America’s Fittest Couple Challenge 3: Meet Lisa and Tony

Lisa and Tony Zappa’s lives have completely transformed through their work with AFCC3 coaches Hannah Eden and Paulo Barreto. Get excited to follow their journey through this challenge!

Hello, everyone! We are Lisa (38) and Tony (40) Zappa! We have been together for more than three years and have been married for almost a year as of October 8, 2018. We were both born and raised in Boise and Nampa, Idaho, and now live in Birmingham, Alabama, with Tony’s 9-year-old son Sutton. We also have a fur baby, Frankie, the Goldendoodle who is just like a human. ☺

I’m a project manager for a company that does site acquisition for AT&T cellphone towers, and Tony works for one of the largest coal companies in Colombia, South America. Being apart can be hard on us, but it’s forced us to really love and truly appreciate every day we do get to see each other when he’s not traveling for work. We are each other’s best friend and can’t imagine spending our lives with anyone else. We found each other out of the blue. It was truly meant to be.

Fitness has always been a huge passion of mine. For the last 15 years, I mostly stuck with traditional bodybuilding-style lifting — with some added cardio here and there. (I used to hate running.) I guess you could say that being in the gym was my “hobby” as I found that to be my happy place. It’s always been a top priority for me, and I don’t see that ever changing. It’s what gets me up each morning — literally. I am up at 3:30 a.m. and Tony is up at 1:30 a.m. to hit the gym. I think it’s safe to say most people just know me as the one who could live in a gym all day if I could.

Tony’s always been an active guy. He participated in bull riding and motocross for several years. He tried to stay active after moving on from those two sports, but he never had the right influence in his life to motivate him to get to the gym on a consistent basis. After we met, my passion rubbed off on him, and he started getting up early in the morning to hit the gym down in Colombia. (Did I mention he gets up at 1:30 a.m.?!)

The true turning point for Tony was when I discovered and introduced him to the redheaded firecracker Hannah Eden! I still remember the very first workout he did with me from her online subscription program that I was doing at the time. He just about died! Now he’s officially hooked for life! We prep every single meal for him for every day he is in Columbia, and he packs it all with him on the plane. So he has no excuse. You can find the words “NO EXCUSES” painted on the wall of our home gym.

As soon as we saw that Hannah and Paulo Barreto were doing a couples challenge, we immediately knew we had to sign up. And when Hannah reached out to me and asked if Tony and I would be willing to do the challenge and blog about it, I didn’t even ask Tony! I instantly responded that we would no doubt be so honored to do this. This is such an exciting opportunity for us. I’ve been an avid reader of Oxygen for several years, so to be able to take part in this experience with not only Hannah and Paulo, who we absolutely adore, but with Oxygen, too, is a dream come true! We’re still pinching ourselves.

Tony and I really took our training with Hannah and Paulo to the next level when we signed up for their Unleashed Challenge, which started January 1, 2018. It was a 12-week program, and to say it was intense is an understatement. We had both taken some time off from doing any hardcore training, so this was the absolute kick we needed to get back at it again. We both gained a ton of strength and endurance, and it pushed us to limits we had no idea existed. The community that they created was unlike anything we’ve ever been a part of. We made so many new friends all over the country that I still talk to on a nearly daily basis.

When Hannah announced a new challenge called Embrace — to get lean for summer — Tony and I signed up right away again. This is truly when Hannah and Paulo changed our lives. I lost inches on Unleashed, but Embrace took my body to places I didn’t know were possible. Having the added bonus of working with their nutritionist Alexa Uherek to dial in our nutrition is what I believe really catapulted Tony and my results. Two weeks into Embrace, we had the pleasure of going down to Florida to work out in their gym PumpFit, and we also took part in a Cinco de Mayo workout in the park the following day.

I can honestly say that Hannah and Paulo are hands down the most genuine, down-to-earth people I’ve met. I was so nervous to meet both of them, but those feelings instantly went away the moment we met. They make you feel like you are part of their family, and they genuinely care about every person they work with. It’s very evident that they work extremely hard at what they do. After our workout with Paulo, he asked if we’d be willing to stay after class so he could work with Tony on his form performing kettlebell swings. The fact that they took that time after the last class of the day showed us how much they truly care about what they do and ensure that others have a safe and effective workout.

That visit was icing on the cake for me and Tony. We came home with a new drive to be our best selves again, and I cannot thank Hannah and Paulo enough. I was then shocked to learn that I won the Embrace grand prize! I took my prize money and am investing it in myself to work toward getting my personal training certification, something that I’ve always wanted to do but never made time for until now.

I’d love to say that I look exactly like I did when I completed Embrace every single day, but life happens. Tony and I decided we wanted to start trying for a baby so, after seeing some doctors, they put me on hormone cycles to boost my fertility. If anyone has been there, you know it causes bloating and that hard lean look I had has slowly faded. I’m still in shape, I still work out every day, I just lost some of that “cut” look. Now that we have this amazing opportunity to be a part of the America’s Fittest Couple Challenge 3, we are putting our baby plans on hold for a few months, and we are giving it our absolute best so we can share with all of you every detail, struggle and accomplishment we have throughout the next 60 days. We are ready and so excited to do this alongside everyone.

Give this challenge your all. It’s only 60 days of your life. Let’s all work toward being our best selves! NO EXCUSES! You can register here. ☺

~ Lisa & Tony ~

With America’s Fittest Couple Challenge 3, Hannah Eden and Paulo Barreto will bring you and your partner their unique brand of training – PumpFit – to transform your bodies and minds and get you into the best shape of your lives. Sign up today!