Near Isla Filipinas, there is a parking lot, but inside the parking lot, there is more than just cars. There is a bustling gym, Boost Concept, which is basically invisible until one opens the metal doors. When opening the doors, there are all kinds of lights and weights in there, people smiling and some struggling, and right in the back is the office where Carla Sanchez Zurdo, the founder of the gym, is working—working most times on the diets of the various clients she receives every day.
Carla’s motivation for her work is the impact she has had on other people. Carla said, “We had a girl who was taking antidepressants. She no longer lives here, and she was in a very bad situation, and she started to train here. Every time she trained more and more, ate better, and even came to the events we organized, she improved significantly.” “Everyone comes here with a different objective, and seeing them coming here and little by little getting to their goals is the most beautiful thing,” said Carla while constantly having to stop and say “hi” to the new gym members.
New members are always entering the gym, and Carla or Gonzalo, Carla’s brother and business partner, are always there greeting and giving small tours of the place to those who have newly become members of the gym. The gym started small, according to Gonzalo. “At first the place was quite small, only 200 meters, and we could only have around 60 or 80 clients. At first, it was only me and Carla, and later a third person. Slowly people signed up to waitlists, more waitlists, and infinite waitlists, so we had to move. Now we have 350–400 clients,” said Gonzalo.
The gym’s growth can be seen with how not only do people go there to work out or get diets from Carla, but also to buy various other things such as proteins, supplements, merch, and even shoes. On Wednesday, March 26, Carla can be seen wearing her new blue Velites shoes, a brand produced by the makers of exercise supplements. Little did people know those shoes were going to be promoted and sold in the gym.
Mitch Huggers, a member who has attended Boost Concept for two and a half years, was wearing his Velites shoes as well. Huggers laughingly said, “Carla helped me with my diet plan, and I bought these shoes.” His shoes were the ones Carla, the trainers, and other gym-goers were wearing. The gym really promoted the shoes, as Gonzalo said to someone, “We don’t have them anymore. I don’t know when there will be more stock.”
Not only is Carla a nutritionist and the founder of the gym, but she is also a model and an amazing saleswoman. Carla said, “We have worked with sports brands such as Belites, Conai, and El Corte Inglés, and later through social media we try to get a bigger audience as well.”
When entering Carla Sanchez’s social media, one of the first things in her description is Carla’s code to get a discount when buying from Myprotein. Her code is “Carlamyp.”
Carla is also a model, as she has appeared in El Corte Inglés’ gym commercials various times, wearing all kinds of sports brands from Adidas to Puma. Gonzalo said that the reason Carla has been selected as a model is because of her consistency and work. “Companies look for profiles which are a bit older. Twenty-year-olds, even if they are in great shape, don’t have the capacity to have a project as big as this. However, Carla is not in her twenties, and people can say, look, this woman can be an example of where young people can get to with hard work and dedication, with an evolution of good nutrition and workouts,” said Gonzalo.
The way Carla works out is rough, and it is shown through the reactions of those who have trained with her before. Ana Alarcón Tomás, one of the first people to get into Boost Concept, explained how her times working out with Carla were the most intense times. Alarcón Tomás said, “They were my hardest days. Now it is a bit different, but before it was absolute tachycardia. Her workouts were very demanding, and she was unforgiving.”
Carla trains hard. Her training sessions last hours, and she always has her phone on a stick recording herself for her social media. She is always with her pink weight rack doing lunges, squats, and deadlifts. Also, in between rounds, she has to do core exercises and always goes to the air bike to do cardio as well.
