Jessi is a strength coach, fitness writer/blogger, and feminist. In her spare time you can find her doing front squats, snowboarding, drinking Scotch, performing handstands, reading fiction, and DANCING.

Note from Matt: This interview was recorded from a skype call and then transcribed by me. Some answers may be edited slightly for an easier read.

Matt: First question and maybe the most important. You’ve been picked as the final dancer in a nationally televised dance competition. What song do you pick to dance to and why?

Jessi: That’s a great question. I’m going to have to go with the song ‘Wild For The Night’ by ASAP and Skrillex mainly because I’ve been obsessing about it for the last few weeks. The song is the perfect combination of hip-hop and high energy dubstep music.

Matt: What books have you read recently that you really enjoyed? Fiction or non-fiction.

Jessi: I read a lot. Umm, ‘Strangers In A Strange Land’ was the last one and I thought it was great. I’ve only recently gotten into sci-fi and am really enjoying speculative fiction, which is a little less nerdy than normal sci-fi. It’s less about the gadgets and more about exploring what it would be like to live in an alternate universe. Anything that takes on a cultures norms and screws with them is interesting to me.

Matt: So you have recently started “grokking” then?

Jessi: Yes! I’ve been trying to use that word daily because it’s just the coolest word (laughing).

Matt: Nice! You’d be surprised at how often I run into people in the tech world that use the word regularly (laughing).

Where did your fitness journey start and what made you want to become a fitness professional?

Jessi: I was the least athletic person in the world. In high school I was the at the top of my class in grades, a part of the marching band, and was a theater geek. I really dreaded the mile run and nothing made more miserable than gym class. So that’s where I was coming from and I only did dancing because of musical theater. To catch up with dancing I did a year-long program in between high school and college. I moved to New York to do acting and was doing all these random jobs to stay afloat like being a barista. I lost my job one day and a friend at a party told me that I looked fit and should be a trainer at their gym. I went in to interview and just had no idea what training even was. The guy interviewing me asked me if I was certified and I was like, “Oh god no!” He asked if I worked out and I had to answer no to that as well. He hired me anyways because they needed women and really wanted to make sales to female clients. So I got into the industry in the most shady way possible (laughing).

Two years later I realized that I really didn’t love acting and actually loved training and lifting. What I enjoyed the most was having a one-on-one relationship with someone. It felt good to work with a client closely and empower them. That was the point, about four years ago, where I quit acting and started taking this seriously.

Matt: Were there any mentors in particular that helped accelerate your personal education and career? What lessons did you take away from them?

Jessi: Oh god yes. I worked at Peak Perfomance in New York City, so Joe Dowdell was a big mentor for me. He really cares about the science of training and I think I never would have gotten to that point on my own if it hadn’t been for his influence. I’ve always been someone who has read a ton and I can usually trust my instincts when it comes to piecing information together. I probably could have gotten pretty far with that alone, but it opened so many doors to me having someone who didn’t care what I felt and forced me to learn the proper way to do everything. Programming, for example, is so underrated because so many people don’t know how to do it right and Joe made me focus on this. He made sure I wasn’t distracted by the wrong things and learn how to fix clients problems or reach their goals through programming alone.

Since then I’ve become really connected to a lot of people in the fitness industry so it would be hard to name all of them. John Romaniello and Neghar, Rob Sulaver, and others have been very inspirational and encouraging to me. These individuals helped me when I decided what I wanted to do with my career and to shape my message. The belief from them that I could actually do it was amazing.

Matt: You train in-person and through your own online brand ReModel Fitness. What type of clients do you specialize in and enjoy working with?

Jessi: In-person I don’t think I specialize with anything in particular. I work with a lot of women who are just starting working out and that includes models who come into our gym. This wasn’t really done on purpose in the beginning. When I launched ReModel Fitness I wanted to focus this a bit further. Now I only train women and they tend to be younger novice lifters. I think that’s because I came from a similar background where I wasn’t athletic and didn’t feel empowered in the gym. I can understand that better than most people. Many personal trainers get into fitness because they were really athletic, so it’s a bit unique for me to do this. I’m not a personal trainer because I love sports. I don’t even know the rules to a single sport, so that right there really separates me from the average trainer you come across. As I got deeper into this industry I saw this scenario where women were leaving high school and weren’t doing anything for the next 5 or 10 years. They didn’t know where to even start with working out or going to the gym. I can understand that. I also feel SO strongly that women are taught to be small, emotionally and physically, and that if you can get to the point where you start to feel strong physically it extends to the rest of your life. I see it almost as a means to an end and that women, especially younger women, need this more than anyone else.

Matt: I think you do a fantastic job with your blog and putting that message out there. How has it been transitioning into online coaching and working with clients remotely?

Jessi: It’s been great. I feel that because I focus so much on things in-person like biomechanics and cueing that I consider myself a strength coach for in-person training. Online I’m more of a shepherd because I’m not there to do those things. I focus on what’s most important to me. I do the programming, which kind of takes care of itself, but beyond that I offer them support and a new point of view to grow the belief that they can reach any goal they choose physically. Even more important, you can love yourself along the way and be grateful for this body that you have because it’s not perfect. That’s been a really amazing experience to do online because that’s really almost all we have to do. Once I’ve done the program the main work left is the stuff I love the most.

