Our Female Athlete of the Month is Jess Leone! Jess is our back-up coach at 450am just in case the opening coach oversleeps (this will be news to her). But it really is hard to find a 450am BeachFit class that doesn’t have Jess’s big smile in it.
Jess has recently passed the 850 workout mark! Not an official FitTown milestone but darn impressive nonetheless. And even more impressive is that she gets her workout in each day before heading to work in West Palm Beach as a pre-primary teacher at Palm Beach Day Academy.
After 850 workouts, Jess clearly now has a license to carry those “guns”. She says when she first started, she couldn’t even do a single push-up. Now she can bust out a bunch and has aspirations to do our traditional “Murph” workout one day full-on without scaling.
Thank you Jess for brightening our mornings way before the sun even thinks about coming up. We are grateful to have you in our FitTown Family!
Tell us a little about yourself. Give us a brief background on what has made you you? How’d you end up in Jupiter? Married/kids/etc.?
I was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, but grew up all over. I have lived in Florida, Tennessee, California, Australia and Malaysia. I currently teach at Palm Beach Day Academy as a Pre-Primary teacher. I am married to my husband, Nick. And we have a daughter named Sadie.
What’s something about you that others may not know about you? Any special talents, hobbies, or interests?
Something you may not know about me is that I love to travel. I have lived overseas in Penang, Malaysia and Australia.
What were you doing for fitness before FitTown? What motivated you to get started at FitTown?
Before FitTown I worked out at a random gym not making much progress. I was losing motivation to workout, so Jamie Vandergast gave me the push to try BeachFit with her. Needless to say, I loved it and I have been hooked ever since.
I have gotten much stronger since I started! I wasn’t able to do any pushups, now I am able to do them with no assistance.
Any new beliefs/mottos, habits, behaviors that you formed since you started that have most positively impacted your life?
The motto I live by nowadays is “Just Show Up!” I may be tired at 4:50, but I love to start my day with a workout.
Do you have any memorable moments/workouts at FitTown that you’d like to share?
The most memorable workouts I have had at FitTown are the Murph workouts. They are challenging but I have gone from modifying from half and scaled Murph to a full yet scaled Murph. Next year my goal is to be able to do a full Murph with pull-ups instead of ring rows. It also helps that this has become a tradition with our friends so we are able to cheer each other on.
What keeps you motivated? What do you remind yourself of on days when you don’t “feel” like going to the gym.
A few things…The motto ‘Just Show Up’, making my fifteen check-ins to make committed club each month, and my friends. Having a good group of friends that keep me accountable is very motivating.
What advice do you have for the person who’s hesitant about starting a fitness program like this?
Give it a try. We all have been in your shoes, and it’s not as scary as it looks! The workouts are great and the coaches keep you moving.
What do you love most about FitTown Jupiter?
What I love most about FitTown is the family-friendly vibe it gives off. The coaches are always smiling so early in the morning, even at 4:50 and it makes for a good start to my day.
