← What Are You Made Of?
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome back to that one studio on the what do youo Made up show. It's your boy, C. Rock. Here I'm with Jenna Josefowski, and she's here to share what she's made of. What's up, Jenna?
- [00:10]
B
Hey, great to be here.
- [00:12]
A
Yeah, man, it's great to have you here. And. And we want to find out what you're made of. So we'll start the show this way. What are you made of?
- [00:19]
B
I thought about this question for a long time because it's so many things, and initially I'm, like, thinking of all the stereotypical things like sugar and spice and fire and 32 flavors and then some. And like, all the cliche stuff. But okay, I. I did think about this. I'm full of more curiosity than I think my body can contain. And sometimes I can have, like, a really blunt or intense exterior, but it's coming from a place of, like, deep love and care. And then on the flip side, sometimes I can have a very bright and cheer and warm exterior, but, like, push me too far and I'm gonna bite. So it's a little bit of this and a little bit of that and things that seem like they are in contradiction with each other, but actually it's. It's a spectrum. Right. I am full of color. I'm definitely made of something very resilient and buoyant because I feel like I'm real good at bouncing back from struggles, and I'm made of whimsy and sparkle and warmth that can build Sapphire. Yeah. Sometimes seemingly opposing ideas and interests that might seem like they're not related, but I find a way to connect them, and I think that's what makes me who I am.
- [01:40]
A
Well, nice. And that speaks to the. Also the. The. The idea that you're on a mission to call out some bs and.
- [01:47]
B
Yeah.
- [01:48]
A
And so that takes another part of you, which, you know, you. You gotta. Had enough and enough is enough kind of thing. Like, seeing, hearing, experiencing enough of the. The bs. So can you kind of get into that, like, what. What happened there and what are you doing to call out the BS and what are you calling it out on?
- [02:05]
B
Yeah. Okay. So I'm like, ooh, how long do we have for this? Because I have quite a backstory. We're going to take this all the way back to around 2015, where I got really obsessed with being healthy and really obsessed with wellness in a way that actually pushed me to be the opposite of healthy. So I been. I've been in the fitness industry for well over a Decade. But I've been in the movement space for longer than that because I'm a former professional dancer and still a dance teacher to this day. From there I got into teaching yoga and group fitness and then ultimately became a personal trainer and a kettlebell instructor, slash kettlebell nerd. I'm a big nerd with the kettlebells. But yeah, I, I got really into clean eating in a way that felt very innocent for me. I had come back from a trip from Europe and you know, when you go on vacation, you just kind of like eat and drink in a way that doesn't make you feel great. I decided to do a popular elimination diet of that time. I decided to do a whole 30 and I took that whole 30, which if you or your listeners don't know what that is, it's basically you eliminate gluten, grains, soy, alcohol, sugar, joy, you, there's a lot of stuff that you're not allowed to eat. And I took that a little bit too far to a point that by the time I got to the end of it, I was actually experiencing some additional health problems. It was first of all very anxious and moody, but I was also itchy all the time. I had like clawing at my arms and legs. I couldn't explain it. So I then convinced myself that I was sensitive to some food that I hadn't eliminated already. So then I went further down the rabbit hole, started making my own laundry detergent, all natural skin care, worried about chemicals and everything and really, really stressed out. And then on top of it, I had also gained weight on the whole 30. And I know that a lot of these things will tell you it's not about weight, but when you spend like an entire month not eating anything normal at the gatherings you go to and doing special meal prep and you gain weight on top of it, you're kind of like, what is happening here? So ultimately I did another one. I did two of them thinking it was me. And yeah, because that's what we do, right? We blame ourselves when it doesn't work. And one of going to the doctor was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, from there went a little bit further because obviously, you know, being so into health and wellness, I wanted to understand why is this happening to me? Well, turns out I was kind of in a hormonal mess of low estrogen and progesterone. My doctor actually told me those were the levels of an 80 year old woman. So that was fun because I was about 30 and high cortisol. And at that point it was high. Tsh. But some other thyroid stuff that was happening that were basically contributing to me feeling like garbage and also a whole lot of anxiety around food. That was then resolved once I went and I was actually going to do food sensitivity testing, and that wasn't covered by my insurance. It was too expensive. I ultimately wound up settling on allergy testing to just see if we could roll out anything major. And what was interesting was the minute I got the allergy test and they told me that I wasn't allergic to any foods, itching stopped, never got itchy again. So I kind of.
