Thinking Of Hiring An Online Fitness Coach? Read This First

By JC Deen

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Updated:

online fitness coach

If you’ve ever thought about hiring an online fitness coach, you’ll want to read this in full.

Let’s start with a quick thought experiment

Imagine How You’ll Feel Finally Having The Body You’ve Been Dreaming Of…

Imagine waking up and rolling out of bed. It’s still dark as you make your way to the bathroom. There’s a bit of light shining through the window and you catch a glimpse of your body in the mirror.

And for once… you’re not only just satisfied with how you look. You’re proud.

The hard work you’ve put in is paying off. All the attention to healthy eating is working. Your workouts are making all the difference.

This is the reality for a few, but for most, it’s only a dream.

But it doesn’t have to be.

You see… there are some often-repeated mantras.

They come in various forms:

“Weight loss is simple. Just eat less and move more.”

“Getting in shape is easy. You have all the information for free on the internet.”

“Go on a cleanse – they help you lose weight fast.”

But here’s the issue… Most of the simple statements are hardly as simple as they sound.

And if you’ve ever experienced dramatic weight loss or a transformation for yourself, you know that it ain’t easy.

It might be simple on paper but it ain’t easy.

And most so-called ‘fit coaches’ will often tell you how simple the process is even though they know better.

They know by saying ‘simple,’ you often hear ‘easy’ and that makes their job of selling you a generic, and totally not customized solution a little bit easier than if they were upfront and honest with you.

Let me break some bad news to you.

Thinking Of Hiring An Online Coach?

I only take on and work with a select few individuals each month. If you want to work together, fill out the application:

Diets And Fitness Plans Fail Because Most Coaches Take A Cookie-Cutter Approach

And frankly, that sucks.

You’ve seen the Instagram coaches offering ‘custom plans’ but none of these are actually custom.

They’re generic and already thrown together.

How do I know this? I’ve seen them.

With these so-called plans, only the strong survive.

And that’s because for every 100 people who attempt this generic plan, maybe just 5 stick with it.

But you won’t see the failures. You’ll only see the success stories.

More on this in a bit…

In fact, many of the so-called fitness coaches are nothing but glorified marketers.

They know more about getting you to click on their links and sign up for their 7-day detox cleanse than they actually know about designing and developing a program that will work for you.

They’re more interested in getting your money than getting you the results you deserve.

But look… I’m not sour.

I’m just giving you the facts.

And you should know this ONE thing before going any further.

The Majority Of People Fail (But You Won’t See It)

There’s a common idea that losing weight and getting into shape should be easy.

And this is not surprising with all of the ads and media in your face constantly.

I saw a weight loss commercial last night and one of the testimonials was “I just eat the food and the weight falls off!”

And it’s why you see lots of supplement ads with rock-hard bodies.

The association between the supplement and the rock-hard body gives you a subconscious reassurance that if you only take this magical supplement, you too can look like this over-exercised, steroid-taking, genetic superior specimen of a human being.

And it only costs $99.99, which is a small price to pay for such dramatic results, right?

You may or may not be laughing at this idea right now but the supplement industry brings in billions of dollars each year and guess what?

The majority of best-selling supplements are aimed at weight loss because many people have been conditioned to harbor deep-seated insecurities about their body fatness.

This is on purpose.

And because we want to look better, we fall prey to this marketing.

Now, look. There is NOTHING wrong with vanity.

Have you ever looked at a Greek statue? They were obsessed with the physical human form.

But I want to let you in on a little secret.

Supplement companies do not care about your health, your wellbeing, your unique value as a human being.

They only care about carefully extracting your hard-earned money from you.

But it’s not just supplements.

‘Fitness Made Simple’ Does More Harm Than Good

There’s a common saying “getting in shape is simple, but not easy.”

And while I do agree with the statement, it doesn’t help anyone that much.

When this is expressed, the person stating it is wanting to make you think that getting into shape is actually easy and if it’s not easy, then you’re messing up.

But here’s what I HATE about this suggestion.

There is really nothing easy about getting into better shape, at least initially.

You can ask any of my clients and they’re not going to say getting into great shape was easy even if they say it was simple, in practice.

In fact, here are just a few of my personal coaching clients.

Look at what Salim accomplished in 6 months:

online fitness coach
*Results May Vary

“Before contacting JC I was bored with dieting, confused with all the information I had read during months. My weight lifting program was going nowhere and I was hitting plateaus on my main lifts (deadlifts, squats, bench).

