ABOUT ME
I’m Jenn, and I am a personal trainer and health coach. I absolutely love what I do, and have been doing it for over 20 years. Before I got started in this career, I struggled with my weight and was constantly sick and depressed. I decided I needed to drastically change my life.
I first started out as a personal trainer in a New York sports club, and then moved to California where I worked as a personal trainer and a fitness manager, before Christian and I opened up our own private personal training business, which we’ve now relocated to Nevada.
My mission is to show people that you can have an extremely busy schedule, suffer from chronic medical conditions, have kids, and STILL make it work. All throughout my life, I’ve overcome hardship after hardship that came my way. I’m sharing my story of resilience below, in hopes that it will inspire each and every one of you that you CAN reach your goals, no matter the circumstances of your life.
CHILDHOOD
Let me start out by saying that I have a lot of PTSD stemming from my childhood. Some of these memories are from the outside looking in. Some of the stories I will be sharing with you are stories that have been told to me by my mother and sister, because I simply don’t remember them.
Let's take it all the way back to the fifth grade...
Back then, I was in Catholic school and I was getting bullied by my next door neighbor. This bully attended the same Catholic school as me, so I couldn’t escape from him at school or at home. I would get verbally and physically attacked nearly every day at school, and then borderline sexually abused by him at home in our neighborhood.
Around the same time, my father started abusing me as well. My own father was a relentless bully. He would make fun of me in front of family members. He especially used to make fun of my hair. One time in particular, he made fun of me in front of hundreds of people at a large family reunion.
TEENAGE YEARS
As I got older, I started to get more rebellious. I was constantly being told that I was stupid and that I would never amount to anything. I did well in sports, but I didn’t do great in school. When I tried my hardest, and did manage to do good in school, it was never enough for him. My own father told me everyday how stupid I was. Eventually those words sunk in, and I began to wonder if he was right.
The physical abuse got worse and worse for me as I got older. My father never laid a hand on my mother or my sister, only me. A lot of pain happened in my teenage years. I was rebellious. I was hurting. I ran away.
One day, after my father laid hands on me for the umpteenth time, I had completely had it. I fought back. I moved out at an early age.
At the age of 17 I got pregnant and had an abortion. It was an extremely unhealthy relationship with the boyfriend that I had at the time. He was verbally abusive towards me however I had no one else. He took me to have the abortion and then said he would take care of me but he did the exact opposite. I was in extreme pain but he forced himself on me for two days straight. You’re not allowed to have any penetration after a procedure like I had but that didn’t matter to him. He basically raped me and held me against my will. I’ve blocked out a lot of things in my life and to be totally honest I don’t even remember how I got out of that situation. I do know I left and he never even attempted to reach out to me after that.
EARLY ADULTHOOD
A few years later, at the age of nineteen, I started to develop serious stomach issues. I was in extreme pain every day of my life. I went to the doctor multiple times over the next two years, and they just kept telling me it was stress. It wasn’t until I went on a trip to visit a family member that my cousin forced me to call the doctor and get myself checked. They had never seen me that sick, and they knew it wasn’t just stress. The doctors ran a series of tests and after two years of wondering, I finally had an answer. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.
At the time, I was a waitress and dating an Italian guy. Like many young people trying to find their way in the world, I was going through identity issues trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life.
One day, my father came over to my apartment. He sat and watched as I cooked dinner for my then-boyfriend, the Italian guy. For the first time ever in my life, my father told me that he was proud of me.
I dabbled with the idea of becoming a personal trainer, but both the Italian guy and my father said that they’d be embarrassed if that’s what I decided to do with my life. I was a waitress, and the Italian guy was a chef, so we decided to open up a restaurant together. A couple weeks before the restaurant was about to open, one of the Italian men in my life laid hands on me again - only this time it wasn’t my father. It was my boyfriend.
He threw me down a flight of stairs, and as I lay at the bottom of the stairwell, he continued to attack me, both punching and kicking me. Over and over.
Coincidentally, right as this attack was happening, my father came over. He wanted to talk about the upcoming restaurant opening, because he had lent us some money for it. He showed up right after my boyfriend was done. He looked at me, realized what happened, and sent me over to my mothers house. I thought he was finally standing up for me.
