God has a plan

Let’s take a break from the fitness talk. Because life is so much more than big muscles and looking great.

Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Uncertainty breeds anxiety, and anxiety can overtake us. Prayer is an essential ingredient to build strength and trust in God. During moments of suffering and worry, it is important to take grievances and fears to God.

Sunday afternoon I found out that a previous student of mine, along with his 2 younger brothers and mom who was 8 months pregnant, were all killed in a car wreck Saturday evening outside of Fremont, NE.

This may be one of the hardest realizations that I’ve faced.

Ever since Sunday afternoon my mind has been flooding with the sweet memories that I will forever cherish, thinking about all the time I spent with Julian.

I’ll never forget the first time Julian walked into my classroom. He was screaming and crying at the top of his lungs because he didn’t want to leave his mom. He was only 4 years old when he first came into my life. At the time I was teaching at Head Start in Lincoln, NE which is now known as Educare.

I spent a lot of time with Julian. From holding him in my arms as he came in crying or sleeping most mornings, to helping him write his name for the first time. I still remember sitting down with him as he scribbled out a line and told me that was his name. He was 4 going on 5 and would be entering kindergarten next year. And even though this was my first year of teaching, I knew that going into Kindergarten not being able to write his name was going to present a lot of challenges. I sat with him every day and worked on this until he was finally able to write it out all my himself. Julian was so proud of himself. He wanted to write his name everywhere, all the time because he was so proud of himself. Shortly after we began working on his phonemic awareness. By the end of that year, he was able to identify each letter and sound. What an amazing accomplishment this beautiful boy had made!

His absolute favorite thing to do was ride bikes! We had a playground that had tricycles and a mini track for the kids to ride on. Everyday he would just ride and ride. We may have used that as an “incentive” once or twice.

I will never remember the last hug I gave this sweet boy, along his brothers and mom. With tears in our eyes we said our goodbyes with the hopes of maybe one day seeing each other again.

I ended up moving to Switzerland after I left teaching at Educare. That next year, I received many messages from his mom Maria telling me he was reading on grade level and doing well in school.

Looking back at these pictures, I am reminded of even more precious memories I had with Julian. This is another example that we don’t always understand why some things happen. A beautiful, sweet, loving and caring mother, trying to provide the best she could for her boys and a little girl that would’ve been here in March.

The one thing that is bringing me peace and comfort is trusting God that he has a greater plan than our own. I pray that they are all together in heaven and one day I will be able to see them all again.

❤️Maria
💙Julian
💙Adrian
💙Angel
💗unborn baby girl

Slow & Steady Wins the Race

6 weeks in between these photos. One thing I can tell y’all is bulking is SO MUCH HARDER than shredding, when done the right way!

Top/Left Photos: after my 21 day shred

Bottom/Right Photos: after 33 days of bulking

Strive to hit your goals in a healthy, sustainable, and ENJOYABLE way. Otherwise, what’s the point of all of this anyway.

So here’s what I learned while bulking...

▪️Protein is SO IMPORTANT! My goal was to hit 200-220g of protein everyday. This is how I still managed to keep my abs visible while consuming 2500 calories a day.

▪️Lifting everyday was an absolute must. We split up our lifts into different muscles groups. Back & biceps. Chest & Triceps. Legs. Shoulders & Core.

▪️OATS are one of my favorite foods ever! ...and to think at one time I didn’t like them 🤷🏼‍♀️But now I’m obsessed! I ate them every morning and just about every night before bed! They saved me when I was crazy something sweet at night. Go to my IGTV for my “Under Construction Blueberry Muffin” aka tasty AF oatmeal recipe!

My biggest challenges while bulking...

▪️My flexibility and mobility suffered bc I wasn’t putting in the time and effort that I needed. Our last week we started stretching for about 10mins before training and adding in mobility work throughout the day. Limber 11 video coming soon! 😉👊🏽

▪️Eating this much food was hard! I went from eating 1500 calories on my shred to about 2500 calories on my bulk. When you’re eating real foods (chicken, fish, veggies, potatoes, rice, oats...) that’s a lot!

▪️Consistency with tracking. If I’m being 💯 honest, there were a few days I didn’t track. Not because I didn’t want to, but I just became lazy.