I used to practice intermittent fasting with a high fat / low carb rest day, and a high carb / low fat training day. Then after having decided to move to the next level, I contacted JC with a specific goal in mind: getting ripped.

I knew it was going to take some time but I didn’t care and was willing to do what had to be done in order to succeed, which is very important in my opinion before ever considering to engage in such project.

JC advised a high carb based diet on both rest and training days (4 sessions per week). To be honest, I was doubtful with the high carb thing but I decided to trust him completely. It turns out it was a good decision since the results and fat loss were consistent and the most important thing being that with all that carbs, I had enough energy to perform in the gym week after week, a whole new thing for me since I was dieting and thought I would feel sore and like shit week after week.

All my questions were answered quickly and in the end, I learnt that focusing on details such as meal timing, or being too rigid with protocols such as intermittent fasting was useless.

All that matters is the total caloric intake, a high carb intake to sustain the training volume, enough protein for tissue repair and enough fat to keep hormonal dysfunctions at bay.

I have now everything I need to pursue my goals, which are to stay lean and eating enough to sustain my activities (boxing/lifting weights).

I’m really glad I found JC’s blog and hired him for advice on diet/training. I definitely recommend his services to anyone who wants to free himself/herself from bullshit, nonsense and meaningless details.”

You can read his full case study here.


Here’s what Chris achieved in 15 weeks:

online fitness coach
*Results May Vary

“This experience has truly changed my life and I am grateful to JC for all his patience and guidance he has shown and given me over the last few months.

I hope I can spread the word about his work to others and that his popularity grows rapidly because people do not know what they have been missing.”

He lost 16 pounds in just 15 weeks and went from fluffy to ripped.

Thinking Of Hiring An Online Coach?

I only take on and work with a select few individuals each month. If you want to work together, fill out the application:

Is it simple, at least on paper?

Yes. Absolutely. No doubt.

It’s as simple as just following a training program, consistently eating healthier, and making better food choices.

But just because these are simple concepts doesn’t mean they’ll be easy.

In fact, sometimes the simplicity turns into a major curveball for people.

Why?

Because we’re humans and just because we know something is good for us, or will work very well, we don’t always make it happen.

It’s not because you’re stupid, or can’t comprehend the process. It’s because, at the root of it all, we make things complicated.

If you’re a working person, you realize there are a fixed amount of hours in the day. And some of those hours are for sleep, eating, bathing, etc.

Throw in other obligations such as commuting, various travel, family matters and all of a sudden just training and eating right becomes incredibly complex.

Going to the gym takes just an hour of your time, right?

So look.

You’re not stupid and you’re not dumb if you struggle to make time for exercise and to eat right.

It doesn’t mean you’re a failure if you can’t manage to figure all of this out on your own.

What You See Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg

I’m sure you’ve seen the images.

The tip of the iceberg is pretty big when that’s all you see. But below the surface of the water, there is much more ice than above.

I even made my own version to illustrate a point here.

online fitness coach

Any time you see success stories online, you should be incredibly skeptical—especially when the reason for success can be attributed to a special diet, supplement, or very specific workout program.

Let’s take the resurgence of the Ketogenic diet for example.

You can find people all over Twitter, Facebook, Instagram with real results — losing 50-100 pounds and claims of feeling amazing.

But do you know how many people fail when trying the keto diet?

It’s a massive percentage but those who fail on the diet don’t go around telling everyone, nor do they get any recognition online when they actually decide to talk about how terrible it was.

The people you see who succeed on very strict diets (like Keto, Carnivore, very strict versions of Paleo, and variations of raw vegan) are in the tiny minority.

We call this Survivorship Bias, which is the logical error of concentrating on the people or things that made it past a selection process and overlooking those that did not, typically because of their lack of visibility (Wikipedia).

In this case, the selection process was just how long someone could stick to the diet.

And for most… removing entire food groups (carbohydrates) does not end well for most.

It leaves you feeling grumpy, lethargic, frustrated, and low on energy.

And for many, a few days of low to no carbohydrates ends with a binge session where the person eats a massive amount of carbs in all forms to satisfy their craving.

So for every one person on Twitter singing the praises of how Keto took them from fat to skinny, there are countless others without a voice who failed to stick to the diet successfully.

I mean, where are all the people that Keto didn’t work for?

They’re sure as hell not Tweeting and telling all their friends about their failure.

