Ambitious Athletics

I joined Ambitious Athletics after reading the overwhelmingly positive reviews, and I feel compelled to follow-​up with my thoughts. I have completed two months of training. From ensuring proper execution of exercises to assisting with nutrition to understanding your personal health goals, Carmen and Lori devote incredible attention to all clients. Carmen puts much thought into each phase of the program. They’re comprehensive workouts, and he changes it up periodically to keep it fresh and challenging. Despite tough sessions, Carmen, Lori and the fellow athletes maintain an atmosphere that’s fun and encouraging. I also found folks to be incredibly welcoming and helpful to new athletes. Egos need to be left at the door. Carmen keeps you accountable, too. When I missed several days due to work, he checked in. When I skipped a workout, he reminded me that I can’t realize my goals if I don’t put in the effort. Try these guys out. You won’t be disappointed!

Carmen and his team are the best of the best in the DC area. The gym is pristine, the equipment is top of the line (turf, Rogue racks, plenty of open space), and the members get RESULTS.
If you’re a DC resident looking to meet your fitness/​body composition goals, look no further!

If you are ready to get serious about your health and fitness goals, Ambitious Athletics will not let you down. Whether you are an experienced athlete, or new to fitness, Carmen (head coach/​owner) and Lori (assistant head coach) will make you feel welcome and will make sure to keep you safe and with proper form throughout each workout. There is a great team atmosphere at the gym, so you will always be encouraged during a tough workout, pushed to work harder, and congratulated when you make it through!
Carmen puts incredible thought and effort toward the production of his programming and thinks through every aspect of each phase. He definitely has your health and wellness in mind at all times. I have been working out with Carmen for over a year, and have definitely seen results!
Also of note, Carmen recently opened a new location on K street, and it is Awesome! Definitely check out Ambitious Athletics, you’ll be glad you did!

I started working out about a month ago with Carmen/​Ambitious Athletics & also recently started the nutrition portion offered. I’ve worked out with trainers & at gyms before and have found it to be kind of a waste. It was too easy to underperform or distract them with idle chit chat. Carmen’s class is tough & so is he. He’s going to call you out when you’re not giving it your 100%. I get up at 5 am (I hate mornings typically not leaving my house until 10 am when it’s safe for me to speak to others) & look forward to it. I may feel like crawling to my car at the end of class but its worth it and I know it’s working.
The other day I was standing in the bathroom & the Hubs came in. He looked down at my ass, gave it a pat & said «you know I think it already looks firmer»… Yup thank you Carmen.

I started working out with Ambitious Athletics about two months ago. As an avid runner, I (wrongly) thought I was in pretty decent shape when I joined the group, but I quickly realized how weak my core, hips and back were and how desperately I needed the strength training. It was a humbling beginning for me, but now I can’t imagine my life without Ambitious Athletics.
Carmen is tough. He will push you and challenge you even when you doubt your own limits, but it’s because he believes in your potential and strengths. Although I am quietly cursing Carmen during the actual workouts, I am now able to do pushups off my knees (something I was never able to do) and I have increased weights for almost all of the exercises. After only two months I notice that my clothes fit better, my running has improved, and I have never felt stronger or better than I do today.
I really believe in Carmen and in Ambitious Athletics. I encourage anyone who is looking for a challenge or a change in their workout routine to consider joining this group. Not only does Carmen know his stuff, he genuinely cares about his clients and puts a lot of thought and effort into the training sessions. You will not be disappointed.

I had the pleasure of sampling Carmen’s Monday morning 7am class at Woodley Park a few weeks back. First thing I noticed was how wide open the facility is. I also saw all the equipment Carmen utilizes in his regiment. There were kettlebells, TRX, resistance bands and rollers spread all over the floor. The variety of equipment yields a wide range of exercises and movements that Carmen effectively implements in his plan. The workout itself was both very organized and effective; it’s a true full-​body workout. My heart was pumping, my muscles were blasted, and I was sweating hard. Carmen does a great job pushing everyone to the limit of his/​her ability. He caters to everyone, and he pushes everyone past his or her normal thresholds.
What it comes down to is if you have a chance to attend Carmen’s boot camp, and you choose not to, then you must not be serious about your health and fitness. Simple as that.

Carmen is the man!
I’ve been training with Carmen since May and I have ZERO complaints. He’s always changing up the routine and challenges me every class. I leave a sweaty mess, crawl home, pass out, and then do it again. It’s addicting and it’s a great thing to be addicted to.
I highly recommend Ambitious Athletics to everyone. If you want to be hot and healthy, Carmen will get you there!

