CLARION, Pa. (EYT) \u2014 On most weeks, Jessica Jeffcoat moves from yoga mats to weight machines at the Scenic Rivers Clarion YMCA, training about 17 clients\u2014many of them 65 or older\u2014who want to feel steadier, stronger, and more confident after injury or physical therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never have a bad day at work. It just doesn\u2019t happen because I\u2019m in the profession of making people feel better,\u201d Jessica told exploreClarion.com. \u201cDoing that, how could you have a bad day?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeffcoat, a certified personal trainer and registered yoga teacher, says she doesn\u2019t see her older clients as fragile.<\/p>\n
\u201cI treat everyone as if they\u2019re an athlete,\u201d she said, whether the goal is pickleball, keeping up with grandchildren, or simply moving without fear.<\/p>\n
She takes seriously the way many older adults carry self-doubt into exercise, and she works to dismantle the idea that the weight room is off-limits.<\/p>\n
Her path into fitness was not a straight line. Now 43, the 2001 Brookville High School graduate earned a business degree from the University of Idaho, but spent years searching for work that fit her natural temperament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could not sit in an office and work. I could not stay still,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
She moved into the fitness profession around age 30, completing a 200-hour yoga teacher training followed by a 500-hour program. Teaching private sessions pushed her toward corrective exercise and eventually a nationally recognized personal training certification.<\/p>\n
After the pandemic, living far from family no longer felt right. She moved back to the area in 2021 to be closer to her mother and grandmother, joining the Clarion YMCA staff in 2022. Today, she teaches two yoga classes a week and leads hour-long personal training sessions.<\/p>\n
In those first sessions, Jeffcoat says the work is as much coaching as it is programming. Some people arrive hurt; others hope to \u201clook different.\u201d Either way, she starts by setting expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t promise that you\u2019re never going to experience pain again, and I can\u2019t promise that you\u2019ll look different,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I can promise that you\u2019ll feel different.\u201d<\/p>\n
That shift\u2014from chasing fast aesthetic changes to building steadier days\u2014is what keeps people coming back. While six weeks may not be enough to change a physique, Jeffcoat noted that clients quickly notice they move better, feel stronger, and do more without thinking twice.<\/p>\n
For those who feel overwhelmed, Jeffcoat recommends starting small\u2014perhaps a group class or a conversation at the front desk. New YMCA members can also sign up for three complimentary \u201cSmart Start\u201d sessions, where a trainer walks them through equipment basics and helps them choose appropriate weights and repetitions.<\/p>\n
She also urges caution regarding online fitness trends.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s harder to get good advice on the internet and easier to get bad,\u201d Jeffcoat said, especially for those rehabbing an injury or returning to exercise after years away.<\/p>\n
What keeps Jeffcoat invested is watching people reclaim pieces of life they thought were behind them. Her personal mission is to make exercise feel like an open door, not a test.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single person in this gym was new at one point,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you can stay mobile and stay upright and stay strong, you can keep doing the things that you love to do for longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q&A with Jessica Jeffcoat<\/p>\n
Q: What is your top recommendation for someone afraid to start?
A: You can start with a group fitness class. They are a great way for people without exercise experience to feel welcome. If you want to hire a trainer for a short period just to learn how to do certain exercises, that\u2019s also a great option. There\u2019s a lot of value in having someone in person to see how you move and what you want to work toward. If you see something on the internet that says, \u201cThis is the one thing that will change your life,\u201d it\u2019s likely not true\u2014because there\u2019s never just one thing.<\/p>\n
Q: Does the Y provide initial training for new members?
A: Yes. When you first become a member of the Clarion Y, you get three \u201cSmart Start\u201d sessions. A certified personal trainer leads you through the equipment because a lot of people have no experience with what the machines even do. You learn how to set them and how to select the right weight and reps for your goals. It helps you have a plan moving forward.<\/p>\n
Q: What is your personal mission in this role?
A: I want to break down barriers to entry. I think there are a lot of things that keep people from feeling welcome in a gym\u2014especially women and older people. They might feel like they don\u2019t belong in a weight room because they can\u2019t do everything. But you have to start somewhere. If you can stay mobile and stay strong, you can do what you love for longer. It just takes a little bit of effort\u2014you can get a lot done in an hour or two a week.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you think people have preconceived notions of the gym being \u201cpainful\u201d?
A: Most definitely. I think people were \u201ctortured\u201d in high school and think that exercise equals punishment or pain. Exercise should be a reward for what you can do; it should never be treated as punishment. The goal is to feel better. Another notion is that it has to be \u201call or nothing.\u201d You don\u2019t have to go five days a week. If you can be consistent one day a week for years, that is much better than going seven days a week for only ten weeks.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you practice what you preach?
A: I have to. I will never make anyone do something that I haven\u2019t done myself. A lot of my clients are actually on the same program that I\u2019m doing. I lift four days a week at 5:00 in the morning at my home gym so I can get it in before I come to work. I love fitness so much that I made it my career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLARION, Pa. (EYT) \u2014 On most weeks, Jessica Jeffcoat moves from yoga mats to weight machines at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[195656,6647,102,195657,195658,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-571836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-certified-personal-trainer","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-registered-yoga-teacher","tag-scenic-rivers-ymca","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}