In fact, here’s a screenshot from a client’s email after he wanted to go on a low-carb, Keto diet to make the fat loss happen a bit faster.

online fitness coach

I should make a note: This was NOT my doing because I never, ever put my clients on the ketogenic diet.

However, he was very adamant about trying it and so I set it up for him to get a taste.

I warned him early on that it’s not ideal, nor what I will ever recommend, but I’d worked with him long enough to let him try it under my watch.

He didn’t last a week.

This is not a reflection of him being a failure (he’s not that at all).

It’s a reflection of being wrapped up in all the information online about how a magical diet, like Keto, is superior to everything else for fat loss and that if you’re not following it, you’re doomed to be a fatty for the rest of your life.

Truth is, all of that talk of these diets being superior is just a bunch of convoluted BS with a suave marketing angle to hit your emotional buttons and take your money.

And the magical tactic, diet, or program almost always fails.

Why It’s So Easy To Give Up

As you might have imagined by now… it’s easy to give up early because most are feeling:

  • Frustrated because what seems easy is actually not easy at all.
  • Pissed Off because there are so many differing opinions and conflicting information. One week a diet that was healthy is now labeled as disease-causing or will make you fat.
  • Overwhelmed because there’s so much information to sift through. And let’s face it… you’re not trying to get a Ph.D. in nutrition, right?
  • Like you’re wasting your time because it feels like you’re just not making progress, despite reading and learning and trying a lot of diets and programs.

I’ve been doing this coaching thing for a long time and I’ve seen the fads come and go.

Here’s a screenshot from my feature in Forbes. I’ve been an online fitness coach since 2010, way before it was ever popular.

online fitness coach

Speaking of diet and training fads, lots of fitness writers, nutritionists, and so-called health experts jump on a bandwagon hoping to cash in.

I’ve never done this because I know that what works is tried and true. We already have enough data about nutrition to get lean, healthy, and strong.

And any time we see cringeworthy, sensational headlines such as “Fruit is Fattening” or “Coconut Oil Is Poison To Your Body” we can always know that whoever is writing such nonsense is only interested in getting your attention, not actually helping you.

But one thing I see over and over again is this idea that because we have all the information at our fingertips, getting and staying in shape should be easy.

However, just because you can read something and gain knowledge on a particular subject, it doesn’t mean you can actually do anything with it.

Are you ready for a brainbuster?

“All The Information Is Online For Free, So What Good Is Having An Online Fitness Coach?”

This is a common concern I’ve heard many times during my weekly phone calls with potential clients.

I totally get it but I want you to consider this analogy.

You can learn everything there is to know about swimming. You can read books about the basics all the way up to the advanced techniques professional swimmers use in competition.

But even though you’re equipped with all of that so-called knowledge, none of it will be of much use when you get tossed into the deep end without a life vest.

In fact, you’re guaranteed to get overwhelmed, start panicking, and if you can’t manage to get some help, you’ll surely drown.

You with me?

You’ll be dead despite knowing everything there is to know about swimming from all your hours of studying the internet and books on swimming technique.

It’s not until you get some personal help and instruction on swimming (in an actual body of water) that you’re able to put this knowledge to good use.

Knowledge Versus Action (And What Happens In The Real World)

So what does this swimming analogy have to do with losing weight, dieting, and training properly?

Everything except you aren’t going to drown in actual water… you’re likely drowning in a sea of information you’ve gained and know better than all of your friends, but you still aren’t able to do much with it.

It’s the overweight person at work who knows everything about healthy diets and losing weight but they can’t seem to get results themselves.

Or the guy at the gym who knows everything about the perfect movements, exercise techniques, and proper form but doesn’t look like he’s spent a day in the gym in his life.

You know… it’s taking action and utilizing the knowledge you have instead of just reading and acquiring more knowledge.

I’ve talked to thousands of people over the years on the phone and via email. One of the common statements I get is:

“I have researched a ton about diet and exercise. I know exactly what to do but I just don’t do it.”

This is the perfect example of having textbook knowledge without the application.

What good is knowing everything there is to know about diet and exercise if you stay overweight and unhealthy?

So yes—theoretically, since you know all there is to know about diet and exercise, you should be able to do it all by yourself, right?

You’ve read all the books.

You know everything about nutrition and macros and calorie deficits.

You have read about all the different forms of strength training.

So what now?

The Silent Killer Of Your Progress And Why You’ll Likely Fail

Look, there’s a little devil running amuck in your brain and there are two sides to this.

