Athletic Lab is one of the top performance centers in the country. We have a vibrant and diverse community ranging from fitness enthusiasts looking to get in the best shape of their lives to elite professional athletes. The common denominator across all our members is that they are hard-working and goal-oriented.

Each month we highlight one or more of our members in our member of the month feature. For the month of September we’ve selected the entire Baretto Family. The Baretto’s are long time members of the Athletic Lab community.

You can read about our previous members of the month here.

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Name’s: Luis R. (Dad), Milena (Mom), Luis M.(29), Maria (24), Alejandro (22), Sabrina (20)

What city were you born in All of us were born in Caracas, Venezuela, except for the youngest, Sabrina, who was born locally right here in Cary. She’s the only one who can become president, but lord save us if that ever happens.

What’s your least favorite exercise? Favorite Exercise Collectively we hate burpees, which is probably a shared sentiment among the masses. I imagine there are some out there who enjoy them, but we’ve yet to meet them as we tend to avoid running into masochists. In terms of favorite exercises, some of us are weightlifting lovers, some of us enjoy a good rowing exercise though Luis M. will say he loves anything that allows him to act like a monkey as you’ll see him frequently hanging on bars for no reason.

What do you all do when you’re not at Athletic Lab (occupation, hobbies) While the setting may vary — from snuggling with a book on the couch, to watching movies, to playing video games, to trying to not kill each other during board games (Alejandro may or may not be a sore loser when it comes to Life), to enjoying a leisurely walk — the two activities we engage in most frequently are obsessing over our two poodles and drinking wine (it helps that Dad is an avid collector). While Dad spends his days running Absolute Stone, Mom advises people nationwide on dog training (with a patience that can only come from raising four rambunctious kids), Luis M. works toward grad school applications and rock climbing, Maria splits her personality between teaching English to first-year students and studying for her Master’s in English Lit at NC State with the goal of applying to Ph.D. programs, Alejandro spends time crunching numbers studying accounting at App State, and Sabrina splits her time between animal science classes (also at NC State) and working at a vet hospital.

What motivates your family to train We collectively like the idea of living for a long time, and working out seems to go a long way toward keeping us healthy. Plus doctors always recommend it and It feels like we should probably listen to them once in a while. The apple a day thing doesn’t seem to be keeping them away. Not to mention the amazing and encouraging coaching staff at Athletic Lab that is always there to push us to be better and have fun while doing it.