I knew from the beginning that I’d be able to work with Chris due to his experience in athletics, but his passionate desire to learn and grow he expressed in our email exchange. I’ll never forget the last line of his first email that read “my work ethic is ridiculous and I love the gym, so I’m ready for the challenge.”

At first, I thought “okay, we’ll see how determined he is” and we continued our conversation which resulted in him starting the official JCDFItness training and diet protocol on Monday, March 7.

I was extremely pleased with his familiarity of the major compound lifts and willingness to let go of the reigns.

While I won’t go into his exact training protocol, I want to highlight a bit of what we did to get the results presented below. To start off, Chris had been doing the popular Stronglifts 5×5 program. I was already a fan of this guy – no bro-training to speak of.

Chris’ starting weight was 205lbs and ending weight was 186lbs. He is right at 6 foot tall. The time frame in between photos is about 16 weeks. So on average, he dropped just over 1lb per week. I think you’ll agree the difference in appearance is fairly drastic. He transformed from a soft look into a very lean, athletic appearance. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clients, Goals, Popular

I Don’t Want to Get Big and Bulky: Fitness Marketing and its Effect on Women

June 10, 2011 By JC Deen 126 Comments

I imagine people are laughing when they see me in the coffee shop, propped back reading Women’s Health or Fitness magazine.

I’m perfectly okay with this as I have my reasons for maintaining a subscription to said magazines. It’s not for the training or nutritional advice, nor is it to improve my sex life. I mainly read these magazines because I don’t quite understand women.

No male does. However, I long to get a glimpse of what’s going on between their ears, at least from a fitness standpoint.

On the other hand, one thing I do understand quite well is marketing and sales psychology.

I also know how to write a training program and give someone dietary advice that’s inline with their goals.

What I’m finding in the magazines, on TV, and on the products we continually see in the retail outlets, are not necessarily in line with what it takes to get great results – especially when it comes to the female physique.

There are a few problems that I hope to shed some light on today with this article.

Resistance/Strength training should be a must in any female’s fitness routine who wishes to alter her body composition for the better. If the goal is to maintain a lean(er), “toned’ physique, some type of resistance training is a MUST. We’ll discuss what is best and what is awful later on.
Most traditional forms of media are either rehashing old, outdated information OR are pushing your emotional triggers to BUY, instead of making a rational decision. In these cases, making the sale is of far greater importance than what the product can actually do for you. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Female Fitness, Fitness Myths, Popular Tagged With: Female Fitness, fitness marketing

Why You Should Never, Ever Give Up

April 11, 2011 By JC Deen 32 Comments

I remember the very first time I wanted to give up.

The air was thick as mud and my olfactory nerves were being incessantly pounded by the smell of freshly cut grass with every breath I furiously fought for.

I thought I was dying, but in reality, I’d just never exercised before. I was fat, out of shape and my favorite meal was a bologna and cheese sandwich with a large bag of Doritos.

I’ll never forget the other kids running laps around me during my first ever football practice. I was ashamed, confused, and disappointed that I just wasn’t cut out for athletics as I’d began to believe before the practice had barely started.

I had to sit out the rest of the practice because I couldn’t catch my breath after one lap around the field. Once it was over, one of my football coaches approached my mother and said “Ms. Deen, I’m afraid little JC isn’t going to make it – he couldn’t even think about keeping up with his peers. We think he may have a bad case of asthma and you should probably have it checked out before he continues.”

I’ll never, ever forget it.

She stared him straight in the eyes and said “that’s bullsh*t – he’s just fat and out of shape. He doesn’t have asthma and he’ll be here every practice no matter what.”

I was only 10 years old. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Motivation, Popular Tagged With: just do it, Motivation