- [05:47]
A
So that was there. It was somatic.
- [05:49]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And for sure. So I sort of went on this journey of realizing that a part of my problem wasn't just that I was so stressed out and obsessed with food and exercise, but I was also following advice that wasn't meant for me. I was doing very low carb and a lot of intermittent fasting, which turns out isn't great for women of reproductive age and particularly women as active as I was. So I basically, like, ran myself into the ground in pursuit of being healthy and fit, and then realized that the opposite was true. At the same time, I started learning a little bit more about concepts like intuitive eating and just, like, body acceptance and things like that, which really pulled me out of a dark place, because it's hard when you're working in the fitness industry and you expect to look a certain way and uphold a certain thing. And around the time I think I mentioned I just gotten my personal trainers certification, I'm like, I can't even get my shit together. Pardon? I'm not sure if I'm allowed to on your podcast, but how am I supposed to help other people do this? And so I'm sort of trying to unravel everything that I had learned about health and wellness or that I had thought about it that I thought was true. That was, like, wrong. And, like, how do I actually help. Help my clients reach goals that are meaningful for them without pushing them to a really disordered and dysfunctional place like, I went to.
- [07:21]
A
Yeah. You know, I mean, one of the main things is there's a myth that this is good for everybody. This type of workout is good for everybody. This type of diet is good for everybody. And that's what people fall into. It's really dangerous on social media right now. You'll see somebody with a big following on social media, and they'll say something. Did you know? And then people listen to it and it registers in their brain and Then they go spread that message, hey, they say this, they say you shouldn't do this, they say you should eat this. The whole 30 works for everybody. You'll lose weight on it. And it's dangerous nowadays with that. So really the, the biggest thing for everybody to pick up here is, is that there's not one diet that fits everybody. There's not one workout that fits or schedule that fits everybody. You gotta find what works for you. And here you were doing these things that, that to go towards a certain goal and you were, you were going swimming upstream or actually swimming the wrong way.
- [08:09]
B
Yeah.
- [08:10]
A
You didn't even realize it. And until, until the results weren't there.
- [08:14]
B
Yeah, that's one. There's a couple things that I tell my clients often, which is number one, like you are the expert on your own body, you are the expert on your own lived experience. Like evidence based is real and I believe in science. And also sometimes you're the exception to the rule. Sometimes the thing that works for majority of people doesn't make sense for you. Sometimes the thing that you're experiencing hasn't been researched yet. Like there aren't studies on it, but because we don't have them. And so both things can be true at once and it's a hard line to skate. But you are the expert on your own body and not every piece of fitness or health or wellness advice was meant for you. And what you point out about, about the Internet, especially with social media now, things that are polarizing and like hot takes and quick little hits, that's, that's what gets traction. That's, that's what gets pushed out there. That's what people are going to see. People don't necessarily have the time when they're, you know, scrolling through their feed to sit down and have a nuanced conversation like we're having here. But it, it's the stuff that people need to be considering, you know?
- [09:25]
A
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So you were a professional dancer. What does that mean? Like what were you doing?
- [09:31]
B
So I was a dance major in college. Afterwards I moved to Chicago and I had performed with a couple contemporary dance in the Chicago area. So like the concert dance scene, I had done a lot of independent choreography. So I think like dance festivals and things like that. And that was more, I mentioned it was more like contemporary dance. And then after that I started getting back into tap dance, which has been such a fun revival of dance for me and definitely a more forgiving style in terms of just like what it puts your body through. So Then I kind of had a little second wind of my performance career in the tap dance world. But yeah, now I just teach.
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A
When you say contemporary, what is that? Ballroom dancing kind of things or.
- [10:14]
B
It's the best way that I can describe it. Contemporary is like a mishmash. A lot of people know the style. Like, people know ballet, right. People know. People know modern, people know hip hop, People know jazz. A lot of times jazz. If you think of, like, things that you would see on, you know, on Broadway or, you know, hip hop that you would see in like a music video or something like that, contemporary kind of throws a bunch of that stuff together and it depends on. On what the choreographer really thrives in. So, you know what I mean? You have to have like the technical ability of ballet. You have to be able to point your foot and put your leg in the air and, and turn and leap and do all those sorts of things. But then they might have you do something weird like, you know, an acro trick or like spin on your head and then like, catch a person and.
- [11:05]
A
Okay. Okay, yeah, gotcha. I've seen that before. Okay.
