Bikini season is upon us… Since I started ChicpeaJC I gained a nice 10Lbs from all the food spots I’ve been checking out, weeks ago I told myself I would kick it into high gear and get myself ready for the summer… then I woke up and it was already mid May!! IronPlate to the rescue.

There is no secret to weight loss and fitness; you have to put in the work, time and effort! IronPlate is a personal training studio that just opened their second location in the Brunswick Center (post coming soon) can help you achieve your short-term and long-term fitness and health goals. Whether you want to get ready for an upcoming event like your nuptials, or need guidance in making those important health changes that will improve the quality of your life. Just do it already!

Kristin, single mom, former figure competitor and lady boss of IronPlate; invited me over for a chat and kick ass work out session. It was a humbling experience!! I consider myself to be in pretty good shape because I exercise regularly, but she kicked my butt, I was sore for days. There is nothing better than a one-on-one training session, because someone is there pushing you to work harder and you have to stay accountable of your food choices every single week. There is no room for error here. Want a sick bod? Call them up.

What’s your name? Kristin.

What do you do? I am a personal trainer and Registered Dietician (RD) as well as a CSSD (Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics). I own IronPlate studios in Hoboken and now Downtown Jersey City!

Congrats! What is IronPlate? My background is in weightlifting, body building/figure competing but I am also certified as a Registered Dietician. The IronPlate logo is a cross between a ‘weight plate’ and also the relatively new ‘food plate’ that replaced the Food Guide Pyramid in 2011. This is what the government uses to teach ‘proper nutrition’… Our philosophy is good old fashion weighed training, cardio training and “clean-eating” in order to achieve our clients best versions of themselves…. it could be their best physique, resolve or improve health issues… it varies.

You emphasize on personal training, right? Yes, generally it’s one on one, sometimes groups of two people, usually friends or a couple.  When we work with a client, the initial meeting would involve having the client fill out an assessment form online which then gets emailed back to us prior to the first session. This gives us background information of the client entailing medical history, any kind of food or training-related issues, medications, what their goals are, current exercise and food regimen… Then we would meet with the client and go over everything that’s in the assessment as well as  a modified training session to assess form cardiovascular strength and muscular strength – which is what I am going to do with you today.

I always tell all my clients, the first session with me is going to be all about me figuring out our starting point, it’s about you after that!  Ex: Lynn comes in and your goals are XYZ and I need to figure out what your background is in terms of training, what your strengths and weaknesses are, etc. If you even want to incorporate a nutrition component into our program… (because we don’t force our clients to work with us with that aspect of things).  Most of them end up doing a nutrition consult at some point because they realize if they are looking to lose weight and increase lean body mass, they must employ some level of nutritional change.

Abs are made in the kitchen! Exactly. It’s all nutrition related. Second to that, we don’t buy in to fad diets, trends… We aren’t going to have you cut your carbs completely, or go on a shake diet… my background again is figure competing, and I always tell people… everything has to do with your diet and “clean eating” which is different from just “I eat healthy.”  People can gain weight just “eating healthy.”

Being a figure competitor is hard… It is! I don’t do it now as a mother because it really takes a lot of time, with food prep, nutrition timing, training….it requires training twice a day…. but I learned so much about nutrition and training from competing and from my first and only trainer, Chris Faildo (an IFBB Bodybuilder)… whatever I learned from those days I utilize now for my clients. It’s different client to client, some people can follow things black and white and reach their goals within the time frame they want, but at the end of the day the concepts are the same – clean foods, portions, nutrient timing, intense training including both strength and cardio, etc…   and most importantly – consistency!  And it doesn’t matter if the client is going to compete or not.  Generally they are not – but again, the concepts are the same and I try to push each client as hard as I would myself.

What kind of clients come here? Our youngest client is 21, our oldest is in his 60s. We also have a good mix of men and women with a recent increase of men in the past 2 years.  We also have a lot of brides (a lot of grooms now too!)… and a lot of pre- and post-natal, a lot of people who just aren’t going to work out on their own and they can afford the luxury of personal training. We also work with a lot of clients with weight loss goals and physique transformation goals….

What can people expect when they come for a training? It depends on the client. Some are very self motivated and are doing extra training on the outside (running, cardio classes, etc), so we focus on strength training… it all depends on what the clients goals are. For me personally, I am very old school, I come from the days of old fashion bodybuilding and weight training: deadlifts, squats, lunges, bench presses…. some of the other trainers have different styles. My personal methods stem from how I trained when I was competing in Figure and Bikini competitions because I know that works.  Overall, they can expect to get the results they want if they are committed and we will work with them to achieve that.

Nice. When did the Jersey City location open? It opened February 9th!

How many trainers work at IronPlate? We have a total of six highly qualified trainers who have a combination of Masters degrees in Exercise Physiology as well as NASM and ACSM certifications, and some with clinical exercise experience. As well as four nutritionists who have a combination of RD, CSSD and PN1 Certifications.

Do you live in Jersey City? I do! I live in The Heights!

What is your favorite Jersey City hangout spot? My two favorite places are Jivamukti for Yoga (I’m obsessed) and I am going to throw props to White Star since I lived in Hamilton Park for about ten years.

Any places in The Heights? I love the Corkscrew and Angel Azul for coffee!

So what are we doing today? A full body workout to see what you’re made of. Half the workout will be focus on lower body, half the workout will be focused on upper body… a comprehensive full body workout! We will start with a 90 second jump rope interval to warm up..

What sets you a part for the rest? You don’t just come in and workout for an hour and it’s a random workout. We put in a lot of thought into what the workouts and weekly workout program are going to be based on the clients’ goals… It’s a very comprehensive training program that incorporates nutrition changes throughout the process as well as consistent monitoring of goals and progress throughout.  If something’s not working, we make changes until it does.

Anything else you would like to add? I fell in love with chicpea when I watched you make the Playboy Bunny eat bread rolls! [Laughs] I said to myself “I love this girl, she is force feeding carbs on people” haha

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