A couple quick updates:
1 - As you may or may not have heard, I am hosting my first ever live event!!!! I am beyond ecstatic for this next step in my mission to positively impact the lives of 2 Billion people. Save the Dates: Friday October 9th and Saturday October 10th in Santa Barbara California. More details will be forthcoming in the next few weeks. Be sure to check in here, my newsletter, and the 1 Year 1000 Challenge page for all the details as they come in. :)
The early part of my career in helping people was spent in the gym doing personal training. I loved seeing people undergo the physical transformations of losing weight, building muscle, and recovering from injuries. It was an amazing time in my life.
As much as I enjoyed my time as a trainer, I also found a part of me being frustrated. I wanted to help more people and my reach seemed limited to who was in front of me at the gym.
I knew I had a ton of knowledge and experience to offer people in the realm of fitness. I knew, as I transitioned away from the role as a full time trainer, that there were still people out there who could benefit from my fitness, health, and exercise expertise.
I also knew that one of the biggest obstacles people faced in achieving their goals was ongoing accountability. I used to see it all the time; highly motivated people, who showed up to the gym, kicked ass at their workouts and nailed their nutrition. Then as soon as they stopped training with me and they no longer had the accountability, all their hard earned gains would disappear as would their gym attendance.
One day I had the idea to create a group. My intention in creating the group was to create accountability amongst members while providing a fun, safe, supportive, and inspiring environment for people working towards their health and fitness goals.
I called it the Exercise Accountability Group.
Over the years, the Exercise Accountability Group has now grown to nearly 60 members strong from all over the world!
Last month (March 2015) we agreed to do a meet up in New Orleans Louisiana. The meet up was open to all group members. Several of the members even participated in a race the morning of the meet up.
Heading to the meet up that night I was a little nervous, actually that is a lie, I was really nervous. :)
Many of the people who were going to be there had been clients of mine for a long time, yet I had never met any of them in person. Thoughts ran through my mind... What would they think of me? Would I live up to their expectations? Did I have enough bad jokes to tell to last the night? What if they did not recognize me? What if no one showed??!?!!
My nerves were quickly eased as Exercise Accountability group members began to show up. First there was one, then two and eventually there were many. Conversation lasted well into the wee hours (we finally were kicked out of the bar about 1am).
For me it was such a joy to hear everyone's stories about all their adventures they had been having in New Orleans, as well as learning more about some of the members and their life journeys. It meant a lot to me to be able to be there with them as they celebrated the race they had run earlier that day.
Often, throughout the night, I found myself feeling a tremendous sense of pride in all the people present as they shared more of their story with me. There were a lot of smiles, laughs, and tears, as I got to learn more and more about the journey's many had been on and what they have overcome in their life.
When I found a spare moment to myself (usually when I went to the bathroom, which I did a lot on account of the Coors Lite's I was drinking), I could not wipe the smile off my face. Several years ago I had had an idea to create an environment where a group of like minded people could come together, support, encourage, and inspire one another on their individual fitness journey's.
Fast forward to present day, here I was, meeting up with members of that group who had traveled 1000's of miles to gather in NOLA and celebrate all their accomplishments thus far!
The photos below do not illustrate the journeys so many of these amazing people have been on. I could spend hours talking about and bragging about all of them. Since the group is an Exercise group I'll leave you with one amazing fact:
The combined weight loss of the people pictured in the group photo is nearly 800lbs!!! Amazing and Inspiring.
With all my heart I want to thank everyone who has been a part of the Exercise Accountability Group thus far (or is a friend or family member supporting one of the members) and helping me to make one of my dreams come true. An extra big thanks goes to all the members, and their friends, who made the trip to NOLA.
It was an amazing night that I will never forget. I will always and forever hold the memories of that night in a very special place in my heart.
Enjoy the pics,
Carpe Diem,
Jesse
http://www.jessebrisendine.com
http://www.facebook.com/1year1000challenge
P.S. we are always looking for new members to join the Exercise Accountability Group. Only qualifications needed are to have a desire to make exercise and eating healthy a priority in your life. Click here to get more info and to sign up.
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