Editor’s note: These posts were written back when my brand name was Remodel Fitness. I’ve decided to include them here without editing them, in the interest of…well… transparency. 😉
Let’s talk about why Remodel Fitness hasn’t talked about fitness in a while.
Over the course of the last year, my brand has been shifting as I’ve been shifting, and I want to take a moment to pause and explain what’s going on.
I really loved being a personal trainer, and I miss doing sessions with clients. (Speaking of which, for a few weeks this September, I’ll be taking some client session in NYC- so keep your eyes peeled if you want to train with me!)
I also truly love exercise science, and totally totally geek out on it. It’s fascinating to me to see how new studies can shift the direction of how we approach fat loss, hormone optimization, what we consider “good form,” program design, and functional movement. To me, exercise science and training are fun as hell.
But they’re not my ultimate passion.
When I first got into fitness, it was by accident. I needed a job, and Bally Total Fitness needed female trainers. (Nine years ago, fitness was in a different era. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to get hired nowadays with no credentials and no experience like that.)
I soon discovered that I really liked lifting weights and getting strong, and I absolutely adored training clients. It was fun, and rewarding, and interesting. What started out as curiosity and enjoyment picked up momentum quickly, and did become a passion.
I became obsessed with becoming better, learning more, and standing for something. I surrounded myself by the best trainers in the industry, I read and studied everything I could, I attended as many seminars and courses as I could afford, and I worked as many hours as I could manage.
When I was preparing to launch Remodel Fitness online, I hit a crossroads. I wanted to change the way we talk about women’s bodies and fitness, and I knew that would be difficult.
Why? Because a typical client-trainer conversation begins with goals, and it sounds like this:
Client: I want to get rid of this (*pinches a small amount of fat somewhere on her body*)
Me: Ok, and why is getting rid of it important to you?
Client: Because it’s disgusting.
I was really, really not ok with this kind of conversation, because it ignored some huge chunks of really important information, and as a trainer you’re more or less expected to just understand and agree that fat = disgusting.
Not me. I wanted to talk about what made the woman obsess over that body part, what she believes fat means about her worth, and what she thinks will happen when she finally gets rid of it. I wanted to know what she believes she deserves, and what her self-talk sounds like, and how often she nourishes herself, and what she’s afraid of.
I wanted to help banish the negative critical voice inside every woman’s head, who tells her that she’s not good enough and needs to change the way she looks in order to deserve to be seen and loved.
Business 101 tells you that the most important thing you do when creating a brand of business is to solve a problem that your customers have.
I didn’t do that. I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t go around solving the wrong problem for people.
Because here’s the thing: when we talk about fitness and body image, we’re not just talking about bodies. We’re talking about fundamental belief systems regarding a person’s value.
When we talk about feeling self-conscious about our saggy boobs or our puffy bellies, we’re really talking about how growing up female means automatically curating the experience of everyone around us from the time we hit puberty, so that they never find out what we really look like.
When we talk about poor body image, we’re talking about the fact that we live in a world that demands we take on the responsibility of protecting everyone else from being offended or turned on by our too-disgusting or too-sexual bodies.
When we talk about not being able to “listen to” our bodies, we’re talking about being stripped of our autonomy and taught to trust other people’s opinions and perceptions of us rather than our own.
When we talk about body image, we’re talking about so much more. And for the last year or so, that’s all I can think about.
I haven’t given up on fitness forever. I love that shit, and someday maybe I’ll swing back around and go on a fitness-writing bender. But right now, this inner work is the most important thing to me. I don’t know where this exploration will go, but given the emails and messages I get daily about the powerful impact my words have on many of you, I know I’m on the right track.
So here’s what’s up. I’ll still occasionally talk about fitness here at Remodel Fitness, because fitness is super dope. I’ll be encouraging you to move your body in ways that feel good for you, and continuing to share insight into the joys of lifting weights.
But the majority of what I’m creating right now will be about the inner work. I’ll be talking about how to break free from society’s rules, how to restructure the way you show up in the world, and how to tap into your emotions and desires. I’ll be exploring the big juicy topics of how to get to know and express your authentic self, how to live a bigger and more fulfilling life, and how to love and trust yourself.
So if you’re just here for workouts, you might want to hit unsubscribe. If you’re here to learn how to lose the last 10lbs, I’m probably not your girl.
But if you want to go on an adventure to the depths of your heart and soul, and come out stronger, more authentic, more compassionate, more fulfilled, and more joyful… then stick around.
I’ve got a lot in store for you. 😉
<3 Jessi Kneeland Get strong. Feel confident. Look amazing.
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