Skip to main content

When Spencer Met Jessie

Image
By
When you look back over your life, it's true to say that the occasions we recall are the ones rooted with emotion. Those occasions when we laughed until we cried, when we were excited beyond belief, saw things that made us catch our breath, when we felt a love that made us ache. We remember those turning points in life where we realised that a different path, a new path, was open to us.

Well, one crisp and chilly weekend last month, I was able to embrace these feelings in beautiful surroundings along with a group of people, who like me, were looking for clarity, inspiration and motivation from one very special person - Mr Jessie Pavelka. We laughed, we got excited and yes, we cried.

For those of you who don't know who Jessie is, his Wikipedia entry describes him as an American fitness expert and television host, while IMDB lists his TV credits as Obese: A Year to Save My Life, Fat: The Fight of My Life and The Biggest Loser - the first two are regularly repeated on Sky, Discovery and other cable channels. Therefore, Jessie has a reputation as "the weight loss guy". However, there is so much more to this man.

Jessie isn't the first and won't be the last TV trainer to feature on such shows, but what has always made him stand out for me is the way in which Jessie always looks at the bigger picture. While extreme weight loss is the headline grabbing feature of these programmes, it is his ability to connect with the participants on a whole different level that really resonates with me. I always admired his skill at cutting to the chase, helping people face their own behaviours and deal with the underlying causes. Maybe it's his American attitude or those piercing blue eyes, but there is something about his approach that really makes people open up and take action.

So earlier this month, I spent a weekend with Jessie and his business partner, Jill Tipping and the rest of the Pavelka team, in a beautiful spa hotel where a group of us had gathered to explore what Jessie calls "True Health".  His approach is inline with other ways of looking at overall fitness and the other 'pillars' of wellbeing many authors have created. Jessie has settled on, and refined, four areas: Sweat (movement and physical fitness), Eat (nutrition and eating behaviours), Think (intellectual and emotional thinking) and Connect (social, spiritual and personal reflection). To find out more, I thoroughly recommend Jessie's book "The Programme" (affiliate link) which sets out his beliefs in these four areas along with a 21 day implementation programme which includes a beginner workout schedule and a selection of tasty recipes.

Although I was familiar with Jessie's four elements, I was not prepared for where we started the weekend. We went straight into exploring the reasons why we are not currently living the life that we want. Examining the barriers to true health and taking a deep honest look at our believes and behaviours is at the core of what Jessie does best. His ability to hone in on the key elements and areas that hold us back is truly inspirational and for me, his questions, reflections and thoughts allowed me to gain the clarity I was seeking. Through the conversations I had with Jessie, he and I were able to identify some important actions that I needed to take as well as teasing out a few issues that still need attention. Working with others in the group in exercises allowed me to refine these further and I am very grateful to my fellow participants for their contributions to my own development.

As a life coach myself, I understand the importance of self-reflection and being empowered to break through those limiting beliefs we all hold. However, knowing is one thing - doing is another! I believe that coaches need a coach themselves and so I embraced the weekend as a participant and tried to leave my coaching and trainer hats behind. In doing so, I was able to take away far more from the weekend that I anticipated.

Jessie has always inspired me in my work with others through his compassion, understanding and straight talking style. Experiencing it myself, I can testify that it works and the man is very skilled and talented in what he does, especially since he cultivates a genuine "can do" and "no excuses" attitude in everyone.

I believe that everyone benefits from taking time out to work on themselves and for me, this True Health weekend allowed me to do that with the added benefit of working with someone I have admired for many years. My challenge now is to keep moving forward with perpetual motion, implementing the changes I identified over the weekend as well as continuing the work I have started. Self-improvement is an exciting ongoing journey of discovery, hard at times, but ultimately rewarding. Wish me luck!






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Importance of Sleep

By
While many consider fitness and nutrition to be the two-headed dragon when it comes to peak health and performance, we tend to forget about the third - sleep. A quality sleeping regimen is of the utmost important, if not more important than consistent exercise and proper nutrition. Without a good night’s rest, you immediately increase the risks of experiencing negative side-effects like poor-performance, slower cognition, mood swings, hormone fluctuation, weight gain, depression, and more! An improved sleeping regimen can provide immediate benefits! In today's digital age, workaholics and the “grind-life” are often put on a pedestal. However, this attitude can lead to poor sleep cycles, lack of rest and recovery, and, ultimately - burnout.  Instead, we need to flip the switch on what is truly important so that we can tackle life with a new vengeance.  Benefits of Quality Sleep Some of the benefits of a proper sleeping regimen are: Reduced stress; Improved mood; Improved perfor...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Importance of Core Strength

By
Many of us are well accustomed to the development of the glory muscles. Muscles like the chest, shoulders, quads and glutes will always get special attention in the gym - but how many people train their core correctly? Yes, you see others doing simple exercises like leg raises and crunches to work their “abs,” but when we say core, we mean something different.  Think of the core as an entire muscular system that spans the entire surface of the stomach and back. The core is a system of muscles that starts at the hips and runs all the way up to the ribcage - supporting the body the entire way without fault.  With that said, many people have a very weak core which can lead to back pain, hip pain, and even pain in the upper back and neck.  Training your core is important for these main reasons: Your core is your stability. Whenever you’re doing an exercise where a load is placed on your back, shoulders, or overhead, your core is the main muscular system that is providing sta...
Post a Comment
Read more

The New Normal - Your Nutrition

By
We are all now living our “new normal”. We’re in a whole new world where many of us are having to adjust what we do and how we do it because of the COVID-19 virus . Schools, shops and gyms are closed; a lot of us are working from home or stuck at home in isolation. So we're going to have to do things a little bit differently. I'd like to offer you a little bit of structure and routine. I find that having a structure or a schedule can really help me maintain my focus and sense of purpose. I have taken each of the four wellness elements that lie at the heart of UNION FItness (Fitness, Food, Focus, and Fun) and given them their own special Facebook Live. On a Monday, we'll have a look at FITNESS. Tuesday, we'll have a look at FOOD. And then Thursday, we'll have a look at sort of FOCUS, and then Friday, just before the weekend, we're thinking about FUN. Each FB Live will start around about 10:30am and I’ll try to keep them short. If you have any questions...
Post a Comment
Read more