Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesus Torres.
Jesus, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Originally I was born in the Dominican Republic but three months into life my mother was granted her citizenship which allowed me to join her into the United States. My parents raised me in the Bronx, New York where I grew up witnessing the surroundings of; Drugs, Violence and the lack of upward mobility that would not really lead me to the brightest future. So this is where Education is implemented in order to get out the “Hood” and your parents push you to become the next Doctor or Lawyer…right. Not saying I did not enjoy school since I met great everlasting friends to learned how to be a human from teachers but I was just focused on living the moments as a kid or a Young Adult. I didn’t really know what would happen after high school and really had no vision of my future to be honest. It felt like I was just drifting in a sailboat not really knowing where the next destination was.
After high school, I attended a community college just so my mother would not smack me/disown me and still had no concrete idea what I wanted to pursue. I ended up obtaining a two years liberal arts degree and transferred to a university still not knowing what in the world I would major in. I had the bright idea I would be a Nutritionist since I got A- in food science course I took a couple of semesters back and found an interest. That quickly failed when I took a food Science course and every occasion during class I just thought in my mind “Am I really going to write meal plans for the rest of my life?” As the semester began to take its toll, I had an epiphany when I became friends with a classmate that loved working out so much that he would just talked about; bodybuilding, protein shakes and his fitness club. Yes, I thought he was one of the weirdest guys on campus but the moment he told me his major was “Exercise Science” I was out for question. I ended up falling in love with the curriculum of; Anatomy & Physiology, learning different joint movements, exercise prescription to the Cardiovascular system so much I graduated with a Bachelors degree in Exercise Science in 2010. It felt like I found one of those puzzle pieces I needed to complete my journey of life.
While attending my last year of college, I also worked in an educational setting. I worked in different Public schools with the Autistic population ranging from pre-k to High school 7am-3pm. Worked with different cases from; Children on the spectrum, Non-verbal cases to the Emotionally disturbed. Also, learning a lot of great tools when it came to different styles of teaching since each case was not the same, learning how to implement lesson plans to even managing a classroom. It was definitely not my dream job but it paid the bills at the time.
Every time I was able to clock out from the school job is when I found joy by finally working out. The first year out of college, I had this degree but had no idea how to apply it on the regular person that either had a weight loss goal or struggled to build muscle. That same year, I met a coach at a local bodybuilding gym where I would work out at on and off and he basically took me under his wing and taught me what his training mythology on application towards training different muscle groups every session we worked out. I started to apply what I learned in school, implemented what my coach taught me during my workouts and the birth of my way of training started to sprout its seed.
As the school year came to a closing, one of my coworkers at my school job randomly pulls me to the side and ask me “I really need to lose weight, can you train me this summer?” And my first response was “hell yeah!” but deep down inside I was scared. I was scared because I had no idea where this will go and If I could actually pull this off. I put it all into this one client that in five weeks, we lost 25lbs and the results were noticeable. Once the following school year started word spread around the school and my nickname was “Mr fitness”. I then had an idea to start a group challenge to help out my staff. I gave out; a Nutritional guidance plan, Workout Programs and had mandatory weekly check-ins. To my surprise, I had a total of 40 individuals participated and majority lost a minimum of 10 pounds the first two weeks. At that point, I started to feel less of a student and more of a professional.
The following summer, I started a personal training business without knowing. Where I offered nutrition guidance, workout programs to 1-1 session after the school year came to its end. The excitement came when my client list started to fill up; Men, Woman, Athletes to school counselors. That summer it struck me that I started making more money doing what I loved. I questioned my self; why would I waste my time just because of fear or health insurance?
I mention Health insurance because I was diagnosed with Asthma at the age of seven and have lived with this chronic disease like a shadow during the day time. So let’s just say health insurance was very important in my life in order to breathe. However, I became trapped because I felt working in a school was not my calling. My life started to become not the best from working in a job I disliked, making not the best healthy choices to keeping my asthma under control and just became this aggressive young man that was not himself. December 4th, 2014 I took my last breath and lost signs of life.
