Many times, I’ve been asked the question “how did you get into fitness?” That’s an interesting story.
When I was 17 years old I graduated from high school, overweight and very unfit. At the time, it wasn’t a problem for me though; at least I didn’t think so.
At 18, I did the mandatory military service my country requires, but because I spoke English at that time I was asked to provide services at the International airport which meant doing literally nothing other than strolling around and eating. This caused my weight to go from heavy to even heavier in less than a year.
When I finished the military service, I went to work for a textile company which was a sedentary job in front of a computer. Needless to say, I became even heavier. There I was at 19 years old, weighing 110 kilos - the heaviest I’ve ever been.
At that point, I decided to step foot into a gym. This decision, surprisingly, wasn't driven by the desire to lose weight, but I was merely curious about what the environment was like. Little did I know that once I would step into that place, I would fall in love with the environment and my life would be changed forever. I loved the energy, the music, the lights, the people, THE GIRLS! It was something I had never seen before, it blew my mind.
The first class I happened to take was for an advanced group and I got everything; every move, every turn and I was hooked for good. I started exercising many hours a day and as a result, I started losing weight very fast.
One Wednesday morning (one which I'll never forget), some other members and I were waiting for a 10:00 am class when the club manager approached me and said, “there’s no instructor for the next class, can you take over?”. “Me?!” I asked incredulously, “But I don’t have clothes or music”, to which he replied, “we’ll give you the clothes and music!” - so, I ran out of excuses to say no. This is the serendipitous story of how I ended up teaching my very first aerobics class.
I truly believe that I was destined for that fateful Wednesday that led me to find my calling. Since I started and up until today, I don't have a Plan B because I know that this was what I was born to do. I’ve been blessed with skills that allow me to teach different styles of classes, from dance to yoga, from weights to martial arts, cycling, resistance training, freestyle steps, suspension training and many more. My main focus is to deliver fun and effective training with great music because that’s how I got in shape.
I choose to differentiate myself from other instructors by building a strong connection with everyone in my classes; and by everyone, I mean every single person in the room. To me, being able to create an individual experience in a group setting for all my participants, and challenge them to reach new levels of fitness regardless of where they are in their journeys is fundamental in what I do. Whether they’re just getting started, or are experienced, they will have that ‘individual experience’ with me. I try hard to make it happen every single time because I am here for the participants and not the other way around.
I will continue my path until I can’t move anymore and will try to impart the same way of teaching to as many people as I can with the only purpose of helping people change their lives through great fitness and music.
Jorge Jimenez is a group class instructor for Les Mills BodyPump™, BodyJam™ and BodyCombat™ at Core Collective. Keen to try out one of Jorge's high energy classes amongst the various other classes we offer at Core Collective?
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Contributor:
Jorge is a highly experienced group fitness instructor and manager focused on positive results and client satisfaction. Besides being extremely charming, he is reliable, conscientious and capable of taking your training to a whole new level. He is a well-respected master trainer among his peers with excellent leadership qualities.