▪️MINDSET. As you can see in the pics, my body is obviously bigger and my muscles are not as defined or visible. Mentally it was a little challenging for myself to let all the definition leave when I had just worked my ass off to get my body there. But it was a temporary sacrifice that I knew I had to make in order to grow.

The more I go through these different phases and challenges, the more I realize I HAVE SO MUCH to learn. So thank you for sticking through this experience with me.

The best is yet to come.

WHY

Have you ever heard something at just the right time in your life? And it clicked?

This moment literally happened to me today! It made me stop and realize what I had been doing was not for the right reasons or intentions. Then it made me think of people everywhere going through fitness journeys. Why are they doing it? Who are they doing it for? Why is this so important to them now, as opposed to 6 months ago? Did something happen in their life that made them think they needed to become more healthy?

So many of us go on these fitness journeys because we don’t like the way we look. We see the instagram models flashing up on our screens daily of what it looks like to be happy & healthy. But the secret is we have NO IDEA what these models or fitness beauties are actually going though. Are they really that happy? I guarantee they still have shit going on in their lives that they have to deal with. A picture can be a beautiful thing that allows us to become inspired or motivated but it can also have a negative side where we start comparing and envying those that “appear” to have it all together. The truth is no matter what you look like, you will always have shit going on. There will always be something on your body that you want to change or don’t like.

Y’all we have to learn to love ourselves. Love yourself for who you are, inside and out!

If your on a fitness journey and you are reading this right now. STOP and ask yourself why? Why is this important to me? NOW remember this! Because this journey will be anything but fast. It may take months, even years to accomplish what you want to achieve. But if you remember the reasons WHY this is important, you will continue to stay on track and NOT give up! Mentally, you have to be ready for the change, otherwise you will be giving up when you didn’t lose that 20lbs in the first 2 weeks of meal prepping and training.

Take the time to ask yourself WHY today!

MUCH love,

Coach J

What I eat in a day... on my #21 day shred

Hello loves!

I wanted to share this video I created while on my #21dayshred. I’ve had a lot of people reaching out after seeing the results we got in just 21 days, so I thought why not share a video of my experience and what it was like.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, let me give you the 411…

The rules of the 21 day shred were...

1. Log all food and be in a calorie deficit

2. NO junk food

3. NO alcohol

4. Take before & after pictures to help measure the progress

Throughout these 21 days my mind was blown away by what I learned about myself and about my relationship with food. My results spoke for themselves (I say that with the most humble heart) as I lost 5lbs and 1% in my body fat.

If you’re looking for a way to have fun and challenge yourself with yourself with a short term goal, this challenge might be for you. And if you need more help, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask for help!

Much Love,

Coach J

Here is a look at what my typical meals and snacks looked like throughout the 21 days.

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Vanilla Protein

Quest Cinnamon Crunch Protein

Under Construction Blueberry Muffin Recipe

Protein Waffles Recipe

One thing I learned on our #21dayshred

#AWARENESS

For those of you who don’t know, Beau and I set out a goal at the end of August to challenge ourselves for 21 days. The rules were simple…

1. Log all food religiously

2. NO junk food

3. NO alcohol

4. Take before and after pictures

Before this 21 day shred had started I knew what my calorie intake should be in order to lose weight I was logging food every now and then on my fitness pal I was eating healthy foods the majority of the time. Why wasn’t I getting the results I wanted? After these 21 days of consistently logging my food every single day. And I mean every meal. Even on Saturday and Sunday, and even on the weekdays. I was being honest. And every night I would check to see where I was at. I was under my calories for 20 days. There was a night we decided to “cheat” on our challenge. One of the rules of this 21 day challenge was to not drink. Unexpectedly, we got the chance to go to the #otrii concert and decided to have a few drinks. We went home that night and ate shredded chicken that was actual prepped earlier in the week for lunches. We didn’t hit up a drive thru and grab the garbage to go. We went home and ate chicken... I laughed a little at ourselves the next day too but was also very proud of our discipline after we had been drinking.

I wanted to share this with you because even after knowing how many calories I should’ve been eating. Even after being a personal trainer, I was not seeing the results I knew were possible... UNTIL I started logging EVERYTHING!