An hour or so later my father called me up to tell me that he had talked things through with my boyfriend, and he could tell that he was sorry. He said at least it was only the first time he hit me. After that, I didn’t talk to my father for a year. I signed the restaurant over, out of my name and moved out of my apartment and into my mothers house. She wasn’t expecting her 22 year old daughter to suddenly return home, and she did not have room for me, so I literally had to live in the attic. That’s when my life took a really tough turn.
I started working for another restaurant. I was going to be the manager and open up a new restaurant in New York City. I was on my way into New York City the day the Twin Towers went
down. That, in itself, is a whole story. After that day I told the owners of the restaurant that I did not want to do this anymore because I thought that was a major sign.
While living in my moms house, I experienced a major depression. I started binging and purging almost every day, before I ultimately had a nervous breakdown. I was trying to get myself into a facility for eating disorders and depression, but neither myself nor my mother could afford it. Finally, I headed out for an emergency room and checked myself into the psych ward.
I was in the psych ward for seven days, and then in intensive outpatient therapy. I immediately applied to work at the front desk at New York sports club while I was simultaneously earning my personal training certification. I finished my certification in three months and started training my very first clients in April of 2001. I also dedicated a lot of time to getting myself off of medication for my medical condition. I was determined to get myself in remission through nutrition and exercise. Within about four months, I had taken myself off all medication. I was feeling great and happy. Finally, happy.
In that first year, I ranked 20th out of over 4000 trainers from 7 different states. I hadn’t even worked for a full year when I received that ranking. Every year after that I continued to move up in ranking. Within the first year, I started working for one of the certifications that certified me. I started training trainers, and giving training seminars at a convention that we would run two times a year. In 2005, one of my good friends in the New York sports club moved to California. I went to visit her, and I immediately fell in love with the Golden State. On April 23 of 2005, I bought my one-way ticket to move to California. I was going to move in June, so I went back to New York and spent the next month and a half getting my clients settled and giving plenty of notice to all of my jobs.
At the time of my cross-country move, I was very skinny. One of the things with Crohn’s Disease is that your body doesn’t absorb all the nutrients from the foods you eat, especially when you’re stressed. I was eating healthy foods, and exercising regularly, but I was only at 9% body fat. (For reference, most women should have between 18-25% body fat). I decided that I needed a change and I felt that this was the perfect time. I had a new opportunity in California, and I took it. I was offered a position as a personal trainer at Bally Total Fitness. I was also promised the opportunity to be mentored for a Fitness Manager position, which I really wanted because I didn’t just love helping people get healthy, I wanted to mentor other trainers to be successful, so that their clients could also find success.
I basically started my life over again in California. Within 3 months of living there, I put on 15 pounds of healthy weight (muscle and a little bit of body fat). I was happier. I met Christian. When we were both working as trainers at Bally, I was finally given my chance. I was offered the position I wanted most, Fitness Manager. 11 months later I was promoted to a much bigger club. During my time as a Manager, I was ranked #1 in the nation... repeatedly. Throughout that time, Christian and I were engaged and then married (we are divorced now but still run a very successful business together). Shortly after getting married, while trying to get pregnant, I put on some more weight.
PREGNANCY + MOTHERHOOD
In order to get pregnant, I had to increase my body fat percentage, so I gained 15 pounds which placed me in a healthier body fat range for pregnant women. I ended up getting so sick that I was hospitalized, and it was during this hospitalization that I found out I had colitis, which is a chronic digestive disease. When I got diagnosed with colitis, the doctors wanted to put me back on medication. I refused. I got my colitis under control the way I had before when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease... my way. Then, when I weighed 147 pounds, I finally got pregnant.
Like many women, I experienced morning sickness during my first trimester. I ended up eating foods that aggravated my Crohn's disease and colitis, and ultimately led to complications. I was placed on bedrest, and administered an IV for 1 month. After that reality call, I was fine. I spent the rest of my pregnancy eating healthy foods and exercising every day. I even worked out the day before I gave birth! At the time I gave birth, I weighed 182 pounds, which means I gained exactly 35 pounds throughout the course of my pregnancy.
Thankfully, my labor was not bad, but here’s a little side note - while I was having labor pains, I was telling both the nurses and my husband that I would take labor pains over a Crohn’s attack ANY DAY. That is how painful Crohn’s disease is.
