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I think that sometimes I look back on the first nine years of business here at RevFit and the picture is very clear. I am cognizant of the victories, the struggles, the days it felt like we could do no wrong and the days it felt I could get none of it right. Most business owners could nod their head in agreement because in many ways, you could experience all of those things in the span of one business day.

And while I could reminisce over the lessons I’ve learned over these nine years, I wanted to take time to give credit to people who you have either heard me mention frequently or maybe not frequently enough.

I’ll start here: my Grandmother. It was my maternal Grandmother, who, after losing my Grandfather (her husband) and my uncle (her youngest son), she gifted me with some rental property that the family owned in my hometown. Being not remotely handy, I poured as much money into those properties as I made. I had to essentially do a fire sale to get rid of them and sell them to someone more capable of the upkeep. I used half of that money to fund my business. When I opened my doors in Hudson, Ohio in May of 2009, I was flat broke and I knew no one. It was my Grandmother’s generosity that literally helped fund the opening of Revolution Fitness and Therapy.

Which leads me to the next person I need to highlight: Amanda Carlin Montigney. Amanda and her then husband Al, owned a business in the same plaza where I opened mine. When I went to introduce myself to all of the other tenants, Amanda was the first person to say “I’ll be your first client!” In December of the same year, I would take her daughter out for a “not-so” date. That same daughter is now my wife. More on her later.

There have been three local business owners who I can say wholeheartedly have helped shape me into the business owner I am today. I have leaned on them for business advice, mentoring and friendship over these years. I am eternally grateful to Dr. Robert Ault of Ault Chiropractic, Jackie Wolf of Stillpoint Massage and Kristie Warner of Gavin Scott Salon & Spa. You know, without hesitation, what your friendships have meant to me over these years. I love all of you and I am so grateful we have all crossed paths.

I of course have to give an affectionate nod to our current roster of clients. Whether you know it or not, you each make me take a look at this business that “we” have created and ask myself almost daily: “Is this the best business it can be for all of you?” Because I am profoundly self-critical, I would say “No, it has so much more potential.” But we all make this business churn, burn and come to life 6 days out of 7 every week. I am so grateful for your patronage, your friendships that we have built along the way and to those of you who have been so gracious as to allow me to share the pictures of your amazing achievements with the world. I thank you for letting me use your story to inspire others with theirs.

I am also sincerely grateful to everyone who, for any reason whatsoever, has decided that this business was not the right fit for them. It would be foolish of me to think it would ever be the best for everyone but I am so appreciative of the time you gave us to work with you so that upon your departure, I could take the lessons of that experience to determine “How do we improve on this in the future?”

Along the way, I decided to do this crazy thing like starting a podcast (Revolutionary You!) which little by little, took the RevFit message from Northeast Ohio and with the help of some truly amazing people, has managed to spread internationally.

Which leads me to the next round of people I need to give credit to. None of whom, I have actually met in person as of the writing of this article. I need to thank people (in no particular order) like Patrick Umphrey, Meghan Callaway, Leigh Peele, Sumi Singh, Tom McDonald, Pat Flynn, Briana Theroux, Heather Robertson, Rafal Matuszewski, and Julie Tussey. In many ways, you have all believed in me, my message and whatever inspiration I can convey and helped me spread it to others. They say “It Takes A Village.” I am in your debt for being MY village. I see the way each of you take time out of your day to inspire others and I am humbled to be a part of that.

Over these years, I have watched my competition, if you will, essentially double in this area. Some people look at this as a bad thing. I don’t. I think the public needs options for where they can transform their lives. I think there is a perfect environment for everyone. Sadly, many of these competitors have not remained in business. I think that’s a shame. I never want to see someone fail at anything because, just like me, that business was someone’s dream, someone’s livelihood. So, I again have to thank all of you for allowing me to be an exception to the rules of opening a small business. To be able to not only stay in business this long but to continue to see growth year after year is a mind-boggling achievement that could not be done simply because I wanted it.

