Author: jleenaarts

Last year, I enrolled in a certification course that would expand some of my nutrition knowledge.

I knew it would be challenging and that was part of the interest in learning that aspect of how our bodies react to the nutrients we give it.

And while it has been an interesting course, it has also pushed me far outside of my comfort zone because so much of it has to do with the brain.

I was making good progress in the course until I got sidelined by Lyme disease late last year and I just couldn’t focus on the course at that time.

Every time I would sign back in to the program, I felt the need to start all over again because I wasn’t retaining the information.

In the meantime, work has been getting busier (a great thing to see) and the course kept ending up on the backburner.

It was easy for me to fill my available time with pleasure activities like audiobooks, music, podcasts, etc.; basically, “easy” things to do instead of the “difficult” coursework.

Fast forward almost a year, and I’ve just been accepted into a business program designed to help me look at the strengths and weaknesses of RevFit to see how I can take the business the next step forward.

That program will last 12 weeks and will require me to step outside of the studio one day each week to be in a classroom with other business owners looking to do the same thing for their respective businesses.

And, of course, this will be one more place in my life that’s potentially taking my attention away from the continuing education course I started last year.

The problem is, I only have so much time to complete the coursework before I start paying additional fees to extend the timeline.

So now, it’s an effort to shift my priorities less around the pleasurable, easy activities and put more time into both the certification and the business program.

And I only have myself to blame for dragging my feet this long.

Nevertheless, it’s been an eye-opening fire under my ass to finish my commitments.

Recently, a client of mine and I were talking about things we needed to do for ourselves: the difficult, uncomfortable things.

For my client, they’re going down the road of therapy. In our conversations together, they realized that after a lifetime of taking care of other people’s needs over taking care of themselves, mental health was, let’s say “compromised.”

And in our conversations, therapy has opened a lot of doors that my client was not mentally prepared to open or walk through…the difficult tasks that therapy so often asks of us.

It all seemed so timely.

We tend to forget that the difficult tasks in front of us are often the ones we need to focus on the most.

Instead, we vanish into other tasks, distractions, and/or pleasurable activities instead of putting time and effort into the uncomfortable bits that can actually transform where we are now into where we ultimately want to be.

And for some people, the difficult thing might look like:

-Getting consistent with a workout regimen

-Having sensitive conversations with a loved one.

-Leaving a toxic job.

-Leaving a toxic relationship.

-Talking to a therapist.

-Adhering to a food plan.

-Establishing boundaries amongst your support system.

My ask of you this week is to take a look at the places in your life that you’ve been avoiding; the places of discomfort, the places you might otherwise avoid, delay, or hope might resolve on their own.

And find where you need to focus, prioritize, pay attention to, process, reflect on, and work through, to do the difficult things.

Because if we don’t actually do them, who will?

(Photo courtesy of Ian Chen)

Last week, a client of mine was catching up with me regarding his progress since he started training with us.

He asked: Should I be trying to lose fat right now? I mean, I know I’ve been getting stronger, and I feel better than I did before I started, but I’ve only lost about three pounds so far and I’m not sure if I should be losing more than that.

And to give you some more background on this, his wife started with us first and she’s currently on a GLP-1 receptor agonist medication to help with her fat loss efforts. So far, she’s been seeing good results on the medication.

After she had been with us for several months, she encouraged her husband to get started as well so they could both be focused on more health-forward actions together.

During my conversation with him, he said that it might be easier for both of them if they were actively trying to lose fat together, even though (for the time being), he’s not currently taking a GLP-1.

There were a few points I brought up to him just to make sure we were on the same page and some thoughts about how to proceed forward.

–Strength training alone does not burn a lot of calories. However, I do see situations where clients start making more health conscious decisions and strength training is the first place they start. After they become more consistent with training, they might also (consciously or otherwise) start making other health decisions that help with fat loss, such as swapping calorie-laden drinks for low/no calorie options, or being more conscious of portion sizes when they eat.

–I asked him if losing fat was a goal that he was committed to. When he first started with us, there was no conversation about fat loss. Only that it was important to get stronger, feel better, and to work around some current injuries/impairments that had been concerning to him. He said it felt like a worthwhile area to focus on, with the assumption that losing some degree of weight would continue to help him feel better.