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B
And then it's pretty athletic.
- [11:09]
A
When you're not doing it professionally, were you the type, like, you'd go to the club and then. And you just be able to rock it out and everybody be like, damn.
- [11:17]
B
No, actually, I have no swag in that way. Ask me to do a dance and I'm going to do, like, I'm going to do a little time step.
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A
Okay.
- [11:26]
B
For you, I'm going to give you a little 42nd Street.
- [11:29]
A
So unless it's choreographed. You're good when it's choreographed, but.
- [11:32]
B
Yeah, or I can improvise within a style, but like, if you ask me to, like, freestyle and, you know.
- [11:37]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [11:38]
B
I don't know.
- [11:39]
A
Yeah, I have fun.
- [11:40]
B
I'm not saying it's good.
- [11:41]
A
You're more like. You're more like me than I thought because when I go there, just, you know. Oh, man. Well, all right. So then. Okay, so then we got into the kettlebell stuff.
- [11:53]
B
Yeah.
- [11:53]
A
And, and, and I worked. I just did work with some kettlebells the other day. Or actually yesterday I was doing some racked carries, 65 dumbbells. And it's really good for your core.
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B
Yeah, it is.
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A
It's amazing because I noticed, like, I was tight in my core the whole time and I'm holding them up here, you know.
- [12:09]
B
Yeah.
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A
But we. Then we do the swings and all kinds of things. So what are some of your favorite exercises with the kettlebells and, and did you get the most out of.
- [12:18]
B
Okay, so there are so many. The thing I love about the kettlebell in general is that you can do so many things with it. It's a very versatile tool. So, like, swings are always going to be my number one because I feel like they get a lot, like, they get that nice, like, hip hinge movement, which is a, like, you know, major movement pattern that our bodies need. It helps you develop power. It also, like, gets your heart rate up in a way that it sort of feels like strength and cardio combined into one. Love a Turkish get up.
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A
It's.
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B
If I can teach somebody to do a get up, there's so many components of that. Like, it's, it's functional because it's getting off the, off the floor, which is like a skill that we all need.
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A
Stabilizer muscles.
- [13:01]
B
Stabilizer muscles. Right. You're stabilizing your shoulder. You're getting a little chest press in there. You're getting a little like rotation with your core. Little like half windmill moment. You're doing a lunge or like overhead. There's just so much good stuff in a get up, but it's. It's complicated. It takes a long time to. To kind of break that skill down. But once you get it, it's definitely something that is worth, I guess, investing like the time and skill into learning. But my absolute favorite thing to do is a kettlebell complex. So just where you swing a bunch of stuff together, where you might start with like some single arm swings, and you do a clean and you do a little rack carry, couple overhead presses, front rack squat. Like we could go all day. It's just so, it's so versatile. And that's what I love it. You have one piece of equipment and you can do so many things with it.
- [13:47]
A
Yeah. Another favorite one of mine is I like prehab. Right. So for the shoulder, I like to hold the kettlebell by the handle with the bell sticking up in the air. And I'm walking like this.
- [13:56]
B
Yeah, like a little like, like a bottoms up.
- [13:59]
A
Yeah, the bottoms up. And you're holding bottoms up. Or like 90 degree angle and you're walking very slowly.
- [14:03]
B
Yeah. Now I'm thinking of like an arm bar. Have you ever done that where you. You lay on the floor with the kettlebell? I'm trying to describe this. I'm like on camera now. I guess people could see me. You, like, press it overhead, but then you roll towards your stomach so that your arm is up towards the ceiling. And so you're stabilizing your shoulder joint, but you're also getting a nice stretch through there. It's like, Like. Like a loaded stretch. It's so good.
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A
Yeah. And you want to make sure you go light with these as you're first starting these kind of things.
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B
Oh, 100. And maybe because you're stabilizing there, like, maybe have somebody on hand to just stand over you in case things go rogue and they gotta grab it.
- [14:36]
A
It's always good to start light with the kettlebells, but then, you know, then I like goblet squats. Goblet squats are one of my favorite. Again, it's hitting the core, not just the legs.
- [14:44]
B
Yeah, that's what I always say. It's sneaky core work. You don't think you're doing, like, abs, but. Oh, you're doing abs.