If you’re not seeing the progress you would like ask yourself these 2 questions...

1. Am I writing my food down in some form?

2. Am I working out consistently?

If you’re not seeing progress after you have answered these 2 questions please message me and let’s talk. But you best believe I am going to ask to see a picture of your food log from the previous 2 weeks!

#beaccountableforyou

Who is Jamie Smith?

First off, THANK YOU for reading this! There a million other things you could be doing right now, but you are here reading this. So THANK YOU!

This blog was created to bring you all sorts of fun, valuable information. Whether that is about workout gear, food choices or the honest truth about supplements. I am excited to share some fun info with y'all about all these things!

But first I wanted to give you a little information about myself, Jamie Lynn Smith (NO my mother and father did NOT name me after Jamie Lynn Spears! She was named after me. :) JK)

Family is #1

These are the people that have supported and loved me since day 1. They all still live in Nebraska. My dad and mom met in the same town Beau and I did. They are seriously THE BEST PARENTS. I look up to both of them in so many ways. You could call them my heroes!

My sista sista and I are 4 years apart. She is in her last year of grad school to become an OT. I am ultra proud of her and everything she is striving for. Fingers crossed she gets to do an internship in North Dallas this spring!

I just got to visit them this past July for the 4th in Nebraska. I cherish every minute I get to spend time with them! They are coming here to visit over Christmas! And I am OVER THE TOP EXCITED! It’s not easy living 10 hours away but I have a feeling that they may make the move down south soon :)

HUSKER

I am born and raised Nebraska girl. No I did not grow up on a farm, I grew up in Lincoln.

High School

I went to a Lutheran elementary school and high school and graduated with about 50 kids in my class. I played both soccer and basketball at Lincoln Lutheran High School.

University of Nebraska

I spent most of my summers as a kid traveling around the midwest and even down to Texas for basketball and soccer tournaments with the club teams I played on. I committed my junior year to the University of Nebraska to play soccer. After redshirting my freshman year, I played another 2 seasons with the Huskers then decided it was time for the next chapter.

Concordia

Midyear of my junior year, I transferred to Concordia University in Seward, NE, my dad's alma mater, where I finished my final 2 seasons of playing and graduated with my bachelor’s of education.

He FB messaged me…

During my time at Concordia I met my husband Beau, who had also transferred to Concordia from COS (College of the Sequioas) in Visalia, California to play basketball. And after one look at me, he knew! He facebook messaged me that night asking to hangout sometime. Of course I was all giddy when I woke up the next morning and read it. I showed my sister and started creeping on him but with all the excitement I guess I forgot to message him back, leaving him with the thought… “OMG I blew it!” Well we ended up hanging out, unplanned, at a Jersey Shore party and the rest is history!

After graduating from Concordia University, I took a job at Head Start in Lincoln, teaching as a pre-k teacher. Met some really great people and learned a lot! Beau had 1 year left at Concordia at the time. Yes, I am a cougar! And proud of it! Ha.

SWITZERLAND

After Beau finished his last year, we took a trip to Switzerland that led to a permanent vacation for 10 months. Remo offered Beau a full time gig with D&Rn after we got engaged in Lucerne on Europe's Oldest Wooden Covered Bridge. This made it a really tricky sitauation because I obviously wanted to start to planing the wedding ASAP! But we couldn’t turn down the chance to live in beautiful Switzerland. So Lucerne became home.

Team Schwyz

While living in Switzerland, I nannied for a sweet family and got the chance to lace up my cleats and take the field again, after thinking I was officially done. I still remember the day after my first game and the pain all over my body! I couldn't get out of bed all day!

Madrid

After leaving Switzerland, we visited my childhood friend Steph who was teaching in Madrid. I love you Steph but Tapas are not my friend.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

After Madrid, we returned back to Texas late February of 2014, where we planned to get an apartment and begin our life together. We had set a date for our wedding, August 2, 2014. (We got engaged July 26, 2013 so while we were in Switzerland, my dad, mom and sister were all helping us plan the wedding in Lincoln) The details were pretty much all done. Save the dates had been ordered and I planned on mailing these out our first week back to the states.

