His “800 Pounds of Parents” directly inspired Jonathan’s prolific fitness career. He is a multiple Personal Trainer of the Year Award-Winner, brain fitness expert, blogger for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), and master trainer for ACE. His book, Abs Revealed, delivers a modern, intelligent approach to abdominal training. A former astronomer, Jonathan used to study stellar bodies – now he builds them!

His insights are highly-valued by the media for their creativity, novelty, and compelling delivery. His presentations are not to be missed. Working with you as an individual, he is an expert at keeping the "person" in personal training and can quickly identify the most important parts of a fitness routine, and perhaps more importantly, help you become drawn toward the changes so they get easier to make.

Education and Certifications

View Awards

2010 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year

2006 ACE Personal Trainer of the Year

2003 Personal Fitness Professional (PFP) Magazine's Personal Trainer of the Year - Personal Training Director

Bio, Less Briefly

How do you go from 800 pounds of parents to a successful fitness career? By paying attention to the little things.

At the time of my father’s death, he weighed 424 pounds and my mother weighed 370 pounds. Even though I am an only child, we still had a BIG family. My father’s death from his poor lifestyle choices was the flashpoint for my career as a personal trainer. For my mother Pat, it was a massive wake up call. She came face to face with her own mortality.

My mother has lost 170 pounds and is running around so much I can’t keep track of her half of the time. If you see her, tell her to call me.

My mother’s eventual results are directly related to her ability to integrate a fitness mindset into her life, it wasn’t easy for her but small gradual changes made all the difference to the end result. Slowly and steadily, mother made better choices for nutrition and activity.

I have seen the two extremes of health and fitness in my own parents. I’ve seen the awful result of poor choices in my father’s death. And I’ve seen the wonderful turnaround that can occur in my mother’s new found life. The great thing is that she hasn’t just gotten her life back, she has discovered how to really live.

These two extremes clearly illustrate the outcomes that are the inevitable result of choices. The outcome can be horrible or it can wonderful. My experiences with my parents has given me a unique perspective and sensitivity to the struggle with obesity faced by millions of people today and has given me the opportunity to become one of the leading fitness experts on obesity and weight loss so I can put that sensitivity and my experiences to use.

The memory of my father and the life I have seen my mother reclaim keeps me highly motivated. I hope that you too will consider the vastly different outcomes that have resulted from their lifestyle choices as you live day to day.

You only get one body...use it wisely and live well. Whatever it is that you really love about life, you enjoy it more and it gets better, when you do it in a fit body.