Stamina for the Stage
Ange and Luke Marino told us how important fitness is to their performances as the theme from “Rocky” played over the speakers on the wellness floor.
“Sometimes people will come up after the show and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m tired just watching you guys,’” Ange said.
She and her husband, Luke, make up the band The Hootz.
“We call it country. It’s a little bit punk-rock. It’s real high-energy.”
Go to a show, and you’ll see the duo dancing and jumping around.
“You need stamina, you know? Some of our shows are four to five hours,” she said.
Luke chimed in.
“Some of them are ridiculous. It’s either you like it a lot or you don’t.”
Ange keeps up her stamina through consistent cardio workouts at the Y.
“I call myself the cardio queen,” she said.
Luke mainly stays in shape by lifting weights.
“I used to be a bodybuilder,” he said. “When I was a kid growing up it was like Hulk Hogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jean-Claude Van Damme. I would always look at those guys and want to grow up to be that. So, I think I’m there now. [laughs] I’m missing about 200 pounds.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re cute,” Ange added with a smile.
The couple met during their college years. Luke started a band and eventually convinced Ange to sing.
“I would sing along with anything, and he [Luke] was like, ‘You have a really good voice. You should be singing.’ I was like, ‘No way,’" Ange recalled. "Then eventually I learned the bass.”
“So there it is,” Luke said.
A decade later, The Hootz are busy performing across the country and recently relocated to a rural area outside of Music City. Ange said the landscape feels familiar.
“We’re from the country part of New York, so we found the country part of Tennessee. Even though Nashville’s great, and we’re right down the road—we like this little area. This is like home to us.”
The couple kept another thing consistent—their Y memberships. Luke said they’ve stayed members wherever they lived.
“It has more togetherness than other gyms do.”
Ange said they were welcomed as soon as they walked in.
“You immediately felt like you were working out with friends.”