I’ve been working out with Carmen since last summer and he’s amazing! He’s able to tow that fine line between pushing you too hard and letting you rest. Each class is fun yet hard but it’s all totally attainable. I walk away feeling like I’ve accomplished something awesome!
And for the past few months, I’ve been doing Carmen’s class pregnant! He modified some of the activities I could no longer do and I think it’s really helped my pregnancy and overall health.
So regardless if you’re knocked up or not, you need to try Carmen’s class!

Bootcamp with Carmen gets better and better every session. His workouts continue to be challenging and he does a great job editing things when people come in with an injury. We use kettlebells, trx straps, medicine balls, and elastic bands, and our own body weight to move through circuits that get your heart rate up after you do a full warm up that really preps your body. His nutrition program is comprehensive and complete and he’s always available to answer questions about what we can do to treat our body well. I love the small size of the class, the music he uses to keep us motivated, and how he never lets us get away with half-a**ing it. 5:45am never felt so good!

I have been working out with Carmen for about 6 months now, and it is a work out that I always look forward to. He is clearly knowledgeable about health and fitness and always provides a well-​rounded, holistic work out. Carmen forces me to push myself, but never past my limits. I highly recommend this program!

I found Carmen soon after I moved to DC a few months ago. I had been pretty lax about my workouts and nutrition since my wedding, and was ready to try a new training régime. Carmen’s training sessions have been amazing for me — even though I’m at a crazy busy job, carving out that hour at 5:30 keeps me feeling on track all week. I love the variety, the circuit-​style training, and the emphasis on pushing yourself to get stronger. Carmen is friendly and completely focused during the sessions on helping you push yourself while maintaining good form. He’s also a great source of nutritional advice, and a support system for making your life healthier! I would definitely recommend the sessions to anyone looking to commit to something new and effective.

When I found 5:30 a.m. bootcamp I was about six months into a stressful new job. I was a seriously out of shape & overweight 40-​something. Now, seven months into bootcamp, I am feeling remarkably healthier and stronger. I’ve also lost a bunch of weight and have a regular outlet to burn off stress. The workouts with owner/​trainer Carmen are no joke. But the pushing, the accountability, the knowable instruction and the emphasis on whole health are what makes the whole thing work for me. I never thought I would be someone who regularly works out alongside some pretty intimidatingly fit people, drinks protein shakes and runs up hills holding a medicine ball over my head. But I am, and I actually look forward to it.

Carmen was my former trainer at one of the DC gyms. He helped me get in shape for my sister’s wedding within a matter of months — both with exercise and nutritional advice. About a year later, I wanted to workout with Carmen again — but found that he left the gym and followed his dream to open his own business. I am not a morning person, but signed up for his 5:30 am class in Woodley Park because he is that good. I am over 35 and it’s been harder to lose weight and find that I need to do new things. Carmen’s bootcamp is great. He mixes up the exercises/​cycles that we do every 6 weeks, we incorporate yoga for stretching, flexibility, and strength training, and he provides nutritional advice so we are putting the right things in our body to trim inches, repair, and refuel. He is always motivating and teaches us the proper techniques. Trust me, you will never get bored and will enjoy his classes. I love the people in the class — they are small enough to work out and consist of people of all ages so you don’t feel awkward. And, he has other morning and afternoon classes if you can’t get up before the sun! Your friends will see the results.

I worked out with Carmen for about three months during his 5:30 AM slot. I tried him out because I had been looking for a good gym and/​or trainer. Since moving to the DMV, I have been on a search to find a gym and trainer like I had in the past. I found Carmen and he was great. Workouts went by fast, I saw results pretty quickly and Carmen didn’t play any games. He made sure we got a good workout in each and every time. It was hard work.
I almost had a hard time deciding between four and five stars because I sometimes got frustrated having to travel to DC from Arlington so early in the morning. I even got locked out once when I was there two minutes late. Carmen also had a smart mouth sometimes and being the smart mouthed Philly girl that I am, he would get on my nerves. But then I asked myself if I would recommend his program to a friend or a patient. I, without a doubt, would. I would feel really confident doing it too. Because of that, I had to give him five. I’ve worked out with some really good trainers, so I have a good sample to which I can compare him. He’s really good, maybe better than my favorite.
His workouts consist of strength training and high intensity interval training. I could tell Carmen knew what he was doing. There was no BS involved.
I highly recommend.

The word bootcamp always conjures up a yelling drill instructor, Carmen’s workout is far more thoughtful, completely focused on form, extremely challenging and far above any bootcamp type program I have been a part of. The workouts are perfectly timed to good music and well organized so that they pass quickly while keeping you engaged the entire time. There is no time wasted, each minute there is planned and used wisely including a strong warm up, the work out itself, and stretching out afterwards. Carmen always keeps the workouts fresh. He’s always tweaking the routine and plans a whole new set of routines every 6 weeks. Carmen takes his job and your health seriously. He will call if you don’t show up a few days in a row to check on you. It was not part of my natural personality to get up and head to a 5:45 work out, but I grew to love it so much. No matter what happened later on in the day I had already carved out time for myself and gotten my work out in. And not just a work out where you can coast and go through the motions, a real work out that commands your full attention and makes you stronger and feeling good all day long.