Yes, you read right, I felt my last breath because of an Asthma attack that locked my lungs and 7 minutes of lifelessness surrounded me. The last breath I took, I felt my rib cage just lock wit no movement and my body was just searching for air and could not find it. Before I felt myself go and my last breath I just remember telling God “what ever you have to do with me, do it” and then all I saw was black. Three days later, by his wonderful grace, EMS was able to intubate me once they found little signs of life and I woke up from a three days coma where I was medically induced since my lungs only function with 10% activity. The process of coming back to a normal life was like something you see in movies. Where you cant really talk, walk or move in your hospital bed and just hoping you will be the same person you were. I had a lot of moments where I felt the weakest; from feeling pain just breathing to the ability to just walk. I knew I felt rock bottom when I had others have to walk me around in the hospital and there was one moment I will never forget. The moment my sister took me to the bathroom and I took a look at myself in the mirror for the first time after the coma. I looked myself in that mirror and just said mentally how did I get this broken. I then took a long pause just said “This will be the last time I will let my body break”.
Since then, I started to see life with a new vision. Where every day I talked more with God, heard a motivational speaker and wanted everything that had to do with living. The following year at work, I was offered a teacher position at one of the schools but I choose to denied it. Some family members to coworkers called me stupid for the choice I made. I felt working in a school was not my calling and felt If I was not pursuing my heart. So I ended up quitting the school job with no plan what so ever because I reached my pinnacle. I reached out to my professor from college regarding any personal training jobs and I was able to get to interviews with some high-end gyms he referred me. Since I always worked on my own the first personal training interview was eye opening. I say eye opening because I noticed I was not being as efficient as I thought. I was asked two questions; who is your mentor other than your professor/fitness industry? and How many books on exercise science are you reading? My mind went completely blank and I could not answer either. The gym ended up going bankrupt but that interviewer left me questioning my self and my goals. I ended up focusing on different books from program design, the psychology of clients to even going to three days of personal training seminars to advance my self and progress. I also was discouraged because I really wanted to work in a gym just to learn what a big box gym offers and to educate my self more in a business where I would be a full-time trainer. While still living in NYC, one night randomly I was looking at the equinox career section and I saw a personal trainer position in Miami. I applied and said “what are the odds they actually call me…Right”
I ended up getting an interview through the phone the following day and looked into flying dates. I bought a flight, booked an AirB&B in coconut groove and ended up getting a job in a place I only visited once in my life (south beach of course). Next, I found an apartment close to work, had a start off date, told some family and friends “I’m out, love ya!” and boom I packed my belonging and was off to my adventure. The moment I started to drive leaving New York I began to tear up not knowing what this journey would bring but the tears came with a smile because I felt I was pursuing not just the unknown but a new beginning to put more puzzle pieces to finish this mental picture where I belonged.
Miami was a new world to me from the palm trees to the Cuban culture. I loved the weather and this new environment of fitness. I would adventure the city from Coral Gables, Brickell, Coconut Groove, The Design District and the list goes on. One thing I always loved when I would Adventure was that there was someone working out at any time of the day. It could be 2pm or 2am someone was out on a mission to move their body. It starting feeling like I found a city where I belonged and I can call home fairly quick. Discovering why Miami is so beautiful was quick, Beauty not just because of the amazing year round weather but incredible individuals that bring the best out Miami as a whole.
While working for Equinox, I was like adopted into a family, we all grew together, laughed together and learned from one another. I just wanted to be a sponge and learn everything I could. I surrounded my with self senior trainers, took multiple fitness educational certifications, productive develop courses, ask managers how can I be a better me to learn different stretching techniques from the massage therapist. I invested so much time in education my business started to grow not just in the company but a completely different trainer I was in NYC and I loved it. Equinox gave me an amazing platform to work with populations I would not of dreamed of; lawyers, Surgeons, pilots, post-heart transplant, marathon runners to a celebrity. Working with such an amazing company, I felt I grew and was time to build my own.
Leaving such a great company was hard but I had to fly. January 2019, I gave birth to BXJ Training and the belief “Become What You Believe”. BXJ exists for one reason and it is to constantly challenge you to be the person you always believed you can be. I wanted to bring a service where I can grow with my clients as not a trainer any more but more of a coach. A coach, that is there to construct a fitness program in your life where we hit goals head on together. Coaching revolving around; Customized workout programming that even brings into consideration travel schedule for example, working on certain habits that are stopping you from the breaking the plateau of a better you, Nutritional awareness on foods in your current eating regimen that may be causing bloating and robbing you of hard-earned workouts going to waste, to even programming sleep tips to progress weight loss and a greater energy output for daily life. The list goes on.
