Meet the Inventor

Hailing from California’s San Fernando Valley, Mario Corona became certified through the International Sports Sciences Association in 2008. Since then, he has trained clients of all ages, incorporating his own original exercises, and is working on his nutrition certification.

It Takes a Village

The idea for the Chop Block came to Mario almost as soon as he started training. After acquiring the patent, he designed it himself with a pencil, paper, and a ruler. He tested the solid rubber prototype with clients for eight years, and the results were encouraging: one client who’s used it consistently, he says, “looks like he lifts a ton of weight, but we don’t lift all that heavy. He has huge forearms.”

With advice from his clients in law, finance, and business, Mario created the final product using all American-made materials. Another client encouraged him to talk with the owners of the local D-BAT, a baseball training facility, and the Chop Block is now featured in a biweekly class there. “There’s been a lot of divine intervention to get to where I am, one hundred percent,” Mario says. “Like the people in my life, the places, everything.”