I have to credit my staff of Megan Winiarski, Julie Boehringer and Mike Roder for being my support, my eyes and ears and my team to help me keep the gears spinning here. You have given me every opportunity to help me build this little RevFit monster into something sustainable. Your energy, your commitment to the clientele and your camaraderie have been invaluable to me.

To my family: My wife, my mother, my two beautiful boys, I do this all for you. If I were to leave this world tomorrow, I’ll know that I worked my ass off to not only provide but to encourage and inspire. I know that it hasn’t been easy watching me work 60-70 hours a week on average for the last nine years. I love what I do and I want to see my clients succeed more than I can express.

What started as a little fitness studio has nearly tripled in size from our humble beginnings. We began in Hudson, Ohio in a little commercial office space that was right around 1000 sq. ft. We had a failed attempt at opening a second location in the fall of 2011 and shut it down by fall of 2012. By the end of 2012, we relocated and expanded into neighboring Stow, Ohio to a space over double the size of where we started. This gave us more room to expand our services and the potential of our clientele. Late last year, we relocated and expanded yet again staying in Stow to a space over 3500 sq. ft. And with the addition of our online training services where we can train people nationally and internationally, we are bigger, bolder and (thankfully) more visible than ever.

Literally thousands of pounds have been lost with our clients over these nine years, not to mention the tens of thousands of pounds that have been pressed, pulled, benched and curled by some of the most incredible people I’ve ever had the honor of sharing so much quality time with. I thought we’d always be good at weight loss but it turns out we’re pretty damn good at making people strong too.

If there’s one phrase I’ve heard repeatedly over the years it would be some version of this:

“I never thought I’d be able to do this.”

And that’s the true magic of the relationship. We believe in you. We believe in your goals. We believe in your success. We are willing to put forth the effort to get you there as long as you put the effort back.

Thank you, all of you, for giving us the greatest gift any small business could ask for: a growing clientele, great results, an amazing community and your continued referrals helping us thrive all these years.

We are only here because you’ve allowed us to be. I am so very grateful for that.

And if I ever needed more motivation to continue to make this business the best it can be, I look no further than the picture below.

#wemakegreatpeoplegreater

 

It’s a controversial subject that I felt was due to open up and discuss. I have the great pleasure of welcoming Leigh Peele back to the show after our Episode #28 and Meghan Callaway for the third time to the show (check out Episodes #62 and #89.) We talk about how the #MeToo movement can be interpreted in the gym setting for trainers, clients, and things to consider for men and women. This conversation covers a lot of ground and is nowhere near as comprehensive as it could have been. To learn more about these great women, check out http://www.leighpeele.com and http://www.meghancallawayfitness.com To learn more about your host, check out http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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Drawing a line connecting my clients where those who have succeeded and those who are trying to succeed are more aligned, there is one area that many tend to overlook.

Those who have mastered the art of forgiving their dietary detours succeed time and time again.

But you won’t hear much about it because it’s easier to sell things like green tea extracts, ketones, cleanses and thermogenics (fat burners.)

Imagine for a moment walking up to the counter of your favorite supplement store asking “Do you have that new forgiveness supplement? I heard it’s amazing!”

Let’s face it: forgiveness is a little too “woo” for some people to handle.

So, we’ll look at it through a slightly different lens.

If you have been struggling to lose weight, one thing you may be intimately aware of is that if you eat something you “shouldn’t”, it can be followed by a degree of guilt and shame that then leads to more patterns of eating what you “shouldn’t.” I focus on the world “shouldn’t” for a reason.

When we place the word should or should not in the framework of the diet, it reflects a belief in good or bad. In other words, I should eat broccoli because it’s good for me. I shouldn’t eat doughnuts because they are bad.

This is where the problems come into play. Nothing evil happens to you when you eat a doughnut. There is no maliciousness or devious behavior at play. In the same respect, the diet angels don’t come down from the heavens and throw confetti on you when you eat your broccoli.

You are always one bite away from a more productive decision. People can succeed on their diets with doughnuts. Not all people, mind you, but it can and is done successfully (hint: calories.)

The “trick”, if you will is being able to look at your food choices on a spectrum of getting you closer to or further from your goals.