Within 2 weeks of giving birth, I was back to my regular workout routine. I was doing double days of cardio and weight training. Christian and I took our maternity and paternity leaves at the same time, so we were able to share the responsibilities of caring for our newborn son, Kekoa. His support made it possible for me to keep up with my fitness regimen while being a brand-new mom. Within two and a half months, I was back to 135 pounds and had my six-pack back. I returned to working full-time as a manager, and was in the best shape EVER. A little over nine months later, someone asked me if I was competing in an upcoming figure show. At the time I said “no”, but then I thought “well?!” I decided to do it just for the heck of it. I entered. I competed. And I won 1st place.
Soon after that win, I decided to leave Bally Total Fitness. I was getting sick of the corporate world. There was too much attention to the business side of things, conference calls, and statistics. There was too little attention on helping the members, motivating the clients and mentoring successful trainers. The original aspects of what had attracted me to the job had faded, so I knew it was time to move on.
entrepreneurship
When I recognized that Bally was no longer the best place for me, I gave all my clients and staff a one-month notice because I truly cared about them and wanted to give them sufficient time to find a replacement. Again, Christian supported me, this time by starting our business. We found a location where we could open our own gym, and committed ourselves to helping people get results and changing people’s lives. We really wanted to teach people that there is always a way. No matter the circumstances, no matter what is going on in your life, THERE IS
ALWAYS A WAY. We developed and perfected an extremely thorough program - one complete with functional training, cardio knowledge, nutritional education, and support. Our program was so successful in California, that I decided I wanted to help even more people, people from farther away. This is when my online coaching program was born.
motherhood, again
Our business was doing very well. We had taken on and mentored a few trainers to help in our business. At that time, Christian and I decided we wanted to have another child. We wanted to give Kekoa a younger brother or sister. Since I had difficulty conceiving the first time around, I knew that I would have to start my motherhood journey in a doctor’s office. Those doctors visits didn’t go at all how I imagined, and they told me that I was no longer able to carry a child. I was placed on a variety of medications, but they had such horrible side effects that it wasn’t worth it. The medications and side effects were so bad that they actually opened up some old wounds of mine that had never properly healed, so I knew it was time to see a therapist for PTSD. I had been through therapy so many times in my life prior to this, this wasn’t a particularly long process. I did everything my therapist asked me to do, and more. I wanted to heal.
It was at that point we decided to adopt. Christian and I were happy with the fact that we had at least one biological son, and we knew that we wanted another child. Our adoption journey was a very long process, as it took two and a half years before we were finally able to adopt our son Amir.
While all of this was going on, our oldest son Koa had gotten into Muay Thai and was thriving. He struggled in a few subjects in school so we found him tutors. He worked tirelessly throughout the school day and at night, and earned grades that made all of us proud. He has an incredible work ethic that really helped him to balance his schooling with the demands of his frequent Muay Thai classes.
competition life
I’m always striving to be a better version of myself. I feel like one of my strengths is I’m very good at multitasking, while still being able to give everyone and everything the attention that is needed. Soon after we adopted Amir, I decided to change my fitness goals. I was already at a healthy weight, so I decided I wanted to work on achieving more symmetry with my physique. This new goal led to me hiring a coach, who helped me with my symmetry. Throughout this journey I also started using supplements from Blackstone Labs and waist training with Squeeze Me Skinny. I eventually landed sponsorships from both companies, as well as others.
Within the first year of working with a coach, I decided to get back on the stage to compete again. I spent about four years of my life competing. Truthfully, when I was competing all the time I felt like I lost my way. I got too caught up in social media (who hasn’t) and I got separated from the aspects of health and fitness I loved the most. When I say I lost my way, I felt like I
NEEDED to have the title of IFBB pro in front of my name in order to build my business or earn respect in the industry. I forgot that at the end of the day, I have so many more letters. Letters that not only show what I’ve earned, but that also show all the ways I love to help people:
ECITS personal training
NASM personal training
NASM pre-and post natal and older adult and youth - ISSA sports nutrition
And more
In 2018 I competed in a National show to try for my IFBB Pro Card. I made a commitment to myself before that show, that I was going to launch my product. I tried to practice the law of attraction and say that when I got my IFBB pro card I would launch it thinking that that would help me get more clients to join the program... but I didn’t get my pro card. I competed in Masters Figure and Masters physique since I was over 40. I placed second in both, and missed that pro card by one place.
