Why I Started JF Performance
Ever since I started studying exercise in college, I knew that at some point in my life I wanted to start my own business. During this time, I thought of it as owning my own gym; something that most in my field also strive for. Over the past couple of years since graduating, that dream of opening my own gym has shifted into spreading an idea; an idea that is the basis of what JF Performance stands for.
In today’s fitness community, it seems like every single person has the same goal: lose weight. I’m not surprised though, obesity is at an all time high and social media has become essentially a parallel reality for people to share the best versions of themselves. This makes the average person feel as though they’re a failure for simply not having a six-pack, when in reality the average body fat percentage of Americans is between 28 and 40. In order to see visible abs, you need your body fat percentage to be around 14-20% for women or 6-13% for men. A healthy 30-39 year old should have a body fat percentage of 20 for men and 25 for women. That’s quite a difference between what you’re force fed everyday through social media as “healthy” and what years of clinical research tells us. You don’t have to see your abs to be healthy and you definitely don’t have to have abs to feel good about yourself. This is all to say that there are much better things to focus your energy and effort on that are going to improve your confidence, energy, and health without worrying so much about what the scale says. Losing fat is just a by-product of shifting your focus to those more positive things.
This is where the idea behind JF Performance comes into play. I knew I wanted this to be different. I was tired of seeing the same “lose x lbs in x days” bullshit all over the place. I was tired of all the focus being on what you can lose, I wanted to hone in on what you can GAIN from exercise and nutrition. No matter who you are or what you have, there’s something this lifestyle can give you that you can’t get anywhere else.
Exercise should be an empowering experience. It should make you feel like there’s nothing you can’t accomplish in this world. Goal setting should be towards positive things; getting stronger, improving your play in sport, being able to play with your kids without getting winded, completing a half-marathon, doing your first box jump, doing your first push up, etc. No matter where you are now, there’s always something you can strive to accomplish in order to improve your quality of life. This isn’t to say that weight loss won’t occur, but when you set your goals this way you gain much more than just a lower number on the scale.
If you have anything you would like me to go into detail on regarding exercise, nutrition, or anything else fitness and lifestyle related, fill out the comment form below and I’ll be sure to cover it in an upcoming post.
Cheers,
Jacob