–We decided to have him pull together a few days worth of a food journal for me. This remains my “go-to” request when fat loss is a goal. I prefer a shift away from calories and macros initially and just a detailed breakdown of what food is consumed. In a “perfect world”, a helpful food journal for me might contain the food consumed, the time of day when food is eaten and any associated moods/feelings around those meal/snack times.

I’m leaning into my 19th year as a coach, and the last several years, I’ve taken my foot off the gas consciously when it comes to fat loss and that’s for a few reasons.

One, the landscape has changed a lot with the popularity of GLP-1s. I openly support most individuals who are on them but how I coach nutrition for those on the medications has shifted slightly.

Two, with more time as a coach, I’ve been more aware of eating disorders and, at the very least, the tendency for people to fall into disordered eating behaviors, even if they have not been clinically diagnosed.

Three, I want people to approach fat loss on their terms, on their timeline. I want it to be collaborative and not with me, as the coach, aggressively pushing the meter on driving the scale down.

It can be easy to forget that while fat loss can be health-promoting for some, depending on their unique circumstances, it can also run the risk of maladaptive behaviors and the goal, in my opinion, is to leave someone in better shape (mentally and physically) than where they started.

So, in my client’s case, I think we have a clear path forward once he’s had a chance to get some food logs to me. We can find some areas that need attention, make some small tweaks, and assess how he’s seeing progress with those changes.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: life is more than diet and exercise.

The best we can do is build a body we respect and can be proud of…and where possible, actively improve the areas that need our attention.

Pictured below are some of our wild things from a Saturday session: (L to R) Coach Janay, Ellen, Gene, Butch, Dennis, Lindsey, Julia, Gina, Jennifer, Addison, and Greg

Our little man, Sebastian, turns nine this week.

He is only weeks away from starting third grade and while some things about him have indisputably changed, some things are very much consistently the same.

He still LOVES to fish. Give him a pond, a lake, or an ocean, and he wants to be there, fishing rod in hand, bait nearby, and more lures that you can possibly count to bring them in with.

He is an absolute adrenaline junkie. Over the last couple of years, his desire to ride the biggest, fastest rollercoasters has only been tempered by the fact that he didn’t have the height to be able to ride them. This past year, and certainly this summer, that all changed. He’s now tall enough to ride nearly everything his heart desires and he loves every single one of them. Credit goes to his mother who has the digestive fortitude to be able to ride the coasters with him, because if Dad hops on any of those rides, I’ll be tasting my last three meals for the second time.

He is a video game fanatic. This has remained true for awhile now. Much of his time is spent in the world of Minecraft and Roblox, playing and building with his friends. As I write this, we are preparing to enroll him in coding classes so that he can learn how to build games on his own and flex his mental muscles so that his hobbies aren’t just for play, but education as well.

He still loves to read. Second grade showed us that not only could he evolve as a reader but Sebastian started to tackle more complex books to deepen his comprehension. While he doesn’t read quite as many books as he once did, he makes up for it with overall word count and levels well above his age. If there’s anything to be said about genetic trees, it sure does help that so many people on both sides of our family had professional careers in education.

And I know nearly every parent says it, I’ll confirm my own bias: he’s still just a really sweet, considerate, intensely curious, and compassionate guy.

There are times that Marissa and I wonder if there’s anything we’re doing wrong with how we raise him and anything we could be doing better, but often we just remind ourselves that after nine years of parenthood to Sebastian, he just seems to be a really good kid.

He loves his big brother Jackson, just as he always has, but one thing I’ve noticed as each of them has gotten older, is that, with each year, they fall into a more comfortable groove with each other. Sebastian may not have known how to adapt to autism as Jackson has expressed it, early on, but he’s slowly learning how to communicate, how to play, and how to support what his brother is going through.

Time isn’t slowing down, but we’re all here to embrace the next year of adventures.

Happy birthday, sweet boy, we all love you so very much.

Last week, I had two separate conversations with two different women: one online client and one who trains here in person at RevFit.

Both women are in their 50s.

And despite the geographic distance between these clients and how they receive their coaching, a common sentiment was shared between them:

“I know that I need to take care of my body. I know that I need to get stronger. I WANT to get stronger. And my body continues to betray me.”

Each of these women is dealing with their own respective injuries, impairments and impingements.

Each of these women has spent the last several decades taking care of others all while trying to prioritize themselves and their health.

And it’s as if every time they start to make progress in the gym, another setback occurs: another flare up or some new body part stubbornly refusing to make progress.

It’s enough to throw your hands up in frustration and ask: Why do I even try?

And my most affectionate response is: Because what other choice is there?

Like so many things in our lives, some things will come with great ease: maybe that’s friendships, how we move in our careers, and how we consistently find ways to put joy into our lives.

And yet, other things are an ebb and flow of challenge: our health, parenting, fitness, nutrition, and marriage.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you cash in your chips and walk away.

For so many, the areas of our lives that present the most challenge, the most opportunity to overcome, are the areas we often value the most.

So, you take the challenges, you meet them head on and you find ways to adapt.

Some thoughts:

-Prioritize strength training (at least 2x/week) and perform the movements you can make progress in that don’t add to current injuries. Some movement patterns may need to be avoided in the short term because the risk, temporarily, isn’t worth it. In some cases, reducing weight, reducing range of motion, and changing stance/grip/positioning can help.

-Prioritize recovery. The work you do in the gym is great. Make sure you’re giving yourself ample time to recover and rebuild. Training with high intensity every time you train isn’t going to get you the results you can sustain. This may mean you have a strategy for days off, restful sleep, or very low activity days.

-Fuel your body appropriately. Find the combination of proteins, fats and carbs that work best for your lifestyle and activity levels. You may find, as you are aging, that alcohol (or the day after imbibing) does not improve how you feel. Adjust accordingly.

-Your journey is yours alone. That doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the community and culture around you. It means that your body is responding to training, recovery and the food you fuel with on an individual level. How your best friend trains, your siblings or your spouse, are altogether different experiences and different outcomes.

-Be patient. Recovery from injuries typically takes longer as we age. Listen to the signals your body is giving you. If possible, utilize the help of a coach, a physical therapist, a masso-therapist, etc. to help you recover from chronic aches and pains.

-Respectfully, move the goalposts. Where you are today, what your body is capable of today, may be vastly different from what you could do two, five, or twelve years ago. Work with what you have now, and make progress from there.

Pictured below: Coach Nick, Pete, Mitch, Ashleigh, Faith, Laura, Jen, Lisa, Ted and Bill. A wide range of ages, experience levels, injury history and success across a broad spectrum. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

My client, Judy (not her real name), was scheduled to have surgery.

In the prep for the procedure, her doctor informed her that she would need to discontinue the use of her GLP-1 receptor agonist medication two weeks prior to the surgery and could resume taking it two weeks after.

She was concerned about her fat loss progress (which had been significant) during those four weeks without the medication.

One bit of advice I try and stay very consistent in giving to the clients I work with who are either considering going on GLP-1s or are currently on them, is to keep a food journal to have greater awareness around intake.

To clarify, when I ask for a food journal, I’m not looking for calories or measurements, I only want a detailed breakdown of what food choices are made.

It can be helpful if there is a correlation to what time of day the client is eating as well so that we can see the distinction between meals and snacks.

Fortunately for Judy, she had been maintaining consistent food journals since we started working together and we had weeks upon weeks of data to show what her diet looked like as it correlated to when the scale was showing a downward trend.

As the days were getting closer to the surgery, Judy was becoming anxious about the outcomes.

So, we spoke for a bit just to keep a frame of reference and have an action plan:

-Repeat meals and snacks as close as possible to what the food journals had demonstrated.

-Try not to get caught up in all-or-nothing thinking that if an unpredictable meal or portion size came up, it doesn’t mean that it’s a pass-fail scenario.

-Being mindful not to keep intake too low, as she may need a greater balance of macronutrients, micronutrients and overall portion sizes to help with recovery from the surgery.

-Aim for a goal roughly around 100g of protein per day (specific to her body’s needs)

-Be mentally okay with the reality that weight may not go down during the four weeks off the medication.

Once she discontinued the use of the meds, Judy did notice that food noise and hunger levels were starting to increase.

She focused on keeping stress levels as manageable as possible, getting in appropriate hydration, keeping protein intake high and keeping herself busy.

And by time she was ready to resume the medications, she had continued a downward trajectory of fat loss.

No matter where you are on your GLP-1 journey, food journals can be tremendously helpful. Yes, you may need an outsider’s perspective to see if there are any slippery spots (especially if fat loss has stalled.)

For some, the GLP-1s are merely a kickstart to help with momentum towards a goal. For others, they are a medication that could be utilized for a lifetime.

Every person has a different story, a different response to the medication, and a unique path to where they want their body to be.

As always, talk to your doctor about whether or not the medication is appropriate for you. However, whether you use the medications or not, food journals can be incredibly insightful.

Judy has used them with great success and it’s helped detach from many of the all-or-nothing scenarios that calorie counting influenced once upon a time.

If you need help along the way, drop me a line.

(Photo courtesy of Jan Kahanek)

About a year or so ago, I started to take some of my reading choices into areas of society, history, and culture.

And along the way, I started delving into books about our prison system and how difficult it can be for people to stay out of that system once they’ve been incarcerated.

While I’ve built a business in “service to others”, that is a for-profit business and it’s not quite the same as doing volunteer work in service to others.

I was trying to figure out: where can I put my time to give something back to the community in a way that can be fulfilling to my life as much as it could be to someone else?

Initially, I thought I might look into the prison system to see where I could volunteer my time but there was no convenient way for me to do so with consideration to both work and family schedules.

So then, I thought maybe a homeless shelter would be a better place for me.

But, it turned out that Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) became an option worth looking into.

I knew of the organization and I had come across someone who had been involved with positive feedback and that felt like a good place to start.

And so, several months ago, I started that process to do the background checks and interviews to become a “Big.”

Two weeks ago, a match was found and I got to connect with (and meet) my BBBS representative, my match, and his mother.

This past weekend, my match and I had our first outing and, I have to say, it was worth the time and effort to be involved.

BBBS encourages Bigs not to replace a parent, but to be a positive role model in the lives of their “Little.”

When we got to meet for the first time, the BBBS rep gave my little and I a few minutes to talk on our own and get to know each other.

I asked him what he liked doing, what he might want to see and do in the short term, and I gave him some options of events, scenarios, and outings, we could check out in no specific order.

He was agreeable to basically everything I suggested and it gave us something of a blueprint to follow for the next several months and beyond.

I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of wonderful things in my life: a great family, a prosperous business, two healthy, happy boys of my own and a bit of schedule flexibility to give something back to the world that may only be a small ripple in a big pond.

That being said: world I’d like to introduce you to my Little: T.J.

When I was finishing up the interview process, one of the staff members told me there was a shortage of male Bigs in the program and they’d love the opportunity to interview more so that more male Littles could be matched up.

I’d like to offer the encouragement to check out the program if you’re local to see if you can be a positive light in the life of someone who might need it.

As for me and T.J., there’s a whole world around us to explore and with the time commitment of just about two visits per month, I hope for a few things:

-To open T.J. up to experiences he might not otherwise get to enjoy.

-To be a safe place for him to turn if he needs a kind ear.

-And to share some of those experiences with all of you, whether through social media or my writings to hopefully inspire others to consider a program like BBBS if you want to be involved as well.

Over the last several years, I’ve published the list of books I’ve consumed by year’s end. 

I love to read, and I’ve been reading since I was a child. 

I used to read many more physical books but, lately, it’s disproportionately audiobooks for my consumption. 

I rarely ever highlight my favorite books because I know that taste is subjective. 

However, this year I listened to a book and I was so impressed with it, I had to write something about it with as few spoilers as possible. 

Before I go much further into that particular book, I wanted to give you some other options if you’re looking for something to read. 

Typically, when I recommend novels, I try to pick titles I believe would be enjoyed by most. 

Some titles that stuck out over the last few years: 

Theo Of Golden

The Correspondent 

All The Colors Of The Dark

Demon Copperhead 

The Heaven And Earth Grocery Store 

James 

The Friend

A River Is Waiting

Lillian Boxfish Takes A Walk 

A Gentleman In Moscow 

Mad Mabel

The Extraordinary Life Of Sam Hell

And to give you some insight into the book that I’m basing this article on, I have to explain how I heard about it.

Social media algorithms being what they are, my Facebook feed has several suggested groups for me to join, all with fans of fiction, psychological thrillers, fantasy, and more.

I’m not actually a member of any of them but the site can tell when I’ve taken a screenshot of a cover so that I can track it down later.

And the book “A Little Life” has come up more than once.

Typically, whoever is writing about will describe it with words like: unforgettable, heart-wrenching, devastating, etc.

So, when I first decided to tackle it, I had no idea what it was about and if there were to be a suggestion I would give you, I would encourage you to not look up summaries about the book.

That being said, I know we live in a day and age where it’s fair to give someone a trigger warning ahead of time.

The fact is, there are a lot of unsettling and disturbing parts of the story.

But that doesn’t take away from the fact that A Little Life isn’t a book you read, it’s a book you experience.

What little I will tell you is that the book is very lengthy, it’s about four friends but with a primary focus on one of the friends.

It spans decades; from the time they meet in college to the lives they lead afterwards.

And, of course, you have to learn more about the main character to see what life was like before all of the friends get to know each other.

A Little Life is a lot of things. It covers a tremendous amount of ground. There will be parts that fill you with so much hope and there will be parts that absolutely crush you.

I listened to the audiobook first and then I couldn’t stop talking about it. The more I talked about it, the more I wanted to read it again.

So, I bought the anniversary edition which collected artwork chosen by the author to illustrate the main characters and then I bought the hardcover so that I could just take my time and read it for the second time.

I was telling one of my clients/friends about it and she’s a retired English professor. She bought the book the day I told her about it.

And the day she finished it, she told me: I was completely worthless the rest of the day.

I’ve read a lot of great books in my lifetime.

A Little Life might be one of the best I’ve ever read.

With one slight caveat, it’s not for everyone.

If you want something I would recommend to everyone, feel free to go back through the list at the top.

But if you want to read something that takes a piece of your soul with it, well…I’ve already said too much.

30 Years Ago

In 1996, my life was quickly falling apart. I was wrapping up my sophomore year in college, I was struggling with a lot of personal turmoil and I was identifying with some degree of depression.

My doctor put me on a medication to help and it only made things worse.

I was hospitalized 3 times that summer for circumstances relating to suicide attempts and suicidal ideation.

I tried going back to school for my junior year, but I was so heavily medicated, it was hard to stay focused on coursework.

And around that same time, I started to venture into street drugs.

I dropped out of college midway through my first semester of my junior year and by year’s end, I would be back in the hospital again, my fourth time in less than a year.

We finally found a doctor who could test me again for everything previous doctors had diagnosed me with and he pushed back on the results.

He told my parents: Jason doesn’t need any of these medications and he doesn’t have any of the diagnoses you were told that he has. He just needs a sounding board to help him deal with his challenges.

Slowly, he weaned me off of all the medications.

However, the illegal substances were starting to pick up steam and they wouldn’t stop until much later.

I’d be hospitalized again in 1998 but that would be the final stint.

In 1999, I “accidentally” fell into fitness.

I saw my body one night in the mirror, riddled with drugs, and knew I needed to change something.

So, I bought a weight bench and some dumbbells and started working out on my own in my apartment.

It wasn’t long after that I realized I’d need access to more equipment if I wanted to make the most of what I could do with my body, so I joined a local gym.

Little did I know, these seeds of fitness would grow into something more prominent later on.

A few years passed, and I started to focus more on how I was eating, and then the time came when I’d put the drugs down for good.

However, before I’d quit drugs indefinitely, I finally got enough of my head straight to get back to school and get a degree.

20 Years Ago

The drug use, for me, began in the fall of 1996. What started very simply as weed use, grew into taking anything and everything I could get my hands on.

