Diamond Cut^®

Your Daily Workout

Want Jackie Warner to be a part of your day - everyday?  If so, her 2009 Fitness Wall Calendar can make it happen.

The calendar includes photos and fitness tips from Jackie and select Sky Sport & Spa Trainers.

Published by Village Lighthouse Inc. subsidiary 10% - the calendar comes out in May.  Its cover states you can “Obtain a Hollywood body with tips from superstar fitness celebrity Jackie Warner.”  How’s that for some serious marketing lingo?

Great Cover
The calendar cover shot of Jackie captures her in peak shape.  She looks much leaner on it when contrasted with her appearance in the workout season three episodes.

The Jackie Warner Business Empire
The press release for the calendar provides a nice timeline of Jackie Warner’s previous and current business activities:

Jackie Warner, fitness expert, gym owner, television star and entrepreneur, instills passion into every aspect of her life. From a small town, Midwestern girl to a self-made millionaire by age 22, fitness has always been a part of Jackie’s life. Though her first calling into the professional fitness industry began while working as a writer for Warner Brothers after helping a co-colleague’s life change through diet, counseling and training. She was hooked and decided then to change career direction completely.

Wasting no time, Jackie has revolutionized the fitness industry by being one of the first to offer medical treatments within her multi-discipline wellness center in Beverly Hills called Lift and pioneering the concept of incorporating exercise therapy into traditional medical insurance plans. Jackie’s next endeavor in 2002, Sky Sport & Spa, is the ultimate sports medicine and fitness club in Beverly Hills and the primary location of filming for her hit Bravo show Work Out. Sky Sport & Spa offers members personal training, nutritional counseling, chiropractic care, exercise classes and physical therapy all within a glass-enclosed penthouse space featuring a breathtaking 360-degree view of Los Angeles.

Will She Sell?
The calendar is the most recent product addition to the Jackie Warner brand.  Time will tell if her celebrity status and business acumen will transfer her previous success in fitness services to selling products.

Jackie Warner’s SKYLAB project is designed to help people overcome their struggle with obesity.  On Bravo’s Workout reality show we catch glimpses of the SKYLAB workouts and process.

But does / will SKYLAB really work?  What follows is a quick pro/con assessment from what’s been revealed so far on the show:

SKYLAB PROS

• Includes mental, physical and emotional elements - frank, emotional discussions take place to uncover self-esteem and insecurity issues that cause clients to over eat for comfort.  Clients are challenged mentally and educated to make smarter decisions.  Physically they are pushed to get more from their bodies.

• Includes both personal and group support - SKYLAB clients meet in groups and with trainers.

• Consideration is given to selecting a trainer that can best work with the client - Getting the right trainer with the right client is both art and science but can make or break the outcome.  In the show Jackie places photos of clients and trainers on the floor.  I can’t think of a better way to facilitate the process of aligning client and trainer.

• Food is provided - This is a powerful way to simultaneously help clients make immediate progress, leapfrog their weak decision making abilities and provide experiential learning.  With each meal these clients learn and experience what a proper food choice looks like, tastes like and feels like.  Plus, they are eating the same food and supplements Jackie Warner does.

SKYLAB CONS

• Workout intensity - Jackie Warner’s approach to fitness is all about intensity.  Exercise intensity certainly gets results, however it also increases risk of minor and serious injury to the client.

Is Proper Progression at SKYLAB?
Fitness professionals manage risk of injury to clients by applying the proper “progression” of frequency, time, type and intensity of workouts. Proper progression allows the client to gradually increase their fitness and tolerate greater exercise stress with reduced risk of injury.  It appears the workouts being delivered to the SKYLAB clients may be too intense…

A Viewer Opinion
A comment from one of the readers of this blog illustrates a number of concerns about the intensity of the SKYLAB workouts:

Horrible show! As a personal trainer i cringe when i see the horrible training that goes on in this tv show. It’s bad, really bad. It’s the reason personal trainers have no credibility in the professional world.

No trainer in their right mind would have unfit, overweight clients do jumping jacks on a hard surface.  Or inch worm push ups when they can’t keep the form not even remotely right. Or have unfit clients run suicides.

For anyone trying to pick up tips from this show, please don’t. And anyone thinking about paying $400.00 a session with her, you’ve got to be out of your mind.

So Does / Will SKYLAB Be Successful?
Factoring the pros / cons above - the answer seems to be it’s got great potential if the client exercise injury does not become an issue.  What do you think?

Want To Try SKYLAB?
On the SkySport & Spa Website, there is a public “retreat” version of SKYLAB project.  It’s promoted as follows:

SkyLab is the ultimate, life-changing opportunity. During this all-inclusive, intense retreat in Northern California, you’ll live, eat with, and workout with Jackie Warner, celebrity trainer and star of the hit Bravo TV show Workout. She will teach you, train you, tone you, inspire you, and give you the discipline and motivation to lose weight for good.

