under our lights.
Where it All Began
Ambrogio was born at Greenwich Hospital and grew up in Cos Cob, which is where he still lives, with his wife and two kids. His house is spotlessly clean, with a vase of daffodils on the counter and sunflowers on the table. Only a Disney princess water bottle sitting out and an adorable photo of a toddler with a mound of fettuccine on her high-chair tray indicate a four- and six-year-old live here. Ambrogio gives his wife full credit for their immaculate home, caring for the kids and cooking meals, since his schedule as a trainer and bodybuilder often has him on the go from 4:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. “Thank God for my wife,” he says. He credits his dad with giving him the upbringing that makes his intense schedule doable.
“My dad is very old-school and instilled a work ethic in me and my brother very early on,” says Ambrogio, who worked at the auto body shop starting in elementary school and was expected to help out at home, too. “My dad ran a tight ship and always had us working. It was brutal, but I’m eternally grateful now. We’ve been successful in our careers because of that work ethic.”
Ambrogio’s dad, John, recalls that the lesson took some effort. “He would hide from me,” says John, chuckling. “He had a strong ethic once I found him!” John remembers Ambrogio as a “scrawny kid.” Looking at his chiseled physique now, that’s hard to imagine. Ambrogio played football freshman year and wrestled senior year at Greenwich High. “My dad was like, ‘Hey, I think it’s better if you work and get these skills, because one day this shop is gonna be yours,’” he recalls.
Ambrogio plans to hold his kids to the same work ethic his dad instilled in him.
Ambrogio has lived in Cos Cob almost his entire life, with a brief stint in Stamford after he got married. He credits his wife, LisaMarie, with managing the household, cooking and kids, while he’s working 12-hour days.
The detour began in ninth grade, when Ambrogio was at the Greenwich Water Club gym with his sister. “I was working with my dad during the week and on weekends then,” he says. “At the same time, I enjoyed food—maybe a little too much!—and was a bit overweight. While at the gym, I met a personal trainer named Bobby. We started talking, and soon I was training with him—paying for the sessions myself. Within a couple of months, I dropped 40 pounds and fell in love with training. Over the years, I became passionate about the gym and watching my own progress.”
By 18, Ambrogio was into the popular Cross-Fit workout. A wrist injury sidelined him, so he visited bodybuilding.com and started a program. “I got really into it,” he says. “It was the first time I followed a ‘macro split’ [carb/protein/fat ratio] or a diet.” Five years later, he was onstage in his first bodybuilding show. “People saw my physical transformation and started asking how I did it,” recalls Ambrogio, who began sharing free tips. “I saw that I was helping to change their physiques but also their lives in general. I really liked that.” The demand for his guidance kept growing, and he realized, “I can make this an actual business.”
When he was 24, Ambrogio broke the news to his dad that he would be leaving the family business. “Looking at my food regimen, training, all my extra time on this, he could see I’d found my passion,” says Ambrogio.
“I used to tease him when he was going to the gym. ‘Oh, you’re going to pick up things and put them down,’” says John. “He hated working in the auto body shop. When he found his calling, I was thrilled for him.” John also recognized why his son was so in demand. “He really cares about people and is so in tune with them. He’s such a soft-hearted person,” says John.
“He’s a big marshmallow!”
To prepare for a bodybuilding show, Ambrogio says the training never changes. “I always train as hard as I possibly can for that day,” he says. “What really changes is the diet and the cardio protocol, which gets more and more as time goes on.” For his last show, he added muscle by bulking up from 230 to 260 pounds, with a goal of thinning down and competing at about 212.
Working Out Worked Out
Almost ten years after that first encounter with the trainer, Ambrogio earned his NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) certification and reached out to Bobby for advice. “While we were working out together at the Water Club, Pam, the fitness director, asked if I wanted to work there,” he recounts. “It felt like a full-circle moment, going from being trained by Bobby to working alongside him in the same gym.”
Ambrogio says that his angle is seeing “the potential in the client before they can see it themselves.” To achieve results, Ambrogio focuses on habits. “I don’t focus on a ‘dream body,’ because the body is a reflection of the habits you have,” he explains. “I get my clients to switch their mindset from ‘I need to transform my body’ to ‘I need to establish these habits to become the person I want to be.’ I know that sounds cliché, but that’s my whole life.”
Ambrogio looks at exercise and diet, but for him, consumption goes beyond food. “It’s also what you watch, listen to and read,” he notes. While dropping weight for his first bodybuilding show, he found himself obsessing about food. “It’s especially hard in an Italian family. There’s food everywhere! I was watching, listening, reading all about food,” he recalls. “After the show, I ate like crazy. I binged, man!” Ambrogio guides his clients away from the pitfalls he has experienced. “Where the brain goes, the body will follow,” he says. “If you’re filling your mind up with things that are positive and inspire or teach you something, your mind and your body will go that way.” He adds, “Anytime you are on a fitness journey, it should never be about, ‘I can’t wait to have this food.’ It’s about nourishing, not starving, yourself.”
Ambrogio emphasizes the importance of whole foods. “You’re going to digest them better, sleep better, function better,” he says. “If you want to use protein shakes and stuff like that, add them on sometimes. That shouldn’t be something you rely on.” He recounts a time that a coach gave
him a “re-feed.” He explains, “This basically means just more calories than I consume regularly. He told me to eat a burger, fries and a muffin. I have a cavity that doesn’t bother me ever, because I eat mostly whole foods, so there’s no inflammation. I had that meal and woke up with excruciating pain in my mouth, like somebody whacked me with a pipe. That was because of the inflammation that food caused.