- [14:51]
A
Yeah. And so anytime you can get a whole body workout with something, it's an amazing thing, you know, and then you go. Of course, you can go to the gym and work on. It's a certain body part. But when you. When you take the kettlebell, you have an ability to have maybe a couple kettlebells, different weights, but be able to work your whole body without one of those whole gym cable systems.
- [15:10]
B
And that's one of the things that actually really drew me to them, because I got my first kettlebell certification and I have a few of them, but I got the first one around 2017, and I started the online portion of my fitness business in fall 2019. So right before COVID lockdown, I like, beat that bubble. And at that time, people couldn't go to the gym. So I'm writing programs for people to do, and they need to be able to work out from home. And I need to not have to tell somebody, hey, you need to buy an entire rack of dumbbells and also an entire rack of resistance bands and also a stability ball. And also it's. I. I was able to just tell people, hey, start off with one kettlebell, and then if you can add one larger and one smaller, and we'll work with that. And I just discovered that you could do so much with that, and it really just. It kind of carried over because I think a lot of my clients also just generally enjoy the convenience of being able to work out from wherever they are.
- [16:10]
A
Yeah. Yeah. So, okay, so you started an online version of their business writing programs, and then were you doing videos, too, so they could see a demonstration of the video of the program and all that?
- [16:22]
B
Yeah, 100%. I actually kind of have two versions of that. So one of them is just I actually have a wonderful app that I use so I do all my own video demos of each exercise so that people could do. But also my online program is called Kettlebell Social and within that program we have live community calls. So we'll literally like do a workout together, break stuff down, especially for some of that more complicated. Complicated stuff.
- [16:42]
A
Yeah. Okay. And then, and another exercise I love, I love the kettlebell deadlifts. Like holding them down on the side.
- [16:48]
B
Yeah, Like a little suitcase deadlifts.
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A
Yeah, some deadlifts and then some RDLs with them. Good stuff.
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B
So good. So many things you could do.
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A
I, I, you know, I didn't, until we started talking, I didn't realize all the exercise I use a kettlebell for. It's.
- [17:01]
B
You know what?
- [17:01]
A
It's so crazy.
- [17:03]
B
I, I'm thinking about, do you remember a couple years ago that little boy that the. It's corn, boy, it's corn.
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A
Oh yeah.
- [17:09]
B
You don't remember it? Yeah, yeah. The little boy singing about how much he loves corn and all the reasons. That's how I feel every time I talk about kettlebells.
- [17:15]
A
Yeah. So, all right, so then you go through the pandemic, you have this program, you're helping people with that. And then how did, how did things evolve since then?
- [17:25]
B
It's so different. Well, first of all, I think, I think the need for people like post COVID lockdown area has been very different. I noticed back then, first of all, the online fitness space was far less saturated, so there just wasn't as much noise. But also I think the online space, whether you're selling fitness or candles or, or whatever, it's just there's so much stuff on there that it's hard to break through the online space in the same way. And I've been finding first of all that online programs are a little bit harder to sell. Not just for that reason, but also because I've been finding more people are craving that realness like that in person connection, that one on one connection with an actual human. So I've actually found that it's, it's a lot easier of a sell, almost like a no brainer to just see people in person one on one. So I do a lot of that as well.
- [18:19]
A
Yeah, yeah. And what do you like? Do you have a gym that you go to or have.
- [18:23]
B
Yeah, I rent space out of. It's great. It's actually, it's a small personal training gym that only does personal training. So they have people that come there specifically Looking for a trainer, but then they also rent space out to other trainers. So it's great. It's a small space, like, small business, super chill. And I do it there. And then I also have some people that I see on Zoom.
- [18:45]
A
Gotcha.
- [18:46]
B
Yeah.
- [18:47]
A
And.
- [18:48]
B
Sorry, go ahead.
- [18:49]
A
No, I was just gonna say. And then. And then you got the podcast, right?
- [18:52]
B
Yeah, I have the podcast.
- [18:53]
A
Tell us how.
