Weekend Crush: Jerome Fitness

I found Jerome Fitness while searching for info on PNF stretching and was hooked. His YouTube tutorials cover fitness, flexibility, nutrition--and a few laughs too. Who says who can't have a little fun getting flexier and stronger?

Awesome splits, right?
(c) Jerome Fitness, used with permission

One of my favorite things are the middle splits pointers. First of all, how awesome are his side splits? This has to be a martial arts thing--I've noticed that they tend to have better side splits than front splits, must be the kicking. I think I need to cross-train in this, I could learn to love the ability to kick people in the head. But I digress, lol. Maybe it's me but most of the videos I find are of the "ohhh lookit me!" variety; Jerome's Flexibility Training channel goes over practical tips like hip positioning, warming up, and avoiding injury. I love that he's just a regular person who loves fitness. Well, a regular person with incredible flexibility and strength too!

A fun fact about Jerome: he is actually an ectomorph. If I just lost you, some people gain muscle and weight
easily (endomorph), relatively well (mesomorph), or plain old struggle (ectomorph). Guess what category yours truly belongs to? Yep, the strugglers. Why does this even matter, you might ask? It makes strength training a drag for one and makes all those shiny, shiny protein supplements look like the end of grail quest. Jerome has these muscles (see below) and does not take supplements. He does what it takes to build a strong body: strength train. Deceptively simple, right?

(c) Jerome Fitness, used with permission

Like Jerome says, you really just need to work your muscles--your body will naturally build from your diet. Taking extra protein in supplement form does not do anything novel and excess protein just get turned into fat. Yeah, yuck.

No equipment is no excuse.
My favorite section of his channel is Workout Without Equipment. The pullups on a soccer goal post (football for the rest of the world) is pretty tempting. For all you polers I bet we could climb up and do some hanging pull ups. I'll take his solutions, like using tables and chairs as strength equipment, over gym machines any day. Plus body weight workouts are, well badass.

Workouts don't have to be boring.

Jerome's interpretation of sore muscles
(c) Jerome Fitness, used with permission

I admit I sometimes laugh by myself (like a weirdo, lol) working on his flexibility and strength tips. Jerome Fitness is equal parts awesome, practical, and silly. I mean, check out his sore muscles look. Even his anti-bullying video is a lot of fun. I don't believe in monotonous workouts, and worse, monotonous workout videos. It just has to be fun or I won't do it, plain and simple. I'm willing to bet you guys can relate. Someone who pokes fun of his own accent and almost always includes a blooper reel? Definitely makes it easier to keep working on his workouts.

Here's the first video I ever watched from Jerome Fitness (below). If you're after flexy or strength--or both!-- you'll find a lot to love. Also check out his Facebook page and website for more great tips. Happy strength & flexy training!