My asthma flared up, too.”
Ambrogio works with men and women—moms and dads, busy working professionals—and college athletes.
“I show them how to live a healthy, fit lifestyle, in a way that fits in with their life,” he explains. “It doesn’t need to be complicated. I listen to how their day-to-day is. Most people are almost there. They just need a little adjustment to reach their goals and be able to sustain it.” He also trains the boys and girls high school rowers at Greenwich Water Club, teaches evening workout classes and volunteers with senior citizens at Rye Rec Center. This is where that work ethic comes in. And the fact that he loves what he does.
“I do the strength training for the rowing team from 4 to 6 p.m. every day,” says Ambrogio. “It’s the most rewarding thing I do, aside from working with the seniors, because I’m able to instill the work ethic and discipline for those kids, to show them what’s possible. To see one of the kids that doesn’t have, let’s say, the athletic ability, or maybe they’re not super physically fit, but they put in the work every single day—to watch them improve is incredible. I’ve seen kids come in at the bottom of their class who are captains when they graduate or really high achievers in the actual sport itself. That will carry through their entire life.”
At the time of this interview, Ambrogio was training for another bodybuilder contest, his third, and one group of fans planned to be in the front row. “My seniors at the Rye Rec Center are so excited about it,” says Ambrogio. “They’re coming on a bus. They’ve been talking about it for a year. They call it the ‘nudie show.’ We had a break over the summer, and when I went back in September, they were like, ‘Tell me you’re still doing the nudie show!’” His oldest client is about 90. “They’re amazing,” he raves. “The most rewarding thing is to see their quality of life improve—to go from not being able to get up from a chair to being able to do 20 squats, push-ups on the wall, a plank, work in their yards, pick up heavy objects. It’s awesome.”
Ambrogio placed fourth in the last show he did in 2019. Last year, he took his physique to the next level. He bulked up from 230 to 260 pounds, to add muscle, and then planned to cut weight to about 212 for the competition.
Ambrogio says, “This July will mark ten years of me working at the Water Club as personal trainer, strength coach for the rowing team and fitness instructor, which is really special, considering where it all started.”
At home, he is busy setting a good example. “My kids love to go on walks with me. We walk in the woods,” he says. “They get so pumped up when I say, ‘We’re going on a walk!’ My daughter wants to eat the same thing because, ‘Daddy is doing it.’ Kids will do what we do, not what we say.” His son does jiu-jitsu five times a week and competes. His daughter just started as well and does gymnastics. They like to join in their mom’s workouts in the basement gym. Does Ambrogio plan to instill in them the same work ethic his dad taught him? The answer is a resounding: “Absolutely!”
Ambrogio’s 5 Tips to a Fitter Body
1. The basics work. Don’t complicate things. I do the same exercises that 99 percent of people do. I just have done them for so much longer and consistently.
2. Steps are a fat-loss hack. They help with cognitive function, stress reduction, digestion. It’s so easy to rack up steps throughout the day. Go on a hike with your kids. Take your dog for a walk.
3. Don’t program-hop. You don’t need the shiny new object. Consistency wins the game.
4. Watch what you consume. Everything you watch, listen to and read has a massive effect on your mindset and actions.
5. Sleep is way better than supplements. And whole foods are always best.
Testimonials
“Ambrogio is fantastic. He meets you where you are at in your physical fitness journey and finds ways to constantly challenge you. He’s worked with two of my daughters and myself and has established a great rapport with all of us. He’s hard-working and kind. I’ve seen him work with all types of people—young and old, fit and not-so-fit, men and women—and he has a great relationship with all of them. Working out with him gets me out of bed every Tuesday and Thursday morning.”
—John Guarnera
Ambrogio’s first client at the Greenwich Water Club
“I first met Ambrogio in the gym at Greenwich Water Club, when I was about five months into my fitness ‘refocus.’ He went out of his way to approach me and compliment my form. That’s the type of guy he is. A month later, I approached him to plan a program for me. He spent about an hour on the phone with me going over goals. I am four months in now and he has made massive changes to my habits and my physique. At 49, I’m more fit than I’ve been in over 20 years. I was a D1 college athlete and played competitive sports into my 30s and hold a high standard, but Ambrogio shattered all the goals. There is no candy coating with him; it’s hard work, every day. But there is no guessing because of his programming. If you do what is put before you, the results come.”
— Frank Heneghan
former athlete and owner of Heneghan Services
“Before working with Ambrogio, I struggled with my weight my whole life and hadn’t worked out in over ten years. I was an emotional binge eater and avoided movement. I tried every trendy diet and quick fix, but nothing worked, until I met Ambrogio. He gave me the structure, accountability and support I needed, while helping me understand that losing weight was only a small part of this journey. He pushed me hard in the gym, beyond what I thought possible. He knew what I was capable of before I did. He taught me to shift my mindset so I could finally build the sustainable habits that have changed my life. I lost 80 pounds, but I gained strength, focus, confidence, clarity, discipline, new friends, new experiences and so much more.”
— Brooke Lawer
owner of Haven by Brooke
Photography By Kyle Norton