Tag Archives: Jay Cardiello

My Diet is Better Than Yours with Shaun T Puts the Contestants in Control

my-diet-is-better-than-yours

ABC’s newest reality weight loss TV show “My Diet is Better Than Yours” is flipping the script and putting the contestants in charge of their weight loss plan. Hosted by Shaun T, creator of the intense and wildly popular workout program Insanity,  “My Diet is Better Than Yours” features celebrity personal trainers coaching average Americans as they work hard to lose weight and get in shape with the program of their choice.

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Posted on January 5, 2024 by Kelly

JCore’s 480 Minute Workout Improved a Busy Mom’s Fitness

What do you do when you live in an apartment, don’t belong to a gym and have a hectic schedule? How do you find time to workout? As a working mom with two young boys, it’s often a struggle to find the time to fit fitness into my day between work, school drop-off and pick-up, client meetings and other responsibilities.

Over the summer, I was introduced to the JCORE Accelerated Body Transformation System – a 40-day program that claims to work around these constraints and transform your body. It was created by Jay Cardiello, a celebrity fitness trainer and wellness expert. I mean, he trains 50 Cent so his plan must work, right?

I will admit that I was highly skeptical before starting this program. Generally I try to workout for an hour, 4-5 days a week, mixing cardio with strength training. For JCORE, all you need is a 4×4 space, no weights, and 20 minutes a day/4 days a week. Was 20 minutes going to be enough?


I opened the calendar and found 40 days of workouts, rest days, and fit tests. Literally, I did not have to think about a thing. There are five different workouts, each fast-paced and comprised of 20 minutes of 30-second intervals of body-weight exercises. While 30 seconds might not seem like a long time, believe me, it can be intense. I was breathing hard and a sweaty mess by the end of the workouts. The exercises largely focus on your core, which helps build overall strength and stability. Think lunges, squats, planks, and fire hydrants. I modified many of these moves to make it easier on my knee. JCORE also starts with a Fit Test that allows you to gauge your progress week-to-week. (more…)

Posted on October 12, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Jay Cardiello’s Success as a Fitness Professional is No Accident

Think you’ve got to be on some inside track to become a celebrity trainer? Not really. Jay Cardiello, creator of the J-Core program, did so by accident. Literally. A martial artist for most of his youth, Jay left his New Jersey home after high school to attend the University of Arkansas where he was part of the 1996 national championship track & field team. He was there to become a lawyer, but an accident on the track would not only send the disks in his vertebrae “flying every which way,” but also his career plans. He landed wrong during a jump and the damage to his spine would require 13 major surgeries over the next few years.

“I knew my career as an athlete was over,” he told us in a recent interview. His life was far from over, and arguably, just getting started. He had some down time for a couple of years as his body repaired from the damage. Back on his feet, he went returned to college at William & Mary where he worked as a volunteer assistant for the men’s and women’s track teams and “got to fall in love with coaching people.” If Jay Cardiello had a calling, this was it.

What happened from there played out like a case study for being in the right place at the right time. Jay could be called a poster child for having your whole life planned, and one small accident can change the entire course of your life for the better. After William & Mary Jay moved back to New Jersey to work as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Red Dogs for two seasons. After that, he was an unpaid coach’s assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At only 26 years old, he was compared to the best of the best and it was evident he knew what he was doing by now.

After some time in Tampa he was ready to put that expertise to a different kind of test and decided to work one-on-one with clients. He moved to New York City to be a trainer at Clay, an elite gym. It was there that Jay’s career took another hard right. During his third session working with a client named Curtis James Jackson III, better known as 50 Cent, and having just signed on a NYC apartment, Jay was asked to be the rapper’s dedicated trainer. “You’re coming with us,” Jay says 50 Cent told him. It was supposed to be a three-month gig, traveling as part of the entourage and keeping 50 Cent in shape. It turned in to four years. “I lived with him as a trainer and nutritionist,” Jay told us. “I was glued to his hip.” (more…)

Posted on February 29, 2024 by Natalie K