"I am scared to go to the gym!"

Team - you might say this line each and every day. "I am scared to go to the gym alone." Do not be scared of your local gym.  I'm here to tell you, you can do it! Here are 5 pointers to make your gym experience worth ever penny.

1. Don't get ripped off! Gym prices can be negotiated. Ask around to see what everyone else pays for a gym membership.  Here in Cincinnati, the local gyms start out at $79+ a month, but the average person pays around $20/month.

2. Take a look around. The first thing I do when I join a gym is find a treadmill where I can see the entire gym.  Locate the machines, free weights, extra cardio equipment, bathrooms, group fitness room, Spinning room, and free space for ab work.  Familiarizing yourself with your gym will make you feel more comfortable.

3. What are other people doing? You might also say "those machines look so complicated." If they look complicated and you're insecure about trying them, watch someone else and it will make sense.  They're all very user friendly.

4. Don't worry about the big guys! They will not think you're overweight or out of shape. They will pick up all of the heavy weights, continue their workout, concentrate on form in the mirror, and probably won't break focus.

5. Check out the group fitness schedule.  Most gyms offer free group fitness classes with a club membership.  Nothing gets better than group fitness classes! You show up to your gym, sign up for the class, and you won't have to think for an hour. The instructor will do all of the thinking for ya! And you will also get some new ideas for outside of the group fitness classroom.

5a. Jonathon's Fitness: If you still don't feel comfortable with the gym, subscribe to Jonathon's Fitness YouTube Channel so you'll get all of the best 10 minute workouts.  Or check out the Workout Section for all of your 10 Minute FREE workout videos!

Tomorrow is hump day! Make it a good one!

10 Minute Full Body Workout

Team - I've taken your feedback and workout suggestions and incorporated them into a custom Weekend Workout. Each move engages the upper and lower body for a full body workout, in just 10 minutes!

What You'll Need:

• Fitness Mat
• Hand Weights

10k Playlist - I'm doing it!

Team - Tomorrow I can check the 10k Turkey Trot in Cincinnati, Ohio off my fitness to-do list. Was it a last minute decision? Not really, but I will be doing it by myself tomorrow at 9am. I will not be taking any pictures because I do not want to carry my camera the entire race, but it will look something like this:

But...I'll be at the back of the bunch.  It's going to be a huge crowd tomorrow morning at Paul Brown stadium. Lots of iPods and running pants.  I'm #14650!

Here is my playlist for tomorrow's race.  My favorite song right now is "We Found Love" and that SHOULD be my halfway point in the race.  It's a simple way to pace myself. This playlist is 55 minutes, so I will run a 9-10 minute mile.  I like to run at a slow steady pace because Cincinnati is a city with lots of hills.

It's fun and exciting, but most importantly I cannot wait to finish! Wish you all were here to join me. Happy Thanksgiving and give me some support by writing on Jonathon's Fitness Facebook wall.

Lactose Free Supplement Review

Hi Team - If you need a lactose free supplement with some intense protein, check out this product. Nature's Best Isopure Mass is high in calories, low in sugar, and great in taste.

Here are my pros and cons on this product:

Why I love my job...

Hi Team - I could talk for hours about my love for teaching group fitness classes.  I enjoy the different fitness elements that go into every class, the choreography, the fact that I get paid to work out, and the control of having everyone in the room mimic your every move for a perfect workout. Those things are great, but the one reason I continue to teach group fitness is to feed my obsession of blurring the lines of fitness a fun.

15 Minute Cardio Kickboxing and Toning

Team - Your weekend workout is Cardio Kickboxing! I also threw in some toning to help you strengthen the upper and lower body.

What you'll need: Hand weights or soup cans for the last 5-6 minutes.

Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions.  As always, work at your own pace, consult a doctor or physician before performing, and take a few extra minutes at the start of the video to fully warm up.

Spinning Playlist - Lots of Hills

Team - Here is a great 50 minute hilly playlist to build leg strength and endurance!


As the instructor, feel free to switch up any of the hills by performing one of three hills: 1) Seated Climb 2) Standing Climb 3) Combination of both 1 and 2. If you don't know which hill to use, please see the "comments" section of the playlist.

It's fun to mix up your spinning playlist by adding a faster song for a seated or standing climb.  I specifically put "Remember the Time" at the end of first hill sequence to give the class a little motivation.  MJ will always give the class a second wind!

Two Jump series are placed at the start and end of the routine to give the legs a break.

Check out the playlist here:

It's definitely a mashup of artists, songs, BPMs, and genres.  But that's the glory of trying to please 30 different people in a class.

And what a cool down song, huh? It's a great song! Comment and let me know what you think of the playlist.

My Favorite Workout To Date: Ultimate Leg Challenge

Team - Here is my favorite at home workout video, the Ultimate Leg Challenge by Jonathon's Fitness.

I had absolutely no expectations when I first launched Jonathon's Fitness.  The only objective was was to encourage people to be active and healthy both in and out of a gym.  Thus, I started making 10 minute weekend workouts.  My workouts use little or no equipment and can be performed in almost every room of your house.  Just bring the computer with ya!

My favorite workout to date, and probably the most challenging, is my Ultimate Leg challenge. I turned on some good tunes and delivered 10 minutes of body weight exercises for your lower body - no equipment.

Check it out here:

Combine this workout with 2 other videos and you have a 30 minute class.  For Free! In the privacy of your own home.

What workouts would you like to see next? Please comment and let me know.  I'm here for you!

Cocoa-Nut Bananas

Team - Here is a new, fun, and healthy way to eat a banana.  It's fun for get-togethers too!

How was your week? I hope it was productive and healthy.  I had five great classes this week, two personal workouts, and two more tomorrow.  Fitness is fun, try it!

All of that exercise will make you hungry, right? Well I needed a snack today and thought I would create some Cocoa-Nut Banana bites. Easy, healthy, and quick...just the way a recipe should be.

1.  Grab your ingrediants

Leg Workout for the Gym

Team - Take this workout to your local gym to help build leg strength and endurance.

As you know, I teach group fitness classes all the time! Sometimes I push my body to teach 10+ classes a week, along side my regular daytime job.  Some classes I do not go all out, but Kickboxing or Spinning classes are very demanding.  Both mentally physically.

Today, I had the luxury of exercising at my local gym with my Awesome Workout Playlist. It was a nice change of pace for me and I would love to share it with you. So here goes!


Jonathon's Leg Workout (Perform each exercise 3 times - one minute rest between exercises/sets)


Start you leg workout with Cardio:

1. 5 minute walking pace to warm up the body
2. 7 minutes at a high, or the highest, incline and an aggressive pace
3. 6 minutes at a high speed with no incline
4. 2 minutes at your walking pace to cool down

Move to strength and endurance:

1. Weighted Lunges (8x/leg)
• Grab heavier weights and lunge one leg in forward, keeping the knee directly above the ankle, push off the front leg to the starting position.  Repeat on the other leg.
2. Jump squats in place (1 minute)
3. Weighted Calf Raises
• Today I used a step bench to elevate my heels, but feel free to stand on a couple 45lb plates.
4. Split Barbell Lunge (10x/leg)
• Barbell on the ground, straddle it with your lunge, lunge up and down with your barbell.
5. Stability Ball Hamstring Curls (1 minute)
• Heels on the ball, bottom raised, curl the heels in.

                                        

It was an awesome workout!  It was nice to complete an entire workout with talking, something very rare for me *smile.

This workout was the perfect combination of everything I enjoy.  A little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Made me think of my favorite quote:

"If we could giver every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health." - Hippocrates

Smile and exercise - it'll make you feel better!