JLau Training

“As we let out own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same.”

Never underestimate the influence you may have on those around you. I feel like the movie coach Carter’s quote sums this photo up.

I was wrapping up a group fitness class and my cousin came over with her daughter for a Saturday hangout. And little did I know she was mimicking the cool down I was doing.

If you believe what you see on social media, you may think 18 percent body fat is ideal for women. But a recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research might surprise you. 
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Towson University researchers measured the body composition of 278 Division I female athletes—across 12 different sports—and found that, on average, these super-fit women weren’t really even close to 18 percent.[1]
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Most came in between 25 and 30 percent body fat. 
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Another eye-opener: In a different study, scientists tracked 27 bikini and fitness competitors through their competition training.[2] The researchers report that the competitors averaged 12.7 percent body fat the morning after their event.
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Let’s be very clear: That’s quite low. 
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But here’s something you might not expect: These same competitors were at an average of 23 percent body fat before they started their competition-specific training and dieting.
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The point? Fitness competitors’ walking-around bodies are lean, but they’re not ultra-lean. 
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All of which goes to show: If you want a healthy, athletic build or are an athlete measuring performance and recovery? Striving to lean out to a bikini model’s body fat target you see in competition posts; are often not realistic or necessarily healthy. 
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Also note: No one but YOU can know your ideal body fat. 
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That’s because the body composition you can maintain while eating, exercising, sleeping, and living in a way that helps you feel your best is probably the right body fat percentage for you.

1. PMID: 31343559
2. PMID: 28119632

A thank you note from an old client. It’s amazing how every time I read this I am reminded of the influence coaches can hold.

None of these goals were my choosing, this gentleman has one of the hardest comeback stories you would ever hear and all he wanted to do was make a better version of himself.

He fell in love with the process, asked questions, desired tasks he could focus on outside of the gym to improve his overall health.

To get out of pain, put on muscle, quit smoking and learn to how to eat and be healthy is a tremendous feat. Doing it all in 6 months is what makes me so proud of this guy. I could not ask for a better experience as a coach.

Even more the small world coincidence that I worked in the hospital the same time he was there; under the doctors and nurses that were treating him. Only to officially meet three years later.

Gives me hope and faith in the saying “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be”