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(San Juan, Puerto Rico) Winter, 2009 Lawrence Biscontini, MA, CNC, personifies versatility in fitness and wellness education, as recent awards attest: 2006 Award from Xerox Greece for Best International Wellness Corporate Trainer, ECA 2005 ECA Award for best mind-body program "Yo-Chi"®, 2004 Can-Fit-Pro Specialty Presenter of the Year Award, the 2004 IDEA Group Fitness Instructor of the Year Award, and the 2002 ACE Group Fitness Instructor of the Year Award, making fitness history in winning aforementioned awards. In the summer of 2004, he participated in the Opening Ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympics with yoga and T’ai Chi. An international spa and wellness consultant for spas like the Golden Door Spa chain, Lawrence teaches in the winter season at Golden Door Las Casitas Village in Puerto Rico. His award-winning programming at the Golden Door Spa receives regular attention of both the press and the fitness & spa industry, such as in the April 2002 Conde Nast report ranking Lawrence’s programming at Golden Door number 1 in the world! 24 Hour Fitness, Equinox, and Bally Total Fitness club chains call on Lawrence as Program Design Specialist to create some of their most exciting mind-body, personal trainer, and aquatic programming. Fitness Magazine named Lawrence one of the Top Ten USA Trainers in 2003 (where he served on their Editorial Advisory Board from 1999 until January of 2007), and cast members of ABC’s “General Hospital” in ABC Soaps in Depth magazine named Lawrence “fitness guru,” to boot. Possessing current ACE, AFAA, NASM, ACSM, AEA, SCW-EDU, and Can-Fit-Pro personal trainer and group fitness instructor certifications for land and aqua, Lawrence is a registered yoga teacher for Yoga Alliance and proudly works as Reebok University Global Master Trainer, AFAA International Certification Specialist, International Resist-a-Ball Master Trainer and Education Director, Gliding™ Pioneer Master Trainer, volunteer CPR Instructor for the American Red Cross, and creator of his very own signature “Yo-Chi”® programming that fuses yoga and T’ai chi for land, aqua, and stability ball programs, seen on “LIVE with Regis and Kelly” and “CNN Headline News”. Most major certifying bodies and continuing education international conventions count on Lawrence as faculty member, who not only trains the staff at other elite Golden Door Spas, but also travels as Spa & Fitness Consultant to help unique facilities and spas around the globe find an ideal blend of treatments, fitness, and wellness throughout its programs (Greenbrier, Canyon Ranch, Well Spa at Miramonte, among others). When not teaching, Lawrence is author for such international fitness publications as the new Human Kinetics release Early Morning Cardio Workouts with June Kahn, AFAA’s Theory and Practice industry standard textbook, and he contributes regularly to ACE Faculty News, AKWA Newsletter Magazine, AsiaFit, SELF magazine, among others. Lawrence’s other books include The One-Percent Factor: An Eccentric Unicorn’s Approach to Touring and Traveling, and two fitness yoga texts with eight accompanying videos: Yoga Fundamentals I and II: A Fitness Approach (available through www.scwfitness.com). On an international scale, Lawrence serves on both IDEA Group Fitness & Steering Committees, Fitness Advisory Board for Fitness Magazine, and Faculty Advisory Board for the American Council on Exercise. For the fitness and consumer market, Lawrence appears in over 40 internationally-sold fitness videos and DVDs. As Lawrence continues to inspire the world to fitness, he created various solutions to this end. First, FG2000 is a group of leading continuing education providers who offer accredited training at an international level in a variety of languages with a concentration on developing countries who otherwise would not be able to afford this training. For up-and-coming instructors, Lawrence established the Biscontini Scholarship to offer the opportunity for a promising instructor or personal trainer to attend the International World Fitness IDEA convention on the west coast USA or the East Coast Alliance on the east coast, yearly. He also began a NOTICE M.E.! program through which he helps empower instructors who have innovative ideas in the fitness industry. Lawrence’s mind-body study is extensive: with dual Master’s Degrees in Spanish Literature & Translation and Education, and a minor in theology, he has studied yoga in India (2006) and in the USA: at Kripalu Center in New York state with yogis from India, under Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (Ashtanga, India), Tias Little, Rodney Yee, Shiva Rea, Donna Rubin (Bikram, NYC), and Molly Fox. Lawrence also has studied T’ai Chi under David Dorian-Ross, and Pilates under Lolita San Miguel (student to Joseph Pilates), June Kahn, Moira Stott, and Elizabeth Larkham, Elizabeth Giles. Lawrence studies Feldenkrais under John Link in NYC. Lawrence seeks community involvement via fitness. His company FG2000 takes premier fitness programming to developing countries with a non-for-profit mission, not to make money but to provide education. He founded a T’ai Chi Wellness group in Puerto Rico at a local church community, and continually teaches yoga to incarcerated teens in the Centro de Detención on the island. At the 2003 IDEA Convention, Lawrence helped raise over $3,000 for the National Aids Fund at an early morning charity workout, teaching both yoga and T’ai chi to fitness enthusiasts with friend Constance Towers from ABC’s General Hospital. His cause of choice in the USA is to help the Sisters of Saint Joseph Villa based in Philadelphia, a retirement community where both Catholic religious sisters and lay community members alike find care in a wonderful place to live when forced due to health reasons from an active life of nonstop service to others. In the spring of 2004, Lawrence brought fitness professionals together for the plight of New York City animals for the Broadway Barks Foundation begun by friend Bernadette Peters. Lawrence served on the board for Immunocise in Dallas, Texas, and other organizations that use fitness to help those challenged in some way by HIV and AIDS. He has volunteered for Workout for Hope, and was the chief catalyst for Puerto Rico celebrating its first annual Workout for Hope in ‘98. In 2001, Lawrence initiated a “Fitness Unites” marathon in Puerto Rico to raise money for the September 11th Fund. Lawrence teaches in English, Spanish, Italian, and Greek, and is a resident of the world. Click here to download Lawrence’s CV/Resume (PDF). ©
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