The first side is the left part of your brain, which is responsible for logic, reasoning, problem-solving, and analysis.

It’s the part of your brain that helps you learn information, store it, and make sense of what you’ve learned. It’s what allows you to learn and make sense of all the nutrition and training information you’ve read over the years.

Unfortunately, this part of your brain can keep you stuck because you’re likely to continue reviewing and reading over all of the so-called perfect diets and programs, gaining more knowledge.

But you’ll never do anything with them due to paralysis by analysis, which is the inability to use all the information you’ve learned because you can’t make a decision on where to start.

The second side is the right part of your brain, which is responsible for creativity, intuition, development of beliefs, and emotions.

And this part of the brain is what can sabotage your progress faster than anything else.

Here’s why.

Remember when I mentioned how the supplement ads are aiming to target your insecurities and get you to buy products that promise you quick results for very little effort involved?

This is where the fitness world shines in its ability to confuse and manipulate you into thinking that everything you’re doing is wrong and that you must begin relearning and redoing everything that was supposedly the best approach.

Here’s an example.

Let’s say you’ve finally made a decision to get into better shape.

You’ve been eating better, following an exercise plan, and you’re seeing a little bit of progress. Three weeks have gone by and you’ve lost 2 pounds! But you didn’t lose much weight in the third week and now you’re starting to doubt your approach.

So you fire up Google and you begin your search for a better plan. Losing 2 pounds is great, but it’s slow and you’ve got another 30 pounds to lose.

How (mis)Information Overload Will Sabotage All Your Efforts

In just a few minutes, you’ll have 20 tabs open with a bunch of diet and training advice, all coming from different people and many of them will undoubtedly fall into one of three camps.

They’ll be:

  • A Money-Hungry, Savvy Marketer
  • A Well-Intentioned ‘Health’ Blogger
  • A Gimmick-Promoting, Instagram Online Fitness Coach

Let me break all of these down for you.


The Money-Hungry Savvy Marketer

…will know about your deepest desires of wanting to lose weight and feel better and more confident.

Their pages will be filled with lots of fancy phrases like

“Watch Your Belly Fat Evaporate In 6 Days”

or

“Learn About The 5 Foods That Will Instantly Melt That Muffin Top!”

or

“Why This 5-Minute Exercise Is All You Need To Get Absolutely Ripped”

The worst part is their products are made to sell, not to make a difference.

They’ll hook you in with some fancy-sounding promise that calms your fears and eases your worries about how hard it’s going to be to get fit.

Just eat these 5 special foods and do some home workouts that last no longer than 10 minutes per week.

That’s all you need to get in the best shape of your life.

Sorry, but this is nothing but mindless drivel.


The Well-Intentioned ‘Health’ Blogger

…will likely have good intentions but are too caught up in their own experience which makes them completely blind to reality.

A recent example (as of 2019) is the person who struggled with their weight for years until they finally gave the Keto diet a try. And because they finally stuck with it, they lost 50 pounds, and now believe this diet is superior to all other dietary approaches for fat loss.

And because they shared their before/after photos on Instagram, they built a following of others who’ve been able to use the Keto diet to lose weight or have an interest in losing weight.

When you read their material, you’ll likely find the following statements:

  • Carbs are poison to the body
  • The brain prefers ketones over sugar for energy
  • You can’t lose weight while eating carbs
  • The keto diet is healthy for you

And so on…

However, all of these statements are actually false. The person has good intentions. They genuinely want to help others lose weight and get healthy.

But they can’t get beyond their bias.

What worked for them, whether they believe it or not, won’t work for the majority of people.

The Keto diet is hard to stick to and your body craves carbohydrates because it needs them to be fully functional and healthy in the long term.

But when you see the before/after photos and you’re desperate for an easy fix, cutting out all carbohydrates so you can live off bacon, eggs, and cream sounds pretty damn good!

However, I’m here to remind you of two things:

  • Drastic measures, such as cutting out all carbs, doesn’t work for 99% of people long-term.
  • These approaches aren’t healthy, so while you might lose some weight in the beginning, you’re likely to regain the weight.

? Lastly, the Gimmick-Promoting Instagram Online Fitness Coach

…is sure to give you a laugh while making your pocketbook lighter.

In fact, you can even catch their latest meal plan special they’re advertising on Instagram right this second.

It’s normally $200 but if you reply to his story today, you can get it for $29!