The fact of the matter is that your lifestyle and the events of any given day or week of your life don’t give a damn about your goals. It is simply “life.” Once we remove our emotions and our expectations from the conversation, we can focus on our choices and say “I have the tools to achieve this.”

Here are four tools to get you started.

Step One) Focus on the meals that you know you can control. That can include meal prep once or twice a week or establishing something of a consistent routine with your eating behaviors. Variety can be the death knell to many trying to lose weight. As a result, too many available options can be paralyzing and take your eye off the prize.

Step Two) Realize that the stars will not perfectly align for your diet. You will have many opportunities to let life get in the way of your goals. THIS IS NORMAL. You are not broken or a failure because life became stressful or chaotic.

Step Three) The moment that your diet does not go EXACTLY the way you want, take a moment, breathe, and tell yourself specifically that it is OKAY. Be forgiving of whatever choice you made that was not in line with what you wanted to do. Your very next bite (or lack thereof) can change your trajectory. If you truly cannot control yourself at that particular meal, this is also okay (and very likely also normal.) Your next meal will be the opportunity to get back on track.

Step Four) Repeat the process. The only way to make a pattern stick is to continue repeating it. Hoping for more willpower won’t work. Dreaming of having more motivation than yesterday won’t work either. This is one of the most unglamorous and least sexy aspects of succeeding at your goals. You will establish more consistency with:

1) Calorie controlled/planned meals

2) Removing the expectations of perfection

3) Forgiveness in the moment

4) Repeating the process

Realize this dilemma affects men and women in equal measures. Both are fully capable of letting one counter-productive meal choice turn into an all-out binge. I can assure you that even my clients who have seen successful weight loss still reach moments where they forget to utilize this process. Sometimes it takes a realignment of values to remind them that this is a lifelong process if you not only want the weight to come off but stay off as well.

And I should also mention, that unlike all of those aforementioned supplements you might be tempted to buy and try, forgiveness is 100% FREE.

 

 

It’s been since Episode #52 when Dr. Mike Israetel first joined me on this show. Even now, it is one of my top 5 most downloaded shows ever. He joins me again this week to tackle some of the pros and cons to high intensity exercise programs. We look across the spectrum from boot camps to CrossFit and many methodologies in between. To learn more about Dr. Mike’s work, visit http://www.renaissanceperiodization.com and on Instagram @rpstrength. To learn more about your host, check out http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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There is so much pressure on parents these days. What shots to give (or not give), organic food or conventional, scheduled nap times or intuitive, germ-friendly or germ-ophobe, you make the best decisions you can even when it means they may not be the perfect decisions and sometimes your friends, social media, and parenting manuals just don’t have the answers.

In the midst of all of those things, we parents have to figure out how to be functional at our jobs, for our partners, and this whole “adulting” thing in general.

Welcome to 2018.

If the above references sound anything like you, you might be one of those parents struggling to lose weight who is just trying to balance it all without losing your mind.

The struggle, as they say, is real.

Here are four (slightly unconventional) tactics to get you on the path you want to be on that you can put into place immediately.

1. If it’s a priority for your children, it’s a priority for you. 

This concept can be a tough one for many parents which is why I’m starting with it. All too often, we’re focused on the needs of others before the needs of ourselves. As a result, it’s our own health that stands to suffer if we don’t find time to focus on taking care where it’s needed.

In the same sense that visits to the doctor, extracurricular activities and even school are scheduled events for our children, we have to schedule time for ourselves too. This can be 30 minutes of time on a treadmill daily, 1 hour of meal prep on a Sunday, or two to three scheduled bouts of strength training throughout the week.

Put these things on a calendar.

Otherwise, your time will become dominated by the needs of others or you will just find time to waste.

Remember that if we, as parents, are not healthy, we can’t give our children the attention or care they might need. To whatever extent you believe in being a role model, these attributes will shine for your children.

I’m reminded of my client Stacey, who sets in stone her Tuesday and Thursday appointments here that she never misses unless she is sick or out of town. These sessions are so ingrained in her lifestyle that even her two boys will say “Today’s the day you go see Mr. Jason!”

For Beginners: Set one week up of your scheduled “For You” appointments.

