Le Mars, Iowa · Friday, September 3, 2010
[Masthead] Fair ~ 55°F  
High: 71°F ~ Low: 50°F
Print Email link Respond to editor Post comment

Remsen native propels Osmond to the top

Tuesday, December 1, 2009
(Photo)
(Photo contributed) Donny Osmond and Adam Gentz, a Remsen native, share a celebratory moment after Osmond claimed the Dancing with the Stars title this month. Gentz, Osmond's personal trainer, helped Osmond get into the physical shape he needed to win the celebrity dance-off TV competition.
[Click to enlarge]
"Hamster, we did it!"

That's the text message Donny Osmond sent Remsen native Adam Gentz after taking home the Dancing with the Stars trophy Nov. 24.

Gentz, Osmond's personal trainer, had been working with the singer for three months in Las Vegas to build the strength, agility and endurance to dance his way to the top in the TV competition.

"This was my first dancer," Gentz said of Osmond. "I knew I had to get him strong enough that he could endure the whole 12 weeks of this rigorous competition. He was competing against people half his age and he blew them away."

Osmond, who turns 52 this month, has been in the spotlight since he was a child, rising to teen idol fame in the 1970s and trying everything from hosting a talk show to starring in the 1999 film "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

Gentz, given the nickname Hamster by one of his clients, has been working as a personal trainer in Las Vegas since the late 1990s.

A 1993 Remsen St. Mary's graduate, Gentz enrolled at St. Ambrose University on a baseball scholarship.

After graduation in 1997, he moved on to the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, earning his master's degree in exercise and sports science-human performance in 1998.

With a lead on an athletic trainer job at a suburban Las Vegas high school, Gentz packed everything into a car and moved to Las Vegas.

He got the job, and on the side picked up work as a personal trainer at a nearby high-end health club.

The young trainer was working 15-hour days, starting at 5 a.m.

"It was that Midwestern work ethic," he said. "You knew if you put enough time and hard work that something good would come out of it."

Gentz remembers standing on a bucket in the kitchen of his dad's restaurant washing dishes as a second grader.

"That work ethic continues to grow," he said.

Within three years, demand for Gentz' personal training skills began to eclipse the sports medicine work. He decided to focus solely on being personal trainer. He also designed workout facilities and his name grew in Las Vegas.

Among Gentz' clients were hotel and casino executives including Don Marrandino, at the time president of Flamingo Las Vegas, a 15-acre hotel and casino owned by gaming giant Harrah's Entertainment.

Marrandino, now president of Harrah's properties in Atlantic City, first dubbed Gentz "Hamster."

Even as a powerful hotel executive, Marrandino still takes time to have fun and give people nicknames, Gentz said.

Standing at 6'4" and weighing in at 225 pounds of solid muscle, the hotel executive decided to name himself the Manster -- half-man, half-monster.

"He said, 'If I'm the Manster, then you need a name, too.' Within the first few workouts he looked at me and said, 'You're the Hamster,' because I'm quite a bit smaller than he is," Gentz said. "Every time he introduced me to somebody, no matter how powerful they were, he said, 'Meet the Hamster.'"

Marrandino used that phrase when he introduced Gentz to Osmond.

Osmond and his sister Marie were regularly performing a variety show at the Flamingo Hotel, which has a 750-seat showroom.

"Don Marrandino had been working out with me for three years and always was my biggest fan as far as referring me to people," Gentz said. "When Donny and Marie signed on to do their show at the Flamingo he said from day one, 'I got to get you hooked up with Donny.'"

A first meeting with Osmond went well and Gentz began training Osmond about one year ago.

"I was pretty familiar with what he'd done because I've always been a huge music fan," Gentz said. "And I remember watching the Donny and Marie Show as a little kid."

A few months into training with Gentz, Osmond was picked as one of the candidates on ABC's celebrity dance-off TV show Dancing with the Stars.

"We just kicked it into gear," Gentz said.

They pounded footwork, hip rotations and core strength to prepare Osmond for the stage.

They did sprints on the treadmill.

They did foot speed drills.

But Gentz said the hardest thing he made Osmond do was get up early in the morning -- especially after performing a night show at the Flamingo.

But Osmond persevered with his training, even while dancing up to six hours daily, recording his own solo album and working on an album with Marie.

"I hope people realize the work he put into this. It's nothing short of amazing," Gentz said. "He put 100 percent trust in me, which made me feel good as a trainer."

Gentz also enjoyed getting to know Osmond.

The celebrity shared stories with Gentz of when Paul McCartney asked for his autograph and when he and Michael Jackson hung out.

Osmond, Gentz said, is funny and genuine.

"He's a great family man, a great husband to his wife of 30 years, a great entertainer," he said. "Everything about Donny is a guy that you want to hang out with for like a whole day."

Gentz said his own background growing up in Remsen helped him forge a connection with Osmond.

"He's from a great, family-oriented upbringing in Utah," Gentz said. "I think that's why we clicked because he recognized another person that was real, not fake, not going to take advantage of him."

In fact, Gentz attributes much of his success in Las Vegas to growing up in a town like Remsen.

"Growing up in the Midwest you develop a strong work ethic, you come from a very strong family background, the education system we go through is top notch," Gentz said. "And nothing is handed to you."

Gentz, now general manager of Strength Center Las Vegas, will be back in Remsen to see his mom and dad, Michelle and Greg Gentz for Christmas.

Then it's back to the City of Lights, as busy as ever.

Since Osmond's success, there are a few more people on Gentz' roster of potential clients.

The young personal trainer also plans to take time to look toward the future.

"I sit down at the end of the year and think what my goals are for the next year, what the next phase of my business will be," he said. "Everything is one step closer to the ultimate goal."

He hopes to work more with training teenagers -- he enjoyed successes both as high school athletic trainer position and working with a Las Vegas youth soccer league.

Along with goals, Gentz will have plenty of memories to reflect on as 2009 comes to a close.

He admits going from farm-town kid to rubbing elbows with the Las Vegas elite is all still a bit surreal.

"It's a whirlwind," Gentz said. "The next thing you know you're training Donny Osmond."



Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration. If you already have an account on this site, enter your username and password below. Otherwise, click here to register.

Username:

Password:  (Forgot your password?)

Your comments:
Please be respectful of others and try to stay on topic.