So you go ahead, think you’re getting a steal, and fork over that $29.

You get a PDF riddled with spelling errors, and a few sample meal plans based on your gender and body weight.

You can choose between 1200, 1500, or 1800 calorie per day meal plan. (o0o0o0ohhh… exciting right?)

And when you get to the to actual meal plan recommendations, you clearly see that chicken, broccoli, spinach, and the occasional sweet potato is totally on this bro’s menu.

At this point, you’re either optimistic or pissed.

And in time, your optimism will probably wane because let’s face it — no one ain’t got no time to live on 1200 calories of chicken and broccoli.

Bad Information Is Everywhere

And this is what makes it so hard to succeed on your own.

You’re doing all the research, learning as much as you can, but how do you know what’s actually good for you and what’s not?

When you’re in the learning stage, it’s incredibly hard to tell the good from the bad, even if you have a history of learning everything under the sun about diet and training.

Even when you consider yourself pretty informed…

Because it all comes down to knowledge and application.

Just knowing something well from a textbook perspective doesn’t mean you’ll be able to apply it in real life.

And the last thing you probably want is to waste precious time on a faulty approach.

You can go years trying low carb diets only to fail every few months.

The cycle repeats itself over and over until you feel like you’ve just tried everything and none of it works, right?

Look… I get it.

But What If It Could Be Different?

It could be — just like it was for all of these people:

Look what Becca Achieved:

online fitness coaching
*Results May Vary

“I always said I’d never do this but here goes… Dec 2016 to now. In 2016, my weight went from 115 to 140, and then back down and back up. I was yo-yo dieting, inconsistent with my exercise, and only counting calories. Crash dieting and heavy cardio, repeating the cycle over and over, and wondering why “nothing was working” for me.

Fast forward to today. Thanks to JC‘s guidance, I’m lifting heavy, counting macros, and while I have my cheat days, I get my ass to the gym every single week. I don’t even step on the scale anymore. I really don’t care what it says, and neither does JC. I’m happy, healthy and strong af. I enjoy going to the gym now because I’m not obsessing about being skinny and doing insane amounts of cardio. I actually don’t do any cardio.

It’s not easy. It’s the opposite of easy. It’s sacrificing every day and every weekend. It’s never skipping a Monday, meal prepping every week, going to bed early, and being CONSISTENT.”


If You Can Get JC As Your Online Fitness Coach, You’ll Never Worry About Your Diet Or Exercise Plan Again

online fitness coach

Hello. I’m JC Deen

And those before/after photos are of real clients with real results.

Notice that I don’t sugarcoat the process. If you made it this far… you know I’m a straight shooter.

None of this “get all the results in half the time with no work or effort required” nonsense.

Those claims are not real life.

I take a personal approach to coaching.


No one can buy coaching from me unless we first talk over the phone.

You can have all the money in the world and be willing to shell it out to me, but if we are not a good fit, I will not accept your bribe.

There’s an application process and it’s very serious.

I only work with those who want the best results possible and are willing to do the work.

Look, there is no substitute for hard work.

But what if you could shortcut the learning curve?

What if you could get out of your own way and just make progress?

Instead of always questioning if you’re on the right plan?

Look. The only shortcut you can take in this life is getting direct guidance, attention, and feedback from someone who understands what they’re doing.

And while you get the guidance, you also get to learn in the process.

In this case, we’re talking about online fitness coaching with me.

I have a deep understanding of both the psychological and physiological requirements for body transformation to happen.

And with online fitness coaching, you need the following pieces in place to succeed for the long term.

  • A clearly defined path for permanent fat loss
  • An easy-to-understand framework about what it actually takes to get results without fad diets, expensive supplements, or get-fit-quick gimmicks
  • An honest approach that gives you confidence in your ability to get the best results possible
  • Access to a coach who is there to answer questions and help you personally
  • Education through experience and reading material to help you understand the process

And that’s the way I operate.

When you begin online coaching with me, you become a part of something.

You’re not just a number.

You’re not just another cog in a mindless system.

In fact, I take no more than 8 new clients per month. And that’s so I can maintain a level of service that is unrivaled in an industry full of deception and so-called custom programs.

Thinking Of Hiring An Online Coach?

I only take on and work with a select few individuals each month. If you want to work together, fill out the application:

JC Deen is a nationally published fitness coach and writer from Nashville, TN. Currently living in the blistering Northeast. Follow me on X/Twitter