For Advanced: Set one month up of your scheduled “For You” appointments.

2. Master your food intake.

After our son Sebastian was born, my wife’s activity level changed dramatically. Not only was she not as active with choreography and dance instruction but she found that she would graze on food throughout the day while watching our baby at home. Once the initial weight loss happened as a result of breastfeeding, etc. she told me it was time to get serious about the rest of her weight loss goals. Knowing my wife better than most, I knew she historically fell into some fasting patterns. I showed her ways to make those patterns work for herself with regards to her goals and we started cooking more meals at home.

And as shocking as this may be to those who think they need more cardio to lose weight, Marissa has lost nearly 20lbs with next to no change in that decreased activity level. That weight came off from a measured, methodical approach to her food intake.

I should also caution that it is painfully easy to graze on the food we feed our children, especially if they don’t finish their meals. Many parents don’t want to see food go to waste so they will add to their own intake by noshing on what their kids have. If you can’t stop yourself from doing this, you’ll need to be honest enough with yourself that it happened so you can cut calories from another meal in the day.

The simplest solution is to not have the easily accessible, easy to overeat foods in the house at all. However, some parents feel they “need” to have chips, cookies, juices, and other goodies to feed their growing children. I won’t say right or wrong to that. What I will say, is that if you can’t control yourself with those foods, they may need to find a home in the trashcan until you start seeing the progress you want to see.

For many of my clients, getting control over these mindless snacking patterns can be all that it takes to see weight loss occur. No calorie counting, no food tracking, just conscious effort to say no to snacking and focus on the meals that are in line with the goals.

For Beginners: Stay conscious of only eating the meals you have in check, Eliminate snacking and second/third helpings of portions.

For Advanced: Try keeping a food journal (writing down what and when you ate) or tracking food through an app (we like MyFitnessPal, MyPlate, LoseIt, and EatThisMuch.)

3. High stress lifestyles don’t necessarily need high stress exercise routines.

It’s easy to get caught up in the bigger, better, faster, more approach to training. As most professional trainers know, you can be the worst trainer on the block and still know how to push someone to their limits (including nausea, dizziness, and unusual amounts of soreness.) This does not equate to intelligent training.

Since you’re already stressed to the hilt with raising a family, possibly working full or part time, your stress levels are at an all-time high. Asking someone in this position to subscribe to a murderous workout doesn’t bode well for long-term results or happiness along the way.

Find the training you can progress with that doesn’t annihilate you. Be able to see where you’ve made changes in strength or endurance with a mind-frame of “How do I sustain this over time?”

Referring back to my client Stacey, she’s harnessed the philosophy that it isn’t about dieting, it’s about being “strong and healthy.” Using that verbiage removes the conversation about dieting from the household so children may be less likely to view it as a good or bad thing.

As your children age, life doesn’t necessarily get less stressful or busy, you just find new things to be stressed and busy over. Referring back to tip #1, schedule your time to train, make progress, and move on. You’re not much good to those who depend on you if your body is a train wreck after an outrageous workout.

For Beginners: Focus on 2-3 days of progressive strength training with some low-intensity cardio

For Advanced: Add 1-2 days of high intensity training to change things up slightly (no more than 30 minutes at a time.)

4.) Sleep matters (and maybe more than you think.)

We’ve talked about lifestyle stress, so now we need to cover the stress that you get when you’re not sleeping enough. When you have an infant, they might dictate your sleep patterns more than you’d like. It’s generally a temporary phase so you do need to be able to sleep when you can.

In efforts to control what you can, remove the temptation of electronic screens (phones, tablets, computers and TVs) at least 30 minutes before bedtime so your mind and eyes are not as stimulated before you go down. You’re aiming for quality sleep every time you can get it.

And it’s not just for the sake of sleep, it’s to let your body recover from your workouts and repair the muscles you worked on in your training. In addition, you may be less likely to crave those sweet/salty foods or over-reliant on stimulants to get you more alert throughout the day. Lack of sleep has an interesting correlation to overeating the next day so the better you sleep, the more control you will likely have when you need it.