- [18:53]
B
That's exactly what I was gonna say. So podcast started 2022, I believe. My podcast is called Tough Cookie Talks. And the reason I started my podcast is because I was having all of these amazing conversations. I think as much as I bash things about social media, one of the great things about it is the social aspect. Right. When you get to meet people that you would have never had the opportunity to connect with had they had you not met them online. And I was having these conversations with people who maybe had, like, a parallel field that they were working in. Say they were, like, a really smart physical therapist or a dietitian or somebody else, and having these conversations with them, like, oh, my God, the people need to know. And the work that they're doing isn't necessarily, like, within my scope of practice, but they're the kind of person that I would want to refer my clients to or that, you know, could maybe answer questions that my clients have. And so I just started. Decided we needed to do it. And, yeah, we're. We're on a little hiatus right now, but we're getting ready for season four. And it's just been. It's been so wonderful to connect with different people and to spread those messages and kind of have a place where I can collect all those conversations. It, like, always blows my mind having a podcast. And I'm sure you can relate to this, where you get to talk to somebody really cool, and you're like, oh, my God, this person that I think is amazing just agreed with me to sit down and let me pick their brain and talk to my people. Like, how amazing is that?
- [20:27]
A
Yeah, yeah. I mean, that. That's huge. Absolutely. And you can then create a library of all this information. You can transcribe it. You can put it all into a book if you wanted to. Like, all the lessons I've learned from podcast guesting or.
- [20:38]
B
Exactly. And one of the great things, too, is, especially when you're somebody who sees clients. Whenever I have clients who come to me and ask me a question, instead of having to, like, break it down or, you know, write them a whole novel of an email, I can be like, listen to this podcast episode. Let me know what you think. Get back to me. And a lot of times it gives them a little bit more clarity, which is really cool.
- [20:59]
A
Yeah. How about the rest of your life, though? What did podcast, like starting a podcast do for you?
- [21:03]
B
Oh, man, the rest of my life.
- [21:09]
A
Yeah. I think. For example. Well, and I don't mean to cut you off, but, for example, did you start hearing people say you have a podcast or you're doing a podcast or like. Yeah. The local community.
- [21:21]
B
Yeah. Well, you know what's really interesting to me, it always blows my mind if somebody has listened to my podcast and then let me know that they listened to my podcast. Like, that moment when somebody, like, tags you and their Instagram stories, it's like, oh, you listened. Like, that's been really cool. I'm. I'm trying to think of what else I. I really think has it helped.
- [21:44]
A
Helped it with your business and your brand?
- [21:46]
B
You know what? It's really hard to tell. I. I like to think so. I don't know how many clients I actually get from my podcast. I think that's like, data that I would have to break down and see. But I think it's something, number one that I really enjoy that fills my cup up, that doesn't feel like work. And I think it absolutely. Whether or not it's gotten me more clients, I think 100. It enhances the experience of. Of my current clients.
- [22:13]
A
Yeah.
- [22:13]
B
And. And just people like, in my. In my orbit, you know, Right. To be able to. To send that to them. It's a little bit weird being a podcaster, though. I don't know how you feel about this before you started your podcast. I remember listening to podcasts and podcasts did two things for me. First of all, some of them took me to a very dark place, like that place where I was obsessed with food and exercise and clean eating and. And. And all of that. But they also, I think, pulled me out of a really dark place. Like, one of the ways that I got into doing the kind of work that I do was listening to a very specific podcaster who I actually originally heard her on a Paleo podcast back in the day, but she was on there talking about, like, body image stuff. And then I started listening to her podcast when I was really struggling with body image, and she just opened my mind to ways of looking at things that I had never considered before. And I like the fact that, you know, listening to a podcast can. It can really kind of change the trajectory of your life.
- [23:16]
A
Yeah. Yeah, it could. One way or the other, too, right?
- [23:19]
B
Like, oh, yeah, yeah. I'm living. Living proof of that. Be careful what you listen to. I always say. I always say to people, you know, take everything you hear with a grain of salt, even if it's coming from me. But it doesn't feel. I don't know if you feel this way. I don't think having a podcast feels the way that I thought having a podcast would. Does that make sense? Like, I remember aspiring to it, like, telling my husband, like, I'm gonna start an online business. I'm gonna have a podcast. I'm gonna be, like, this person. And now I'm doing it, and it just feels like, regular.
- [23:53]
A
Yeah. The novelty wears off. Right. And I think a lot of times it's like, the thought and excitement going into it is what it's all about, really. When you get to the pinnacle or you get to the goal, it's like, oh, I thought it was going to be different. And then that's why you got to create a new goal to go towards new target, because it's that journey that. That's what's really exciting.
- [24:10]
B
Yeah. And also, just, like, marvel at what you created. Like, I think of some of the people that I talked to, like, oh, my God, this author who's, like, book changed my life. And, like, I got to talk to her. How often do you get to do that?
