YMCA/Something Cool II

I teach an amazing group of people in my M/W/F boot camp at the Mission Valley YMCA. I've written about them before here, so suffice it to say I like them a lot and they're a hardworking group. You have to be to get to the gym at 5:30 and go through an hour boot camp. Try it sometime.

I'm writing today because I have a few minutes and wanted to express my gratitude to these amazing people. You see, I, unfortunately, am resigning as instructor for the class after this Friday, as my schedule has become a bit unwieldy and I need time for my personal training clients and my old friend sleep. Which led to this sequence this morning ...

1) I arrive to class at 5 am, bleary-eyed, and begin setting up. Preparation is important to me. I like for the class to feel like I've thought about things before they get there
2) Class starts, I run everyone through a 5-minute warm up that is pretty standard
3) I start the second part of the warm-up (a jump-rope drill). If you're new to class and I ask you to "pick a number from 1-10," be careful
4) A class veteran, Jeff, comes up to the front of the class, and asks to make this announcement:

"Hi everyone. I have a petition here to ask the Y to open a new boot camp on Tuesday/Thursdays (one does not exist now), and to keep Jesse on as the teacher, since he is leaving this class. If you want to, please sign the form and we'll see if we can get one started with Jesse as teacher." (paraphrasing, but this was the jist)

5) The entire class signs the paper, and many people say some very kind things to me about the way I teach the class, etc.


You can probably guess that what Jeff and the class did for me made my day in many ways, and that I will certainly be teaching that class if it gets opened ... I honestly had no idea that people felt that positively about my class. What a great way to start the day.

THANK YOU YMCA BOOT CAMPERS!!!

Love and kisses,
Jesse

Personal Training

Hi everyone. As you know, I've spent the past two years or so getting ready to make fitness a part of my career. As it turns out, some things went really well in some other areas of my work life, and I have taken a full-time job as the Director of Communications for the San Diego Sports Commission. I couldn't be more excited for the new challenge - great people, amazing projects, very fun culture.

However, I have also turned a corner when it comes to what I'm ready to do professionally with personal training. I've been teaching my boot camp for over a year now (amazing, time flies), and have been teaching at the Mission Valley YMCA now for about 3 months. I'm ACE Certified and am reading as much as I can on a daily basis to be on top of the new developments in the fitness industry, etc.

Which brings me to my point - as of today, I am officially offering personal training services to my friends and family (and anyone else who is interested). I am going to be exclusively an outdoor trainer using some equipment I've compiled along with what mother nature has to offer to put together exercise regimens, and I'll help design diet plans and all the other elements of working with a fitness pro. I promise to be the most motivational, engaging and informed trainer with whom you've ever worked. That is my brand, and it's something I take seriously.

I also hope to be one of the most well-priced trainers in town. I'm going to charge $20 per hour, and I'll work out breaks for anyone who wants to do more than 10 sessions in one month. We'll take it on a case-by-case basis for now. The money is not as important to me as someone that is serious about their goals and ready to make a commitment to reach them.

I'm also offering small-group training. The prices are $35 per hour for two people, $50 for three, $60 for 4, and we'll work out groups larger than 5 depending on how many and how often the groups want to meet. I highly encourage you to try small group training, it's fantastic because you are really connected with the people around you, and I can spend a lot of time working with each person in the setting.

For those interested, I do have a connection through World Gym on Balboa where I can train people there. The only catch is that both persons in the gym have to have a day pass, which is $10 per person, so if anyone wants to train there, the cost would be $40 per hour session. I'm not a fan of charging that much money, but it's really the only way to get into a gym and train using heavy weight, without me having a relationship with a big ticket gym. I'm not crazy about doing that, because it goes against just about every principle I've adopted in my approach - individualize everything, get outside and feel good about where you're working out, work in groups when possible and enjoy life while you're exercising.

I understand that investing in personal training isn't easy or something you may be interested in. Please don't feel like this is a sales pitch - it isn't - it's just the very beginning of my outreach to people who I know are supportive and might either be interested or know people that are. The most important thing to me is the relationships that I have with each of you, and I really do appreciate everything you have all done to work with me/support me in the last 18 months or so.

I'm almost done. If you are interested or know anyone that is, please have them either comment on this message, send me an e-mail (jesselovejoy@yahoo.com), call me, or connect with me on Facebook.

Thanks to all, and I hope to see you soon.

-Jesse

The Y-M-C-A (camp); What I've Learned in my First Month

As I pass the one-month mark leading my M/W/F 5:30 a.m. boot camp at the Mission Valley YMCA, it occurred to me that I have not really said much about it here. Which is a shame because I'm learning at an alarming clip, and loving it.

It's been such an amazing experience for me for many reasons. First and foremost, I had no idea that I would be working with such a motivated and truly kind group of people. Each day when I walk in that room to setup, I know that in about 20 minutes, my team will start filing in, ready to work, and be eternally optimistic. It makes being with them so much easier and more enjoyable.

The class has also been great in terms of pushing me to try new things and making things adaptable for different skill levels, because my camp has a wide variance when it comes to age, skill level, size, etc. The same things that make the group so fun to be around because of all the unique people also make the challenge to me more specific and educational. I am learning a LOT very fast. It's a very very great thing for a future trainer to have to break down each exercise to find ways to make it both more difficult and less difficult - it adds to the "arsenal" for when I'm working with folks one-on-one.

What has also become clear is that a leader can NEVER be too prepared. Yes, it is very important to be able to improvise in the middle of an exercise class and yes, there is something to be said for spontaneity. However, I pride myself on always having thought through the workout for the day, having things laid out for my team when they come in, and on thinking through a workout from start to finish; reverse engineering it from the goal I want them to reach and the tools I have at my disposal.

Finally, I think this last month of acting as a leader for a motivated group of people has taught me to never underestimate the power of a large group (or pair, or small group) of people working together for a common goal. It's unscientific, as I haven't really surveyed anyone, but I sense that the vibe and energy level in class is best when I have people working with others, whether it be as a pair exercise, a group of 3-4 going through circuits together, or the entire team lined up on the baseline of the basketball courts sweating through suicides together. This type of training makes me truly understand why people love Group Ex so much, and why it's a nice fit for me as a teacher.

If you haven't stopped in to check out the class yet, please do! Let me know if you're not a member and I can get you a one-time entry pass ... if you don't come down to my camp - try someone's! I think you'll find that working hard, together, makes exercise much more palatable and exciting.