For Beginners: Remove (or turn off) the electronic screens 30 minutes before bed time each night.

For Advanced: Aim for dark, quiet rooms and 6-8 hours of restful sleep each night.  A supplement like melatonin may be worth considering.

Here’s a shot of our little boy from last week. While he does manage to keep Marissa and I on our toes, life is settling into it’s relative normal for now. If you’re looking for the perfect time to get to your goals, it won’t come.

You have to make time (and effort) work for you.

Most importantly, the family you care so much about will benefit from the care you gave to yourself.

 

Hannah Howard is the best-selling author of the new book “Feast: True Love In and Out of the Kitchen.” She joins me this week to give you a little teaser just before she hits a domestic tour to promote it. “Feast” discusses not only Hannah’s struggles with eating disorders but how her romantic relationships and her involvement in the food and restaurant industries shaped much of her self-image. As a personal trainer, this book was a fascinating and in many ways heartbreaking story to read and Hannah does an amazing job of showing her emotions and her passion for life before finally finding body acceptance and success through Overeaters Anonymous. I can’t recommend this book enough. You can buy your copy on Amazon or your through your local bookseller. To learn more about Hannah’s work, she is on Instagram at “hannahmhoward” and http://www.hannahhoward.nyc To learn more about your host, visit http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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“You should be dead by now.”

That’s what the doctors told Hugh after some tests were run on him following a series of ischemic strokes.

He got some of his affairs in order on the outside chance that he not survive his surgery and he went in for an aortic valve replacement and quadruple bypass surgery.

On April 4, 2017 he was released from the hospital.

Within a few months of being cleared to exercise, his daughter (and current client) Kellie had persuaded him to come and see me.

At 75 years young, Hugh was no stranger to exercise. He consistently used his Bowflex at home and even had the pedigree of an amateur boxer. Over the years, I’ve worked with several members of his family and this was the first time he had considered making the 30 minute trek to come and see me.

Initially, he was given clearance to lift no more than 20lbs. So, we played with some light dumbbell and machine work to get him started. However, it didn’t take long to notice that if I stepped away from him, he might push the weight stack up an extra plate by time I came back. Clearly, Hugh had a slight agenda of his own beyond what the doctors suggested. Kellie and I kind of chuckled about it but I was still aiming to keep the workouts more conservative.

I’d check in on him routinely and ask how his recovery was: Any soreness? Any aches and pains that don’t seem normal? Hugh seemed fine by all accounts and I could tell that he was more than a little frustrated that I wasn’t pushing him harder.

I would frequently give Hugh a rep range for a given exercise, say 3 sets of 12-15 reps. And I’ll be damned if he didn’t gut out every last rep of that range even if it looked like it was all he had in him. I started to joke with him “No one can ever say you don’t leave it all in the gym!” Hugh would smile and nod in agreement.

So, as we developed more of a relationship, Hugh started to get some heavier weights. His doctor was informed that he was under my instruction and didn’t appear to have any reservations about Hugh progressing.

If you don’t know much about my training style, I do err to the side of conservative. Yes, our clients might lift heavy weights. And yes, some days are harder than others. I do not subscribe to the philosophy of burying people in high intensity training every time they step through the door.

I also tend to be forgiving when the body puts up a fight. As a result of what Hugh has gone through, his right side does indeed push back. And where I have been inclined to give some slack and say “It’s okay if you’re not able to finish.” Hugh would shoot back “No, it’s not okay.”

And it has been moments like this when I’ve known that Hugh is quite special.

So, my dialogue started to change and I began telling him how much grit he had. Other clients began to notice too. Hugh was going to give his all, no matter what.

Little by little, we’ve been able to push where we can. Hugh’s body, post-surgery, doesn’t move as smoothly as he might like but he is progressing. Last week, he saw a huge jump in his traplift and pulled an easy 235×3.

Yesterday (just one week later), he pulled 255×2.

As I said, he is quite special.

I would love to tell you that I can get anyone in their seventies to do what Hugh is doing, but I can’t.

I can try my best but beyond skill level, Hugh has determination and will beyond the average person. That’s saying a lot because I get the opportunity to work with some amazing people day in and day out.

