Finding her strength within to follow her true passion.
This week on our blog we welcome Jodi from Sassfitt Personal Training (@sassfitt).
After talking with Jodi over a series of months, we truly believe she has a great story to share about how she discovered her life calling as a personal trainer. Her Instagram page shows her action shots training her clients to a fitter healthier life.
Throughout a career of over 15 years as a personal trainer, Jodi has helped over 500 clients to lose weight, be fitter and lead healthier lives.
But this was only possible by Jodi finding her own strength within to overcome her own weight, health and life challenges. Today we share this story.
By overcoming the challenges Jodi has faced so far, it enabled her to find her true passion and help many women build their physical strength, fitness and overall health.
Below we discuss with Jodi from Sassfit about her journey to becoming a personal trainer, her own struggles and setbacks and what she has in store next.
Read to the end for a nice surprise for our beautiful followers!
So let’s begin!
What started you down the path of your own health and fitness journey?
“I think the turning point was my 30th birthday when I woke up and actually was disgusted with myself. I weighed around 130kgs. I was drinking, eating badly, not exercising, using prescribed steroids, had been in an environment of domestic violence – it all had an impact”
Did you always struggle with your weight?
“Yes, my weight was always my struggle, and it impacted my life tremendously. I was always bigger than my sisters and my friends, even from an early age. I never felt comfortable – or confident. As I got older I got larger - then smaller - then larger again.”
“I was in a constant battle with myself.”
Some people dream about making life changes, but often don't know where to start.
How did you start to change the direction of your life once you made that decision to do so?
“Once I decided I wanted to change my health habits, self-education was my starting point. I took myself to the library and got a book on how the body works, and some healthy food books and just started reading.”
“I slowly started exercising and slowly started to lose weight. Then I would stop and it would come back so I would start again. It wasn't so sustainable and I was honest enough with myself to know that.”
Is this how you started to be interested in becoming a personal trainer (PT)?
“Yes, I wanted to try out PT. Eventually I built up my courage, bit the bullet and rang several gyms to enquire about PT. There was only one gym that didn’t launch straight into a sales pitch. That gym was a body building gym.”
“That’s where I met Monica, an American Diver and PT instructor – from that point on I really didn’t look back. She taught me so much and it turned out I had a bit of a knack at PT. She encouraged me to do my PT course - so I did. I was in the first ever AIF Certificate 3 & 4 Master Trainers course in Richmond, Victoria.”
How did the support of others, like Monica, help you achieve your PT goals as well as your own personal health and fitness goals?
At 100kgs yes I felt very self-conscious, but the instructors, once they heard my story, helped and supported me so much in reaching my goals that and I passed with flying colours. It took me about 2 years to lose weight and build muscle until I was happy with my body and myself. And I have kept it off for almost 20 years!”
You mentioned that you had some serious health problems that almost made you stop being able to be a personal trainer, can you expand on that for our readers?
“Yes, that’s right, so I PT'd for about 10 years, then the last week of June 7 years ago, I got very sick.”
“Over a period of 9 months, I ended up being diagnosed with 5 auto immune diseases and osteoarthritis. My specialists told me I was to give up training as it could do irreparable damage to my body. So I gave up the ONE thing I had fallen in love with - I was devastated to say the least.”
“I was sitting at home in Oct 2018 and I realised that I was not happy. I needed to get back to training people.
So right there and then, I requalified, and started advertising for clients, and then ended up working at Anytime Fitness in Wynnum, where I still am.- I sure proved those doctors wrong!”
What is it that you would like to do, to help other women achieve long-lasting health like you have been able to?
“One of my dreams is to be able to help women in a couple of different categories: Weight loss (whether 5 or 50 kgs) and those with chronic disease as I personally know what it can do to your life... I also want to train women who don’t have any major issues, but who want to be their best self and get the best results they can.”
Interested to train with Jodi from Sassfitt and receive REAL results? Well it’s your lucky day!
This month Sassfitt is exclusively offering Herparade followers a discount of 10% on her NEW 12 week online training course!
She provides to you a boutique and customised training and diet program, and monitors your progress on a daily basis to ensure you get the best results possible.
Hurry because spots are LIMITED!
Read more here:
Or contact Jodi directly on:
Mobile: +61 407 357 017
Email: sassfit@gmail.com