Training soldiers prepared her for a career in fitness
Shae Coy Tozo went into the Army on Aug. 17, 1989, entering basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. She was next sent to Defense Language School (DLI) in Monterrey, CA, to be a Russian linguist, which was followed by a move to Fort Jackson, SC, for administrative specialist school.
While at DLI in Monterrey, Shae was on the FoxTrot Army run team and was also tagged to be an acclimatization physical training instructor. Her job was to get the new soldiers prepared to do physical training with their units. Monterrey is not unlike San Francisco with the terrain.
After her schooling was done, Shae was sent to Frankfurt, Germany, where they send you initially until they see who needs what you are trained in. She eventually went to Nuremberg and from there was stationed at Monteith barracks in Fuerth. Shae’s unit was the 1st Armored Division.
When the Gulf War war hit, Shae was transformed into a driver. She drove all over the desert for meetings, never getting lost. She had many, many adventures, at one point her group flew in a helicopter to rescue some soldiers who had been in a caravan and their vehicle had become disabled.
After the war, Shae’s unit and post deactivated and she was sent stateside to Fort Polk, LA. There she was tasked to be the brigade colonel’s administrative specialist, and then when her command sergeant major was promoted, she went with him to Division and became the general’s administrative specialist, a position she held until her tour was over.
Shae got out of the Army and used her GI Bill and college fund to go to college. Midway through, she got pregnant and married. She also renewed her aerobics certification and her personal training certification and did that for side income and as a way to stay in shape.
Shae’s daughter was born in 1997 and is currently a local hairdresser. She has also volunteered for CrossFit events, and she has sung the national anthem for Regionals from the time she was 13 until she went away to college.
Shae moved to Ocala in 1998 and joined her parents as an independent contractor in their personal training studio, Family Training Center, while picking up a few group EX classes at Too Your Health. Shae divorced her first husband and was blessed to find the greatest husband and father, David Tozzo, in the world a year later. They just celebrated 22 years of marriage.
Shae was hired by a local gym in 2002 to be the group exercise coordinator. She did this while still keeping her personal training business. In 2005, her mother and her opened up an aerobic studio/personal training business called Every Woman, which morphed into a CrossFit Box that they named CF ZOO.
They sold CF ZOO after 12 years, and Shae opened a garage CrossFit affiliate called CrossFit Teflon, allowing her to go to people’s houses and coach them in CrossFit technique and more.
Currently, Shae is the premier director for Zone Health and Fitness East. She is in charge of their East premier programs, which currently are Ignite, Fighting Fit, CrossFit and CrossFit 101. Each specialty has a team lead that does a very good job. Shae said she is blessed to have such a team and to work with such great people in her multifaceted fitness world.
