Beautiful People.(personal trainer Oscar Smith)(Interview)

Muscle Man

Oscar Smith:

Personal Trainer

By Elizabeth Passarella

Oscar Smith's resume includes stints as a competitive gymnast, an elementary school physical education teacher, and a narcotics officer (he's still on the force, working three shifts a week as a rescue diver). In other words, the personal trainer has dealt with sports judges, fifth graders, and violent criminals -- and he's not about to coddle you through a few extra push-ups. "When someone asks, 'Do I look fat?' I say, 'Yes, you do,'" he says. "If you ask that question, you already know the answer." Smith wandered into his current career in 1990 while living in Long Beach, a small surfing town in Long Island, New York. "I was a gymnast -- very flexible but ripped at the same time. When guys at my local gym asked, 'What do you do?' I'd invite them to work out with me. Eventually, there were so many, a friend suggested I make a part-time job of it." A decade later, he opened O-Diesel Studio in New York City. Petra Nemcova sauntered in one day and became hooked. Soon modeling agencies were sending him clients, and actors, including Rosario Dawson, were regulars. Smith's specialty is choreographing a high-energy mishmash of activities such as medicine-ball tosses and kickboxing. Prior to runway shows, the models' sessions typically include jumping squats, which create, he says, fashionably "tiny heinies." Although Sophie Dahl has jokingly accused him of torture, she and his other clients remain devoted because they see results. "My motto is: If you look good, I look good."

Muscle Man

Oscar Smith: