Archive for the ‘Testimonials’ Category
Bud Gibson: Perfect Client, Perfect Nutrition … well …
It’s hard to describe exactly how thrilling it is to have the words “Perfect Client” associated with your name on Jes’ blog. Of course, it’s probably only for as long as it takes her to get back from vacation. Oh well, into each life a little rain must fall.
But on to the real topic of this post: my nutrition, which in the past has been far from perfect but has now attained a pretty reasonable level. Here’s my story in a nutshell:
- Eleven years ago, I thought an improved diet meant getting a frosty with my Wendy’s triple cheese burger and biggie fries instead of a coke product. After all, a frosty had dairy, which had to be better for you than the pure chemicals found in coke products.
- Then I had to have emergency surgery for an infected gall bladder and literally took years getting through all the consequences.
- During that time, I started working out intensively with an aim to lose some of my 220 lbs. I made some progress.
- Feeling stalled in weight loss, I turned to the Atkins diet. It worked. Jes tends to eschew Atkins, but if you think Wendy’s frosty drinks are a step toward better nutrition, you have to count Atkins as a much better step in the right direction.
- Atkins worked. I lost a lot of weight and did well for two years.
- Eventually, I found myself at then Gold’s Gym, now Arbor Fit, training with Jes. When I announced my decision to get back on the Atkins’ bandwagon after having been off for a while, well you can imagine the reaction. She actually told me I would not be allowed to train with her. While I thought that was over blown, she seemed so ernest that I decided to pay her some mind.
- And, I’m glad I did! Jes turned me on to On Target Living, founded by her mentor, Chris Johnson. That was a revelation. I enjoined Chris in an extended email exchange the end result of which was him sending me the book he advertises on his site … for free! He probably just wanted to stop the constant email stream (I get a lot of things that way).
- The book is great, and I still use it. I actually eat vegetables and salads now and no longer view Wendy’s frosty drinks as a nutritional step forward.
- Recently Jes turned me on to Lance Armstrong’s Live Strong site, a great place to track nutrition. The nice thing about this site is that, instead of tedious food logs, you just start to type what you ate, and you usually find a good match, with seemingly accurate macronutrient information. Easy, which is critical.
My current approach is to follow on-target principles with Lance Armstrong tracking. It seems to be working. I’m maintaining a good weight.
In the last three years, Jes has been a great resource in all of this, offering all sorts of good ideas, so much so that I finally convinced my wife to take the plunge with her. I’m extremely satisfied. Yes, as you might guess, we butt heads, but Jes’ analyses and knowledge are spot on. She’s the best trainer I’ve known.
Learning SMART Nutrition: By Jes and Julia Berman
Here is what Juila has to say about her attitude towards nutrition:
Julia had sortof trapped herself in a place where it SEEMED impossible to make changes or achieve her goals. But, as usual, I definitely had something to say about this. Over the course of MANY MANY MANY MANY discussions, I was able to coax her into using the SMART method (or a slightly modified version I guess). We created a plan for her to follow each month, a plan that included ways to cope with some of her food behaviors and a structured exercise plan to follow.
At first, Julia basically rejected the entire thing and stayed on her own plan. Although she was really frustrating me by doing this (to the point of being suspended (SHE IS NOT ALONE!!)), she wasn’t doing it on purpose. Her beliefs and psychology were controlling 90% of her behavior (I got 10%). After weeks, months, and years of persistence (Jes being a total bossy controlling traininer), Julia started to adhere to both the exercise and nutrition plan. And wala…she started to see her goals were slowly being acheived!
Listen to what Julia says now (over a year later):
Another nutritional goal I am working on with Jes is understanding my body’s nutritional needs in order to function properly. The focus of nutrition for me has always been focused on weight and calories, but proper nutrition is crucial in order for the body to perform optimally; which includes healing and repairing itself. I have had many injuries over the past few years, and my body has not fully healed from any of them. It wasn’t until the last few weeks that I started to understand that part of my body not healing and performing the way I want could be due to nutritional deficit (that doesn’t just imply calories).
Part of developing a positive attitude towards food has been changing how I view food. Jes is helping me learn to enjoy food. Who knew food could be fun? I think of food as fuel; it’s a source of energy, not a source of pleasure. Jes is helping me to become less rigid and experience some foods that most people would describe as enjoyable (e.g. ice cream and pizza), without feeling that my results will go out the window. I am working towards understanding how these foods can be incorporated in moderation, and not to be scared of them causing me to stay trapped in a place of hating food.
What I would like to point out here is that while Julia felt her goals were far far far away and maybe even impossible, all she needed was a proven method, some encouragement, and the right guidance to get herself onto a healthy path. She had many behaviors and habits that were actually taking away from her overall health that she didn’t understand, but we were able to work through them so that she could put herself on a new and effective path to success.
By telling this story I hope that everyone would be encouraged that no matter where you are right now, it is only a starting point, and you have the ability to change your course and go forward to achieve your goals. You can start now by reading about and implementing step 1 and step 2, if you have questions, email me at jes@jesreynolds.com and I will do my best to help you go forward.
Testimonial: Fred Wherry
I like to know what I’m doing and why. I also want to see tangible results and to get a sense that I’m being trained to do things well on my own. This made Jess the perfect match. She has put me through intense workouts, helped me gain confidence so that when I walk into a gym, I know what I want to do with myself, how to do it safely, and how to get results.
Jess talks to me about what else is happening in my life and my travel schedule so that I can craft reasonable ways to maintain a fitness regimen even when the circumstances are not conducive to doing so. She knows how to distract me from the pain of getting through the last set, how to exhaust me beyond belief, but how to keep me looking forward to our next session. She changes up the workouts so that I never feel myself falling into a rut and she helps me stay on the sunny side of life.
After working out with her for three months, I flew out to San Francisco to visit friends with whom I’d vacation earlier in the year. “What happened to you?” When I told them about Jess, they replied, “You’ll have to keep her. That’s the best thing you’ve done for yourself in a while.” They’re right.
–Fred Wherry, 38 years old
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Jes Reynolds holds a B.S. in Kinesiology, is a personal trainer, online fitness teacher, and