I’m a woman of my word, and I said I was not going to compete again after that because I really wanted to launch my product. I wanted to honor the commitment I made to myself. After joining the ambassador program through Blackstone Labs in my competition days, I had occasionally communicated with the owner PJ, and after that last show, he sent me a message and asked me what was next. I told him I was done competing and was moving onto a new adventure, the launch of my product. I told him I didn’t want to invest any more time and money in competing because my business and my family were more important. PJ surprised me and called me into an Instagram live segment, where he told me that he was officially promoting me to a fully sponsored athlete and that he would pay for all of my shows. After the live segment ended, I called him up to tell him that while I really appreciated his gesture, my mind was made up and I still was not going to compete. I would absolutely love to still be part of the Blackstone Labs family as a fully sponsored athlete. I love his products myself and encourage my clients to love his products as much as I do. That Instagram live segment was two and a half years ago. Since then, my program has consistently done well and I hope I have made PJ proud. Fast forward to 2022. I made some major changes to my training and physique. I decided to hire a coach again after 4 years. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with coaches having coaches. That’s how you grow and become better. I am working on so many clients’ plans that I didn’t want to do my own. I just wanted to focus on my clients. My body made some significant changes and I decided to try again for my IFBB pro card. I had to re-qualify so I did a local show here in Las Vegas and won first place in masters 35, masters 40 and masters 45. I won the overall and eight weeks later went to Masters USA in Anaheim California and won my IFBB pro card. Goal Achieved. Nothing changes with my business. I do not want to coach people for shows. Focused on clients right now and getting my name out here more in Las Vegas. I really just want to change people’s lives.
2020: the year we all love to hate
Now let’s talk a little bit about this past year or so. At around three years old, my youngest son Amir was tested for speech delay. At the time, he was not diagnosed with anything more than that. He was in a preschool and seeing a speech therapist. My other son Koa had been doing so well in Muay Thai, that he was officially labeled an amateur fighter. He continued to be highly successful in school as well. He was growing up to be a well-rounded young man, and a great big brother.
Then, as you all know, the pandemic happened. Koa was suddenly home every day. He was in school remotely five days a week, and Amir was still attending preschool, with his start of kindergarten quickly approaching. My maternal intuition told me that Amir had more than just a
speech delay, so I decided to hire a developmental pediatrician, and finally in June of 2020 he was diagnosed with hyperlexia, which falls within the autism spectrum.
Due to restrictions related to the pandemic, Amir was no longer able to see his speech therapist. Thankfully, he was still able to go to preschool, but not for long as he was scheduled to start kindergarten soon. This is when things really started to go downhill.
In March of 2020, we closed our doors to our studio and I started training clients on zoom. Since I have been doing online coaching for over 10 years, some of my online clients in other states took advantage of me being on the computer and started training with me live as they had not been able to do before since they could not come into the studio. Christian went from working four hours a morning, five days a week, seeing all of his clients, to suddenly working all hours of the day, 6 to 7 days a week, while just managing to see half of his clients. In the state of California, gyms were able to open for a short while and at that same time, they made the announcement that massage therapy was able to open. They discussed closing again, and between that and my frustration with not having either one of my kids in school I decided we needed to make a change. California was not going to be our home anymore. I couldn’t understand why my autistic son could go get a massage, but he couldn’t sit with his speech therapist. I couldn’t understand why my kids could go food shopping with me, but they couldn’t see their friends at school or in sports.
In October of 2020, our change began. Christian and I had made the decision to sell our house, close our business, and relocate the family. I moved to Nevada, where I rented a house and registered Amir for school. Christian and Koa stayed behind in California to finish tying up loose ends. Finally, on November 16, 2020, we were reunited as a family and the doors to the new Aguirre Fitness were opened in our present-day location of Henderson, Nevada. As I mentioned above, Christian and I divorced shortly after that. We have an incredible business relationship and we co-parent two amazing young boys.
present day
Both of my kids are active in school and in sports, and our business is doing great.
I will continue to run my business the way that I have been since March of 2020 because I’ve had so many people reach out to me from other states knowing that I’m training clients on Zoom. I have recently started training one on ones and semi-private. I also still train clients on zoom all over the country.
Christian and I will continue to run this business till (hopefully) the kids want to join us. Koa has already expressed interest in it. I don’t plan on retiring any time soon (I’ll be working till my 70s). I can’t express how much I love what I do and NEED it in my life.