I HALF expected the Jillian Michaels audience to be ambushed by a cornucopia of American buzzwords. Maybe a ‘synergy’ or a ‘magnitude’ and a lot of ‘thinking outside of the box’. Admittedly, my perception of some American self-help public speakers was a lot of false enthusiam and a great deal of clichéd, redundant advice.
I have watched enough Oprah and Dr Phil to know what’s what (disclaimer: I love them both).
Michaels' approach to advice-giving is exactly how I'd hope a best friend would be for me; they'd tackling life's jumble pile of shit and problems with honesty and humour
Their super-duper smiley optimism can be, well, irritating. But when American US fitness guru, Jillian Michaels, stopped at The Lowry theatre in Salford Quays on Thursday 22 January with her new show, 'Maximise Your Life', there was an infectious sense of energy and optimism.
I left thoroughly motivated. I wanted to kick ass - the American way - not 'arse'.
Here's why; Jillian Michaels, US Fitness Guru, American wellness expert, tough-coach on the US Biggest Loser and creator of the 30 Day Shred, is 'no bullshitter'.
Michaels is a tough-talker and not remotely afraid of using the f-bomb. Most of her fans will remember the montages from The Biggest Loser US of sweat-drenched obese people throwing up into buckets in the gym, while Michaels screams down their ear. Although she's hard-core, she gets results.
"People ask me how I get people to lose so much weight so quickly. They lose weight because there's this crazy little bitch beating their ass everyday - for you, that's unrealistic," said Michaels to the crowd.
Jillian Michaels on Biggest Loser
For the rest of us, we were given a taste of Michaels tough-love and her straight-forward tips to getting our lives together; whether it's losing weight, finding love, or building a new career, for two and a half straight hours. No breaks. This lady can talk, good job she's likeable.
She split the show into three sections: science, sweat and self-help. Michaels says it's the self-help that's most important and we would be analysing why 'if change is so simple and so obvious, it's so difficult for people to do'.
Jillian Michaels
Michaels' approach to helping others is exactly how I'd hope a best friend would deliver advice; they'd tackling life's jumble pile of shit and problems with honesty and humour. Let's not sugar-coat our issues.
As we're winding down in January, when a lot of our well-meaning goals have started to waver, Michaels was working tirelessy to raise the level of motivation in the room. While she acknowledges she couldn't 'give motivation', we certainly were inspired.
I've summed up some of her most useful tips:
Eat less, do more: Michaels says she's made millions off of this very obvious advice. Yet we all look for a deeper reason, a miracle cure.
Work out your basil metobolic rate - BMR: You need to burn 3,500 calories to lose one pound. Although tedious, you need to work out how much calories you're intaking to figure out how much you'll need to burn. In lamen terms, The BMR calculator helps you figure out how much you can eat with out putting on more weight without burning anything. Here's an online calculator.
Eat better food - food without all the additives: Jillian Michaels doesn't expect her fans to spend money on fad diets - she sites the Paleo or Veganism as extreme diets that are unrealistic to keep up with. She even understands that people need treats and recommends thinking of junk food as just 20% of your diet. Instead, she advises to eat food without all the additives. Eat clean.
Ladies - get off the 'thigh spreader' and push yourself: We've either been or seen one of these women in the gym: there's the one reading a magazine while on the treadmill, or sat spread-eagle on a 'thigh spreader' trying for dear life to slim her inner thighs. Michaels says this is 'humiliating and frankly, 'pornographic'. Instead opt for high energy, high impact classes for quicker and more obvious results. Or rather, just do the sport you love - swimming or zumba, for example.
Push yourself
'You're fat because you want to be': "No they don't," muttered a woman in the row behind me. Michaels provided a much needed wake-up call for some in the audience. "It's your fault," she says. Identifying why you choose to eat the way you do - the very reason why you turn to food for comfort - will allow you to one day change bad habits. "Figure out the why, then the how," says Jillian.
Doing nothing doesn't lead to nothing - it manifests into regret.
The show identified that it's mostly fear and apprehension that stops people from reaching their goals. Weight loss, asking someone out or quitting your job to go for a better one. Taking risks, is far better than living with the regret of not acting.
Endeavor to make new mistakes: It will happen. That's Okay.
Don't fear being awesome: "Be your best self. As when you are happy and you are healthy you inspire others to do the same."
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Find out more about Jillian Michaels on her website.
