From a 1997 magazine to the world Pro League stage: the story of Giuseppe Romano
From a Sarno gym to the international stage. How Giuseppe Romano became Italy's most winning coach with 100+ ProCards and 20+ Mr. Olympia qualifications.
It all started with a magazine.
- ·Giuseppe Romano was 16 years old, going to work with his father, when he stopped at a newsstand and bought a copy of Flex. Camille Lebron was on the cover. That image — the muscle, the conditioning, the symmetry — never let him go. He still has that issue of Flex today.
From that moment on, the path was set.
The Sarno gym: where it really begins
In 2009, Giuseppe Romano is working at a gym in Sarno, in the Agro valley of Salerno province, Southern Italy. It is not a modern facility. No hardwood floors, no latest-generation machines. Just real iron, ropes, and a concrete floor. Old school, as they say.
And it is exactly there that Romano grasps something most coaches will take years to understand: he doesn't treat the members as clients. He treats them as athletes from day one.
He builds serious programmes, tracks feedback, watches physiques change week by week. Even then, he works in the way he would later call his method: fundamentals first, progressive load, listening to the athlete.
Francesco Montuori and the first Italian Men's Physique champion
Around 2012, the Men's Physique category arrives in Italy. Romano takes on a young man from the Sarno valley. His name is Francesco Montuori.
He prepares him, brings him to the Italian IFBB Championships, and he wins. Francesco Montuori becomes Italy's first Men's Physique champion. From Sarno, the two start travelling the world: international competitions, then the World Championship in Canada.
"From a small local scene, we found ourselves travelling the world to compete at the highest levels."
That one sentence tells the whole story.
The choice: from athlete to coach
For years Romano competed himself. His last competition as an athlete was in 2015. Then he stepped away.
Not out of exhaustion. He stepped away because he realised something: his real gift was not on stage as a competitor — it was in the backstage as a guide. "I understood that continuing as an athlete wasn't worth it anymore — the results weren't satisfying. I understood that I was a leader."
From that point on, he dedicated himself entirely to preparing other athletes. Team Romano began to take shape: more athletes each season, more categories, more international competitions.
2018: the year that changes everything
The IFBB Pro League officially lands in Europe. Romano starts winning ProCards at a relentless pace — Spain, Portugal, Denmark. In a single year: two Mr. Olympia qualifications.
The Italian bodybuilding world takes definitive notice. Someone starts calling him ProMaker. The name sticks.
"They gave me this nickname ProMaker — fine. But I work with structures that already have the right genetics. And when nature gives, you have to know what to do with it."
Numbers that speak for themselves
Romano is not one for empty boasting. He prefers data. Here it is:
- ·100+ ProCards earned throughout his career
- ·20+ Mr. Olympia qualifications — bodybuilding's most prestigious stage
- ·Athletes brought to Pro level across virtually every category: Men's Physique, Classic Bodybuilding, Open, Bikini, Wellness, Figure
- ·Official partner of Yamamoto Nutrition
- ·Team present every season at the most important IFBB Pro League stops worldwide
"In football, win 10 league titles and you're the number one team. In bodybuilding, people find other explanations. The numbers speak anyway."
Team Romano today: from Sarno to Las Vegas
In recent years Romano has consolidated the team's presence on the international stage. Alessandro Cavagnola, Pasquale D'Angelo, and Gianluca Zagarella — names well known to anyone who follows the Pro League — have been, or are currently, part of the team.
In 2025–2026 comes the most significant development yet: Las Vegas, the heartbeat of world bodybuilding, becomes Team Romano's primary operational base.
"Las Vegas will be our main base. In the heart of world bodybuilding and the city that gives opportunities."
From a copy of Flex picked up at a newsstand in Sarno, to Las Vegas. Not bad for a man who has always insisted that results come from rice, chicken, and barbells.
Team Romano — Competitive Bodybuilding since 2009.