The following morning after arriving back home, we opened our bag to get the money we had been saving for all these wonderful plans but it was gone. All of it. We had so many plans... get an apartment, help pay for the upcoming wedding... but plans had changed. Just like that. That day was on of the most devastating and life changing days I will never forget. I am not going to lie, we cried! A lot! But the next day, we sat down together took out a computer and started looking for jobs. Within a week, we each had 4-5 jobs lined up. We hustled. And we did it together with the support and love of our families right next to us. We did have to move the wedding back until the following May but it was a huge relief.

May 30, 2015

We tied the knot and partied all night long with our families and friends. Who might I add drank the place dry of Patron. It was a lot of fun!

our LOU LOU

We adopted Lou, originally known as “Mary Lou” (name the shelter gave her, obvi we dropped the Mary ASAP!) from Collin County Animal Shelter a week after the wedding. I had been begging Beau for a dog for about a year and we went “to just look”. We drove off with LouLou sitting on my lap. She is most adorable, adventurous, crazy, and has more facial expressions then I ever imagined a dog could have. She is also the most expensive $25 adoption EVER! But that’s a story for another time.

She is the R&G mascot. One day her face will be a mural on the wall. “Oh, hey Ryder and Dani, I have another project for you…”

our first logo

That following October of 2015, R&G began! We had 10 people sign up for training at 5:30am in the park that was lit from camping lanterns hanging on 3 basketball hoops. Rain or shine we trained.

“Namaste, y’all”

The weather became colder and we knew we were going to need an actual building to train in come winter. We rented out a Yoga studio that we crammed everyone into, which left us with the former memory of "Namaste, Y'all" ( a quote printed on pink walls with the mural of a flower next to it). Nothing about this place was fancy. Nothing! But it was the next step of R&G becoming what it is today.

“The Dungeon”

R&G continued to grow which lead us to our next rental space at an Anytime Fitness. We also personal trained in our apartment complex and eventually rented a garage where we held smaller group trainings at, formally known as “the dungeon".

The R&G House

We leased our very own first building of October 2016. This place has come A LONG WAY! From painting, to scrubbing the floors, to standing a ladder on top of MiMi and Papa Smith’s Expedition to change the light bulbs, to adding the rubbering flooring and all the equipment. This place is our baby! It’s our home.

…and NOW

Here we are 3 years later and in a 3,000 sq ft building providing personal and group trainings 6 days a week in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Retired Teacher

After teaching for 4 years, I have joined Beau full time working for R&G. This was not something we had expected to happen for awhile but God is again showing us that His plans are greater than our own.

Official title: CCO (Chief Culture Officer)

It’s everyday

Beau and I had no idea what the future had in store for us 7 years ago when we met in 2011.

God has given us the strength to get through many obstacles together! There is no one else I could imagine working with day in and day out. He pushes me to challenge myself, keeps me grounded, and provides in so many unseen ways.

I have no idea what the future holds for the both of us but I know that whatever we face, we will do it together …and with LouLou!

September... until the end of the year Goal

If I write and post this goal publicly, I will hold myself accountable to it...

My goal, starting TODAY, until December 31, 2018 is to post a video of myself everyday! This can be in the form of Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook but I will post everyday! 

WHY? When I joined my husband Beau with R&G full-time back in June, I was awful talking on camera! And I say awful as almost an understatement. I was not confident AT ALL! I would record a video of myself talking on camera then delete it, try again and get so frustrated with how I would forget what to say, stumble over words or just look and sound weird. I would say to myself "Okay NO NO NO! I'm done!" Well this eventually changed. Beau helped me a lot! He went through the same thing when he first started. He told me, "J, you just have to do it. It's not going to be great at first but at least you did it. You will get better with time." And y'all I still don't think I'm good at it. I will begin talking, get my words all tangled up and have to start over! Lol funny. Isn't that how life works? You begin something new and you're not great but with a little bit of practice you begin to get better and gain a little confidence day by day. And trust me, I still mess up today! Ha but I just laugh at myself, keep trying and eventually I post it out there for the world to see, even if I don't feel like it's going to win an Emmy Award. 

This goal is a self reminder and motivator to keep recording!