No matter the reason that you start with Carmen, you will soon find out that he wants to push you to your fitness goals. Yes, push you… probably SHOVE you there. And it’s nice that when you give up on yourself, you have someone who’s going to have your back. Carmen wants you to succeed, knows when you’re not trying, and calls you out when you’re giving 50%. I like that he stamps out B.S. in the workout room and forces us all to dig deep.
The early-​morning wake ups are absolutely brutal, yes. But it forces you to do something productive with your time (late night happy hour or early-​morning workout? you be the judge). And even more important, there is a moment at EVERY session where you look at yourself in the mirror in the middle of a squat or burpee or push-​up and feel AWESOME. You’re SO proud of yourself for waking up and doing your damn thing. And that moment wouldn’t be possible if Carmen didn’t fill us with the confidence to push ourselves, the knowledge to build muscle carefully, and the challenge of new exercises to keep us entertained.
If you ever, EVER have the chance to workout with Carmen, I’d jump on it. When you’re just starting out, maybe you’ll resent me a bit («Another squat??»), but I sincerely promise you that you’ll found your «I’m AMAAZZINGGGG» moment mid-​workout, and you have Carmen to thank for it.

If you want to kick your butt into gear, Carmen is the guy to help you do it. Sure, you may secretly (or not so secretly), hate him as you are doing what seems like your 700^th squat, but if you stick with him, you are going to see results. Following Carmen’s «Nutrition 1.0» advice, doing bootcamp 2 days a week (and doing it HARD), as well as body-​weight and resistance based workouts at home that he recommends, I have already lost at least an inch in my waist, and it’s only been 2 weeks!
And for any of you that think that this is only for people that are already in-​shape, that is totally not the case with Carmen. He has special training in Corrective instruction, and encourages you to make adjustments that will improve your technique, including alterations for injuries.
Now. Listen here. Don’t let me give you the idea that he’s going to let you be a wuss. I have words for him that Unilocal won’t allow me type. He’s NOT going to scream in your face and do that whole «drill instructor» bit, but the pace of the circuit training is it’s own special kind of hell. A good hell though, and one that is over in an intense 20 – 30 minutes and you are DONE.
Carmen does not seem to be a big fan of steady-​state cardio, so the classes seem to focus on body-​weight strength training, resistance bands, squatting, squatting, squatting, and kettlebells. And then maybe some squatting again. But this is a cardio workout – trust and believe. You will be panting at the end. I know he doesn’t believe me, but Carmen, if you read this, my heart rate is consisently at 160 – 170 throughout the workout!
I thought I knew what a hard workout was, but Carmen showed me what I was missing, and it’s great. Feel free to message me with any questions.

Both Carmen and Emilie are super friendly and nice. That doesn’t mean Carmen won’t push you! (As much as I love yoga, my loyalty still lies with my first instructor who made me appreciate particularly interactive yogi who inspire you to share their ambition.) His blog posts are rather useful nuggets of information.
He really helped me break through my pre-​holiday weight plateau. I think it’s great that he offers a nutrition program to change your body from the ground up. At risk of sounding like an infomercial, my taste of Ambitious Athletics gave me a way to shape what I learned there to fit an on-​the-​go, outside-​the-​gym lifestyle. I feel better and look better– what more can you ask for? I wish my schedule were more compatible with his program so I can up the intensity, but my multiple jobs and on-​call work system are getting a little out of hand.

I’ve been working out for years with a bodybuilding routine. I tend to think I know it all. But every time I meet up with Carmen, he shows me something new, tweaks my technique, or gives me a suggestion that reminds me why he’s so damn good.
Every so often I switch things up. Recently, I took Carmen’s boot camp. I was nervous since it’s not my typical workout. Halfway through, I wanted to call it quits … but Carmen has a way of connecting with his clients the way other trainers only dream of … I pressed on.
I have serious back problems and rely on Carmen’s knowledge to help me prevent further injury. I depend on Carmen for his knowledge in fitness and nutrition, but more than that, I depend on him because I trust him.

Ambitious Athletics provides on-​site fitness boot camps. I love it. Carmen is the trainer, and he is amazing. He is encouraging and motivating, and can tailor the workout to your needs. My class has all fitness levels in it and everyone can participate. I actually look forward to classes because of him (though I do not so much look forward to the next day). There is not much to say — it is fitness bootcamp, and it is tough. But I highly recommend Ambitious Athletics for your fitness needs.