At one point, I estimated that in 10 years of steady, chronic drug use, I may have managed a total of 2 weeks where I wasn’t under the influence of an illegal substance.

And by 2006, I’d done enough damage to my body, my relationships and my finances, that it was time to put it down for good.

While I didn’t know it then, it helped that we were transferred from one state to another and I’d be leaving a lot of my friendships and drug alliances behind me.

Late in 2007, while I was heading into my last semester of college, I had an opportunity to get certified as a personal trainer. I’d go on to pick up three certifications in quick succession: personal training, fitness therapy and sports nutrition.

In 2008, my son, Jackson, was born and having a child was the first true glimpse I had of continuing to turn my life around post-drugs.

17 Years Ago

In the spring of 2009, I had some unique opportunities in front of me: newly graduated from college with a degree in business management, three certifications related to fitness/nutrition and the goal and dream of opening up a fitness studio of my own.

The mission?

To embrace what life is like when you succeed at making a dramatic positive change; a personal “revolution.”

It was an opportunity to clean my slate, in a manner of speaking, and take all of the dark, muddy parts of my life and turn them into something good.

Revolution Fitness & Therapy wasn’t just about having a gym.

It was about having hope.

Hope to succeed.

Hope to improve.

Hope to do better not just for myself but for others.

I’d still make a TON of mistakes as a business owner.

But I got a lot right, too.

And when I think back along the last 30 years, it’s mostly in awe.

How did I get here?

How did I survive enough of the muck to be where I am today?

And with an immense amount of gratitude to my parents who stood by my side from 1996-2006 when I was arguably at my worst and most chaotic.

To my sons, Jackson and Sebastian, for inspiring me to be the best Dad I could be.

To my wife, Marissa, who’s watched every peak and valley of my life over the last 16 years and has been there to lend a hand through the deepest valleys.

And to the clients, both current and former, who have catapulted RevFit to the place it is now.

The milestones are significant but the milestones mean very little if you don’t have people to share them with, celebrate them with, and allow the space for everyone to come together and say:

Look at what WE made.

I was fortunate to be raised by the greatest father I’ve ever known.

He modeled humility, kindness, compassion, affection, intelligence, loyalty, and fairness to me.

I was not always his best student.

I did not appreciate many of those lessons in his lifetime.

But as the years have passed, since my father left this world, the lessons he did teach have had a greater and greater impact on me.

Some 15 years later, after cancer took him from this world, my mother and I still talk about how he would approach all of the things that happen in our lives, both personal and professional.

In whatever form his spirit resides, I hope that he knows what kind of impression he left on me and how much I miss him.

I look back on the life he gave to both my mother and myself.

I look back on what he sacrificed, where he compromised, where we grew as a family because of the gifts (both material and emotional) that he gave us.

And learning a lot about what kind of man to be didn’t guarantee I would easily become that man.

I had a lot of missteps along the way.

During his lifetime, my father would remind me about the path he was forging for me to follow; one I feel I’ve done a lot better with the older I’ve become.

Becoming a husband was a role I thought I could magically adapt to: just get married and the pieces would fall into place.

That’s not exactly how that went for me.

But becoming a father set me on a trajectory where, little by little, I started to understand just how challenging and rewarding it would all become.

I have two sons: Jackson, from my first marriage, and Sebastian, with my wife Marissa.

And they both add more joy to my life than I have ever or will ever be able to express.

Having a child who is neurodivergent and a child who is neurotypical, inspires me to pivot and adapt to each of their needs.

I can still be a loving and attentive father, but the skills required to do so look a little bit different for each of them.

I can watch as my boys grow in age and see a type of bonding between them I can be proud of.

Father’s Day for me, since 2011, has remained bittersweet: difficult because of the man I lost and beautiful because of the boys I have the privilege of being a father to.

The words that ring from the page my father wrote to me many years ago ask a simple question: How do I write to inspire?

Here’s to the many fathers out there who continue to inspire the children (or stepchildren) they walk through this world with.

Do amazing things.

Be extraordinary people.

And if we’re lucky, those same children will teach us lessons we might have never learned without them.

To my boys, Dad loves you. Opa does, too.