In addition to breaking your sugar addiction, you’ll sweat and work like never before, all under the ever-present and constant watch of Jackie and her team of trainers. Not only will you learn to live healthy and hot in the real world, but you’ll lose substantial weight, reshift your energy, and change the way you relate to the world around you.

This is an experience that will be like no other. Jackie’s effect on people’s lives is unparalleled…and she’s ready to change yours today.

Also from the website a sample schedule of what to expect from SKYLAB:

A Typical Day at SkyLab (*schedule subject to change)

• 6:30 am – Jackie’s personal energy shake, delivered right to your door
• 7:00 am to 9:00 am – two-hour intensity workout
• 9:15 am to 10:15 am – snack and free time
• 10:30 am to 12:00 pm – life goals and healthy eating seminars
• 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm – lunch
• 1:15 pm to 2:30 pm – free time
• 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm – two-hour intensity workout
• 4:30 pm to 5:15 pm – yoga/stretching
• 5:15 pm to 6:45 pm – snack and free time
• 6:45 pm to 7:45 pm – dinner
• 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm – group therapy (conquer your emotional relationship with food!)

Too Much?
Wow - 4 hours of intensity exercise.  For people with an already high level of fitness this could work, but for obese, deconditioned or those new to exercise this sounds like an accident waiting to happen.

Fortunately - the SKYLAB program requires a signed permission form from your physician for acceptance.  It pulls no punches either - again from the SKYLAB info on the website:

Permission form must clear participant to engage in strenuous activity and a reduced calorie diet. Form must also indicate any physical limitations the participant may have, including but not limited to knee, back, or shoulder injuries.

What Do You Think?
So for those of you interested - the cost is $7,000.00 and you can get $1000.00 off the May 31st session here.

Meantime - for those of you who have read this far…  Would you try SKYLAB?

Women’s health reports some of Jackie Warner’s favorite songs for a great workout…

In our opinion, the Professional Widow Trunk Funk Remix is especially rockin’ for sculpting Jackie Warner abs…

The Workout Wait is (Almost) Over
Jackie Warner’s Fitness DVD, titled One-On-One Training with Jackie will be released on May 20.  The DVD is 60 minutes long.  You can order it here on Amazon.com.

Five Star Review
So far there is only one review of the Jackie Warner DVD.  The reviewer gives the video a 5 star rating and says:

I got to do a 25 minute preview workout from this video. I did the upper body portion. And let me tell ya I am not going to be able to move my arms tomorrow.

This work out is not something I would recommend for beginners. It will definitely seem intimidating at first. But if you just do as many reps as you can then you will definitely be able to build up to keep up with Jackie and her trainers. Its a great workout.

Jackies queuing is perfect and she gives lots of tips on keeping good form. All you need for this workout is a pair of light hand weights and you are good to go.

Another workout similar to this one that will cause equal amounts of pain is the Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred.

Give them both a try if you want a very challenging workout!Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred

Sky Sport and Spa’s newest trainer is Greg Plitt.  He’s a true veteran of the fitness modeling scene and has appeared in dozens of top selling fitness magazines.

In a recent interview with Express, he talks about the rigors of being a fitness model and the unrealistic extremes it takes to get a cover model look:

» EXPRESS: How did you get into fitness modeling?
» PLITT: I had just come back from Korea and I was stationed in D.C., living in a house off-base. It was a dump in Arlington.

So, my mom called and said she’d found a voucher for a one-night stay at a Marriott and asked if I wanted it. So, my buddies and I are there hanging out by the bar when all of these good-looking men and women came in.

Turns out, it was a modeling industry event. Two weeks later, I did a test shoot, and that landed me the cover of Muscle & Fitness. I read the magazine, so I thought that was really cool.

» EXPRESS: How does one get to look like you?
» PLITT: The better the picture looks, the worse you feel. You get your body fat down to single digits, dehydrate yourself and get rid of carbs — it’s not very healthy. And you need to be ready because the model is the last person hired on a shoot. If you like going to the gym, that’s not a problem. I do a body part a day in a five-day split. I never plan a day off.

» EXPRESS: What do you do after a shoot?
» PLITT: I pig out. The night before is the worst — you never miss the food; you miss the water. I dream that I’m under a waterfall and I’m drinking all of it. The dehydration part’s not fun. My clients, I would never tell them to do that. They want to look like these covers and I tell them, “That’s not real.” And Photoshop is your friend.

» EXPRESS: What’s your favorite workout?
» PLITT: Just getting on a treadmill and running five miles. Or climbing ropes. I’m an athlete and I like moving a lot — being on a machine doesn’t do much for me.

