“Push yourself,” Jimmie says as he adjusts his tattered navy blue Tri Delt baseball cap.
I try to count each droplet of sweat as it drips off my face and onto the speckled black floors of Alter Ego fitness — anything to keep my mind off of the burn in my rubbery muscles and trembling torso. I hold myself in what feels like the never-ending plank as Jimmie keeps time.
Rewind six weeks from my sweaty plank hell, and I was glued to my laptop at my office. A deep chuckle coming from a man donning a “Train Harder” shirt pulled me out of focus. I wandered over and asked if, in fact, this gentleman was “the” Jimmie of Body by Jimmie. And alas, he was.
While most people know him as the local celebrity with the brightly colored “Train Harder” fitness gear and loyal flock of sorority girls, most people don’t know how or why he came to dominate the Gainesville fitness scene.
During his power lifting and bodybuilding career he started to realize how little people understood about the huge role that technique plays the results of working out. In 1998, he started Body by Jimmie on the premise that a workout should be built based on the needs of an individual person, not a one-size-fits-all approach. He emphasizes that you need a drastically different strategy if you’re trying to tone versus lifting to build.
It is exactly that different strategy that has propelled him to local fame.
Until my encounter with Jimmie, I’ve always thought I knew how to work out. I played soccer for 10 years, had ex-boyfriends show me around the weight room, jumped around to P90x in the chapter room of Zeta, shimmied around like an idiot at Zumba classes, etc. You name it and I tried it.
Simultaneously, over 4 years of college, I subjected my body to more abuse than I care to admit. In my mind, I convinced myself that I was still athletic, but my “workouts” consisted of running on the treadmill, half-heartedly lifting dumbbells, finishing up with some crunches and then, naturally, drinking away any health benefit at Midtown a few hours later.
From an outsider’s perspective, I was hanging in there. I could semi-comfortably wear high-waisted shorts and crop tops to the bar, but to me, I didn’t feel like myself. I lost my tone, my endurance and my edge. Sporadic, uninspiring trips to Southwest made me mentally soft, while the college lifestyle made me physically soft.
Jimmie has turned my fitness world upside down.
I would resist the urge to talk back and protest when he would tell me to walk over and grab three-pound weights for an exercise, only to be wincing in pain by the second set. Within the first few sessions, I realized that I had been working out wrong for years. Heavier weight, longer cardio sessions and speedier reps, turned out to be wasting time, energy and effort.
“I see all these girls doing the same things over and over again and they aren’t getting results,” Jimmie said. “Lifting tires or jogging on the treadmill isn’t going to give you a toned, sexy body.”
As a woman, I’ve always had an irrational fear that personal training would bulk me up instead of slim me down. I have no earthly desire for a “thigh gap,” but Serena Williams isn’t exactly my physique inspiration. Jimmie’s strategy for sculpting lean muscle consists of low weight, very specific movement technique and short bursts of give-it-your-all cardio in between. I walk away (okay, crawl/limp) away from Alter Ego feeling like I did more in an hour than I did in a whole semester of hodgepodge workouts at Southwest.
Me after 3 weeks of training (left) and me after 5 1/2 weeks of training (right)
I feel strong, lean and better than I did during the peak of my sports days, which is something I never thought possible. I have significantly more energy, lost my craving for any shit food and, by some miracle, am gaining a level of flexibility I haven’t had since ballet classes as an 8-year-old.
Jimmie rolls his eyes when girls ask him to hold their bobby pins and he tries not to crack a smile when a sweaty client throws their arms around him for a hug after a particularly tough session, but it’s this one-on-one interaction that keeps his client list growing. When he tells you to look in the mirror and “train harder,” he’s not just pushing his personal brand, he’s pushing each and every client to dig deep and commit.
“The most rewarding thing for me is just showing them that it works and it didn’t take as long as they thought,” Jimmie said.
“They just have to believe in me and believe in themselves. Jimmie is always right.”
Note: When I’ve shared the success of my journey with Jimmie to friends, the most common response I receive is hesitation about the cost of personal training. It is definitely not an inexpensive commitment, but it is an investment in your body, health and well-being. It is well worth it.