When starting BXJ, I wanted to bring out a product where once you saw my logo the mental image would bring work ethic and hard work. So throughout the first year the BXJ, business went great when it came to working with clients and progressing the brand. However, I felt as a trainer I had to lead my business to a standard where I practiced what I preached and my habits got to the point I would suggest clients to clean up their nutrition while I drove to eat a nice burger. I started questioning if I really was portraying my brand or just being a Hypocrite. On July 22, 2019 I had it and started to bring out my brand by cutting off sweets, alcohol to putting it all into a Men Physique competition in December. I ended up dropping from 198-160 and my life flipped as a whole. I would never put a client through the extreme of a show, however I learned what it felt to be in a client’s shoes and can share the multiple objectives from; not having enough time, cravings to social gatherings. I had to change myself in order to change the next person in front of me it was the best decision I ever made.
Today I could not be happier from all the turns I feel my life has taken and has lead me to an amazing city where I feel at home. One of my highlights in my career came when Prince Royce asked me to come on tour and train him during the Alter Ego Tour. It was an amazing experience; Monitoring Royce from the right workouts not to cause injury for his shows, post-show stretching to nutritional tips on the right foods for fuel. It was cut short due to the Covid-19 epidemic but such a dope experience. I mention this highlight because I want the person scrolling down reading this to show hope that you can follow your intuition and it might open a door you never knew. Never knowing where you end up is part of the journey and if you keep doing your job with belief you will reap what you sow. You never know where you will find the next puzzle piece…
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’ve learned that Obstacles are what you make out of it and when it comes to life, you make it positive the best you can. You either deal with the situation with a strategy or don’t complain and weather the storm. I will bring out three big challenges I felt I have had in my life; Anxiety, Loneliness and Emotional Eating.
Not everyone can say they have died for 7 minutes and mentally not think about the fear of dying again. Since the coma, I dealt with PTSD and anxiety to the point I felt I was going to die again and just get vivid reenactments of that date I lost it all. It got so bad I just felt safe in my room from being outside or begged from my mother to take medication. This was a strong obstacle to overcome because I got trapped in fear and my thoughts were fueling the negative every second I caught an anxiety attack. Faith has given me a lot of relief and is the main fuel is overcoming this obstacle. Without God, I won’t be here.
Living in a place without knowing a soul at the beginning is a huge obstacle when all you can really rely on is your self. When moving to Miami My first apartment had issues with paperwork, which lead me to sleep in my car with all my belonging until the paperwork got resolved. I had money to eat, just did not have a place to stay or not know any friends or have family. It got to the point people would walk past my car and look at all my belonging giving me a look and turning the cheek in curiosity. That moment I finally touched my bed I never felt a feeling of value take over me, were just sleeping in my own bed made me cherish the things some that live without a home go through.
Everyone has an emotional side and I found out Emotional eating was an obstacle for me. Every moment I felt like looking for help when it came to talking to someone after a hard day or things not going my way I would eat. I would not eat because I was hungry but because it became an addiction that gave me a temporary satisfaction. It leads me to gain weight in my emotions where no one could see this since I hid it through a smile. This obstacle took a lot out of me because it started to mentally break me and lead me down a road where I hated the person I saw in the mirror and also showed my mental weakness. I overcame this obstacle with the men’s physique show and learned that when you really want something bad enough your body will fight you through cravings and thoughts but your will power will move anything in front of you if you believe in your vision.
Please tell us about BXJ Training.
BXJ brings a Private one on one training experience to you. Branching in diverse specialties; Weight management, Sport specific training, Musculoskeletal Orthopedics, Corporate training, Semi-private sessions, Boxing to Assisted stretching. All clients have their own customized program, which is constructed after the Initial Assessment. The Assessment process is just a way to learn the client as a whole; their goals, Exercise experience, Nutrition & Stress, Injuries to a movement assessment to demonstrate imbalances, weakness and strengths of their body. Programs are amazing because I get to assess how the program is taking its toll through daily check-ins, food logs and exercise homework. Currently with the shift of Covid-19 majority of the sessions are Virtual until things go back to normal and Tuesdays & Thursdays BXJ brings out a 30min live Instagram class open for anyone looking to stay moving during this rough time just to keep people active, entertained and build the immunity towards the pandemic.
What I am proud of; building a company where I can give an individual more years of life, the feeling of less pain from a past injury, growing with clients throughout training like when a client overcomes a plateau of finally fitting into clothing they thought was impossible or feeling they finally can live the life they envisioned.
What sets me apart is the approach of patience. I say patience because I have a vision in a client’s goal, like an architect does a building before it is built. In order to have this vision, I have to portray the capability to see what is not made but be patient enough to believe in the final construction.
Contact Info:
- Email: bxjtraining@gmail.com
- Instagram: @Bxj.training
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