Matt: What challenges have you had with training clients online?

Jessi: The flip side of that is that I’m not there to check form or make adjustments on the fly. Especially since I’m working with clients who are new to some of these movements and exercises there has to be a lot of trust between us. I’ll describe things, send video, and even have them send me video. But it’s much harder and because of that there’s less trust on my end of when to progress them. For my in-person clients I’m there everyday and can easily read their cues to know when a heavier load or new rep range is possible. Online I can’t do that, so it’s a little scarier sometimes and there’s a lot less control. You do whatever you can to get through that.

Matt: You do a lot of writing focused on creating long-term, sustainable habits with your clients? What’s your strategy when starting with a new client?

Jessi: I don’t have one system that I follow. I think the the best thing you can do is meet the client where they are and make suggestions. When starting out with a client, and throughout our relationship, I focus on making goals that are achievable and succeedable. I have some clients who get their new training program and want to overhaul everything all at once. Instead we’re going to focus on one thing that they are definitely going to win at this week and that’s it. If they do more, great! If they don’t it’s not a problem because they still get the win. I want people to build because success and confidence gain momentum. One seemingly meaningless detail this week that makes you feel successful means you will be able to do one more the week after. So, meeting people wherever they are, focusing on taking baby steps that are achievable, and taking the long route is how I approach these challenges with my clients. I wont take anyone who is looking for short-term results. If someone emails me that they are looking to get shredded in six weeks I’ll recommend someone else because if they worked with me we would both end up being disappointed. Not that there’s anything wrong with their goal, it’s just not what I want to do right now. I just believe so strongly in putting the message out there that slow and steady is the way to go.

Matt: One of our advisors for StrengthPortal is David Dellenava who you did the #instabattles with earlier this year. How did that all get started? I’ve never asked anyone that participated in that before.

Jessi: I just happened to have met somebody through Twitter, I don’t remember who at this point, and we met up for coffee in New York very briefly. This girl was talking to someone online and I just commented on their video saying that it looked fun. The group ended up inviting me to participate and it just became one of these things that grew and grew. It must have been David and Jen who got it going and I’d never met any of these people before I started interacting with them on a daily basis online. It just was a lot of fun with all these running jokes and challenges. Eventually there was a group of 6+ trainers that were all tagging each other every day. A few months later I met them all at a fitness conference in Kansas City and some of them are now my closest friends. All of this happened because we were doing an #instabattle through Instagram (laughing).

It was just an amazing group of people who thought this was cool. I had never videotaped myself doing anything and never tried any of the exercise movements before. The different movements opened up my eyes a bit and forced me to try new things. Even if you failed at a challenge you had this super interesting dynamic where everyone was still positive about it and encouraging you to try again. We were posting fail videos all the time and it was incredibly funny.

Matt: I think your background and point of view as a trainer is really interesting because you came into the industry without a degree or experience and have progressed to an awesome place career-wise. Do you have any advice to other female personal trainers who are getting into the industry for the first time?

Jessi: I don’t know. I feel like I can’t speak to that at all. Just learn as much as you can I guess.

I think that it’s such a personal journey and I would never say that the way I did was better than anyone else’s path. It just kinda fell on me and then I fell on it. It was a really random thing that I got into and then there were so many things that told me that this was what I was supposed to be doing. I think feeling good and confident at your job comes from learning everything you can along the way. Every time I took a new course or something that lit me up it was a sign to me that I was doing the right thing. There are always bits and pieces of information that I could never apply to my clients, but were very impactful to me on my journey as I continued to learn.

Matt: What’s next for you as a fitness professional? Right now you’re training in-person, training online, writing for fitness blogs/websites, and growing your brand.  What’s coming up in 2015?

Jessi: World domination? (laughing)

I’m in an interesting place right now because all of the goals I had originally set while launching ReModel Fitness, one year ago this week, were accomplished. When I set these goals I wasn’t too sure if it would work. It seemed like a pipedream, you know? When I recently looked at them and realized that I had reached every one my first thought was that I need to set some bigger goals. So I don’t fully know what these goals are, but I’m journaling about this all the time. I’m experimenting with some photoshoots right now to see if I can get closer to the message I would like to portray. When I started it wasn’t nearly as clear as it is now. I’ve really, really come into myself this past year and what I believe in. I’m sure you’ve seen my website, but I feel as if I don’t even know that girl anymore. That doesn’t represent myself or the message that I have now. Also, I’m not really sure exactly what direction I want to take this. I’d like to help as many people as possible. I want to reach as many people as possible, especially young girls. It would be awesome to talk to girls in high school and work with them at some point. Even that could happen this upcoming year or maybe ten years down the road depending on what I choose to pursue.

Matt: BIG THANK YOU to Jessi for giving me her time. If you’re intertested in hearing more from here check out the links below:

• Jessi Kneeland website
• Facebook Page
• Instagram @jessikneeland