So, this is my little tribute to the man I now affectionately call “Mr. Grit.”

We are so happy to have you healthy and thriving in the RevFit family.

 

Sarah Ashman, RD returns to the show after her excellent primer on functional nutrition and this week we dive into gut health. If you wanted to know more about fiber, prebiotics, probiotics, and more THIS is the place to start. As always Sarah is an amazing source of information and you might find yourself taking notes to the episode or listening more than once to get all the details of everything she has to share. For more info on Sarah, you can find her at http://www.thenutritionatrix.com or email her at sarahashmanrd@gmail.com To learn more about your host, visit http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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I woke up yesterday morning: bright-eyed, well-rested. I didn’t even need my alarm clock.

Sebastian slept through the night without a stir and Marissa slept well also.

My morning coffee was on point, I got some reading in, got my email inbox to zero, washed up without delay and got to work with time to spare before my first client.

I spent a few minutes preparing programs for a handful of clients who needed updates and was amped up, ready to face my day.

Client sessions went flawlessly, everyone seemed to be feeling the vibe off of my day. No dragging feet, no frowns, just pure excitement and great attitudes to get through the work day.

My own workout went great, hit a couple of personal records, ate my food (portions and all) in line with my goals so I felt like a million bucks all day.

I paid some bills to keep finances current and didn’t feel the least bit stressed about waiting for certain bills to clear before I could pay others.

I had a few moments to talk to Marissa in the middle of my work day and it sounds like her day was going as seamlessly as mine.

Life.Is.Good.

Scratch that, Life.Is.Great.

Come to think of it, I didn’t hit any red lights coming to and from work so I was able to make it home in a reasonable time frame each direction.

I cooked dinner for Marissa and myself, got to enjoy some relaxing time with the family and was in bed at a decent time so I could get a full night’s sleep only to repeat another day of flawless living.

Does something sound wrong with this?

Well, for one, my days never go like this. Not ever. Some days, there are bits and pieces of this description that might be accurate. I’ll let you decide which of those are more realistic than others.

More often than not, there are several of these items that can (and do) go wickedly off track and (potentially) set me in a tailspin.

And no matter how many times it happens that I don’t get to live a “perfect” day, I don’t cash in my chips and say “Oh the hell with it, let’s just give up on life too.”

Funny thing, we treat our diets like that.

If we can’t fit in our perfect bouts of exercise, we might resort to being slugs.

If we can’t eat the way we’re supposed to in line with our goals, we might eat everything in sight.

If the work day gets the best of us, we might console ourselves with comfort food.

Truth be told, I have no idea what perfect looks or feels like. As much as I love my wife, our marriage isn’t perfect. As much as I love my boys, I am not a perfect father. As much as I love my work, I don’t know what a perfect day looks like.

So, it stands to reason that I don’t expect my clients to be perfect. I just expect (and encourage) them to try and keep trying.

All this aside, much of your success will come from a certain level of forgiveness. The workouts won’t be perfect and neither will the diet and neither will your lifestyle.

It’s fine. You’re good.

You can still progress.

You can still move the needle.

You can still succeed.

You just may have to get that idea of “perfect” out of your way because it’s setting up shop as a distraction from your goal.

Here’s a little shot of one of our RevFit power couples: Roger and Cherie. And while they’re pretty close to perfect, I can assure you that what helps them succeed is a realistic outlook, a slow and steady approach to success, forgiveness when the curveballs come their way, and consistency to the plan. 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Carl Juneau is the creator of the new AI app Dr. Muscle and joins me this week to set the foundation for strength training. While this episode may serve as a refresher for those listening who are in the fitness industry, Dr. Carl and I wanted to break strength training down to the basics for the listener who just needs to know where and how to start with a realistic plan. This is a phenomenal episode and Dr. Juneau has a unique and sustainable approach for anyone tuning in. To learn more about the Dr. Muscle app and to get special pricing to try it, visit http://www.drmuscleapp.com/jason To contact Dr. Carl directly, you can reach him at carl@drmuscleapp.com To learn more about your host, check out http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and like our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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