- [24:25]
A
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I. I've been running in circles now with some celebrities and people I saw on tv, and it's like, back in the day, I would have never thought that was possible. But then when I do it, it's like, oh, they're just human beings, too. And it's. It's pretty cool. But, like, you know what? I'm one thing concerned with. Sometimes when I hit that pinnacle of different areas, it's like, I better be really dialed into what my life's about, my purpose and who I am. Because if I'm not, it gets real hopeless after that. Because you're like, okay, I did this. What's next? It reminds me, you know, the Powerball? Nobody hit the Powerball last night. It's up to $1.5 billion now.
- [24:57]
B
Oh, my God.
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A
And it reminds me that we all in life, we need money to survive, and we need money then to have the things we want and the life we want and whatever. And then, you know, build up a reserve so you can invest eventually and then whatever. But that. That topic is on our mind a lot. If you think about, like, how much time we spend thinking about different Things, Money's got to be one of the biggest ones. Especially entrepreneur too.
- [25:26]
B
Yeah.
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A
And so I was thinking about the Powerball this morning. I'm like, wait a minute, 1.5 billion? Like, if I got that or if I ever have a business, eventually that, that creates billionaire status, whatever. Money's not an issue anymore. Then what? Because, like, how much time do you actually spend thinking about money?
- [25:44]
B
Well, and you want to know what else? I think about this all the time. And it's funny because I'm always drawing parallels between things, right. Money. And also I think about very specifically in a fitness space, a lot of people will come to you with a goal weight, right? Or I want to lose X amount of pounds. And one thing that I always encourage people to get curious about is why? And not from a place of like, ew, why? But like, why is that actually important to you? Because a lot of times people acknowledge equate weight with health in a way that doesn't necessarily match up. And I'll share a specific story in a second. But some people want to lose weight because they believe that it will help them go up the stairs without getting winded. For example, some people want to lose weight because they think it'll lower their cholesterol. Some people want to lose weight because they think that it will help them fit into a pair of pants that they wore 15 years ago or whatever. And if you're not clear on what outcome you want as a result of that particular number, you might get to that number and realize that that actually didn't help you reach a goal. One example for me, I'm thinking of a conversation I had in particular with somebody who specifically was trying to lose weight so that she could lower her cholesterol. Well, she wound up losing some weight. She went back to the doctor and her cholesterol was higher because whatever method she chose to lose weight wasn't incorporating health promoting behaviors that would also lower her cholesterol.
- [27:10]
A
Right.
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B
Because that's, it's a separate thing. Right? It's like science 101. Correlation doesn't equal causation. So I think when it comes to weight loss, that's one example. But I think money, we do the same thing with money. We think, oh, if I just get this much money, I'll be happy. But why, like, what do you want to do with that money? Do you want to go on a fancy vacation? Do you want this kind of house? Do you just want to, want to have more leisure time? Like, what is that thing? Because I think it's easy to do with our businesses too, right? Where you like take on all the extra work and you, you know, sign on all the extra clients because you want to have this thing and then you find yourself in a cage of your own making. That was the same thing as working for someone else.
- [27:52]
A
Huge. Yeah, it's huge. You know, and why is like the amount of weight, man, like, you think about this and you mentioned body image. Like, what was the, what was the body image that you really, really were looking for versus what you had? It was like, is it magazine covers, like model people? Or like what, what was the. Because I always wonder that sometimes even for me, I'm like, I just, I just wanna, I just don't want to have like love handles. I want to be like, just cut. I don't need to be like Hulk Hogan. Not maybe not, but. But like somebody like ripped and all that. But I just like, you know, I want to be cut and all that. But. And you can get there. But like it's. Was it a specific body type or.
- [28:36]
B
So here's the thing. I actually think looking back, there was a whole lot of body dysmorphia going on for me, which I think is true for a lot of people.
- [28:43]
A
Describe what that is. For those that don't know, it's.
- [28:46]
B
It's something that happens particularly for people who have like an eating disorder or disordered eating, where you look one way but actually you look at yourself in the mirror and you perceive yourself as being different. And I think we all kind of experience this on a low level. When you look back at a photo of yourself when you were younger and you're like, oh my God, I was so thin, I looked so amazing. I was so gorgeous. And you remember how you actually felt that day and you felt terrible about yourself, but you look back at it in perspective and like, oh my God, I looked amazing. I think one of the things that. First of all, I don't, I don't even know what kind of body I was chasing, to be honest. I don't even think I was chasing a specific body. I think I was chasing the feelings and the emotions and the privileges that I thought that body would bring for me. I assumed that having a smaller body, being thinner, you know, having my arms, for me, that was always a hang up. Like I wanted like little tiny ballerina arms and I like, I came out like jacked.