Here’s a video of Greg in action:

The long awaited Workout season 3 is almost upon us.  We expect to see Jackie Warner’s new clothing line, supplements, trainers and relationships in full bloom.

Behind The Workout
Meantime, here’s some insight on how the show was filmed and edited compliments of After Ellen Piece:

Andy Cohen, Bravo’s senior vice president of programming and production, was part of the team that created and developed Work Out. He said: “At Bravo we follow the person. Jackie happens to be gay. … We didn’t have a mandate saying we need a lesbian show. We just found Jackie.”

Cohen went on to credit the gym setting with bringing out the drama in the personal lives of central and supporting characters alike: “You go into a gym and you start talking to your trainer, and suddenly you’re kind of spilling your soul. [The drama on Work Out] is kind of the natural course of what happens.”

And as for how the show is filmed and edited…

The process of taking the real life of Sky Sport to the screen is relatively straightforward. According to Cohen, for 12 weeks “you’re shooting for eight, nine hours at a time with various people. Probably five, six days a week.

You may be on Jackie three to four days that week, and you may cover other stuff with the other trainers.” The producers sift through the hours of film and cut 99 percent of it to create nine 44-minute episodes that tell a compelling story.

 Now it’s time to see how all this work pays off.   Season Three of Jackie Warner’s Workout Show premiers Tuesday, April 15th  at 11pm on Bravo.

Rebecca is one of the most popular fitness trainers on Bravo’s Workout.  She certainly has great abs, on par with Jackie Warner herself.  Her uninhibited personality will certainly make things interesting at Sky Sport & Spa.  Take a look for yourself…

Jackie, Paris and others are working together to help some worthy causes…

Jackie Warner of Bravo’s Work Out will host an exclusive event with REALITY CARES and SUNSTYLE to bring together reality stars from today’s hottest shows on Sunday, March 30 from 2 - 5 p.m.

Guests include Paris Hilton (Paris Hilton’s My New BFF), Janice Dickinson (The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency), Todd Herzog (Winner of “Survivor: China”).

Tian Kitchen (The Amazing Race), Alex Quinn (E!’s Filthy Rich), Jai Rodriguez (Queer Eye), Rebecca Cardon and Jesse Brune (Work Out), Nick Warnock and Kristen Kirchner (The Apprentice) will also be there.

Plus, celebrities from Project Runway, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and TotalPopStar.com will be hanging out too. 

They’ll all be gathering at the swank SUNSTYLE tanning studio on Robertson Blvd.

Proceeds help raise awareness for Stoked Mentoring, a non-profit charity organization that develops innovative mentoring programs for “at risk” youth.

Zen Gray, the friendly, likable trainer on Jackie Warner’s Workout won’t be returning for season 3.  As often happens in these matters you never get a single definitive reason.  So instead we offer the words of Zen herself:

I want to thank everybody that has written me lately with the big questions, “What’s up with Season 3?! Where are you?” And my favorite, “I’m not watching if you’re not on it!”

I want to assure everyone that I’m doing awesome and working on many exciting projects! Even though you won’t be seeing me on Season 3, you will be seeing me! But that’s all I can say for now.

I’m still on great terms with Jackie and all of those awesome trainers and I still have many clients over at Sky, Sport & Spa. I wish Jackie and everyone the best with the next round of WORKOUT!

Best of luck Zen!

One of the big aspects of Jackie Warner’s Workout Season 3 is the launch of her new clothing line.  Originally conceived in season one as the “LIFT” line it quickly disappeared.  It re-emerged in season two as Sky Lab by Jackie Warner.

A Workout season two episode is devoted to Jackie working with her clothing designers and approaching executives at Paiva to distribute the Jackie Warner clothing line in their stores.  Paiva started selling Jackie Warner’s apparel line shortly after.

The Problem With Jackie Warner & Paiva
A visit to the Paiva website tells the story here.  Seems upscale women’s clothing retailer Paiva, a subsidiary of FinshLine, is game over.  Here’s an excerpt from a March 2008 Indianapolis Business Journal article quoting a business analyst:

“Finish Line certainly has its challenges,” he said. He noted that Paiva, a 15-store chain for upscale women the company launched in 2006, failed to take off and was shuttered last summer. 

Jackie Warner’s Clothing Line Goes It Alone
Now Jackie’s clothing line is up to bat for the third time sold via the Skysport and Spa Store.

Will the exposure from the Bravo T.V. show, Jackie Warner’s growing celebrity and the soon to be released nutrition supplements and DVD’s help move the merchandise?

We’ll have to wait and see.  Especially in an increasingly recession driven, price sensitive market that’s facing competition from comparable, stylish women’s fitness apparel sold for less, it may be tough going.

What do you think?