- [29:49]
A
Yeah. But there's a place for that.
- [29:50]
B
Like, there's a place for that and that. And that's why I think I loved When I discovered lifting weights and kettlebells and all of that, because it was a. You don't have to be like dainty and pretty. Like you can be ugly and you can be bulky and you can be like whatever you need to be to accomplish the task. And that was such a far cry from the dance world that I had grown up in. I think I was chasing some kind of like pinnacle of my dance career. Yeah, maybe that. I don't want to say that it never came because I look back and it like, it kind of did come. Like I did have the experience of being a professional dancer. I just wanted more. You know, sometimes you think it's about weight and it's, it's not actually about the weights. I can say this with confidence now. Like, I'm definitely heavier than I was back then. I'm way more confident and more muscle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, both. But yeah, it wasn't necessarily about a specific weight or size. It was about maybe not trying to cram myself into jeans from 2006.
- [30:59]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's amazing. So what's, as we wrap up here, what's the vision from here? Like what would have to happen to really light you up that it happened going forward?
- [31:09]
B
What would have to light me up? I think. Wow, I didn't, I didn't think about that. I think I'm gonna come back to three words, force for good. This is, this is something that, that kind of came to me. I think I just want to be somebody who can create good in the lives of others and to help people to, to experience meaningful change. And I think on, on a personal level, I just want to experience those connections, like in my business, with my clients, but also like, like outside and continue to grow that and be able to talk to more people and connect those cool people with my cool people. And yeah, if I could think of something really specific or tangible. I mean, I think we all want to say we want to have like, I want to have a multi seven figure business.
- [32:09]
A
And like, yeah, like, but, but about that though, like for your brand, like, what do you see? What would you like to see with your brand getting out there? Would you like to, to be speaking on stages one day? Would you like to be known for something like across the country? Like what, what? Have a great, like that one day.
- [32:24]
B
I'm going to write a book.
- [32:25]
A
There you go.
- [32:26]
B
I don't know what my book is about yet, but I love to write. I do feel like there's going to be that moment for me where I Connect with the right person and, you know, the right vision and the right time. And the idea comes to me. I'm very much. Do you know the author? Elizabeth Gilbert?
- [32:45]
A
I might have heard her name, but.
- [32:47]
B
Her most popular book was Eat Pray Love. But she has this book, she has this book called Big Magic that talks a lot about like ideas. It's really woo woo, but like ideas floating out there in the ether and they like come to you at the time. And she does this beautiful thing on her substack called Letters from Love that I've been playing around with just like free writing. And I do feel like there's going to be a time where a book pours out of me. It's still marinating. It's not here yet. I don't know what it is. But I do feel like at some point in my future there, there's a book, I think, I think that's maybe my dream. Thanks for bringing that out. Like a book and a book tour. If I'm speaking on a stage, it's going to be a book tour. I don't know that I want to be in like a huge conferences touring the country. That's too much peopling.
- [33:33]
A
Yeah. And then going out on podcasts talking about the content concept of your book and. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, I'm glad, I'm glad we came up with that today.
- [33:42]
B
Thank you. Thank you. I knew it was there. I think I forgot about it. Yeah.
- [33:45]
A
Thank you. Well, awesome. Where can people go deep with you, Jenna?
- [33:47]
B
Yeah. Okay, so my podcast is called Tough Cookie Talks. You can listen to that wherever you listen to podcasts. My website is it'sjennajay.com and my Instagram is @itsjennaj.
- [33:59]
A
Awesome, awesome.
- [34:00]
B
And if you're in the Chicago area, I am taking new in person clients so we can hang out in real life. But also just generally like virtually. I do do that as well. And there are opportunities to work together if you like your fitness with equal parts challenge and compassion.
- [34:16]
A
Especially if you like kettlebells.
- [34:17]
B
Yeah.
- [34:18]
A
Jenna, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for having me wrap this up. My pleasure. Yeah, folks, that's this episode of the Woody made up show. Go subscribe or follow in the top of your favorite podcast platform. Keep coming back until next time. Boy. C Rock signing off. Be that one.