Jungle Fitness Personal Training Orange County — Local services in Irvine

It's been almost 3 months since I took a chance, and reached out to Jon via text after stumbling across the Jungle Fitness website. Like most people, I was drawn by the dramatic "transformation" photos. The warm, and seemingly sincere Google and Yelp reviews helped me to feel confident in my decision. BIG MISTAKE.

I don't know if Steve or Jon actually bothered to read my food diary (that they required me to submit for 1 wk, in addition to weighing myself every morning), or if he just copied and pasted a bodybuilding meal plan from the internet. But I made a lot of changes to my diet prior to joining Jungle Fitness. There were plenty of fruits and veggies, lean protein, and healthy fats. I wasn't eating processed food, red meat, or added sugar.

So, I was surprised when Steve/Jon sent back a ridiculously restrictive diet-mostly consisting of hard-boiled eggs, chicken, yams, and 2 cups of leafy greens. He also recommended pre-workout and protein supplements (that Jungle Fitness sold), Muscle Egg (flavored liquid egg whites that JF also sold–are you seeing a pattern here?), and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with 12 oz of water to stave off hunger pangs. I told Jon, Anh, and Steve via group text that I did cardio at OrangeTheory and Cyclebar a few times a week, and they still advised me to stick to 1200ish kcal.

THIS is where I regret not trusting myself, and pushing back against them more. When I told them that I had trouble staying awake because I was so tired, that I had terrible brain fog, and was always in a horrible mood, they reassured me that it was normal. I continued to follow their diet (strictly) for 1 month, before following it loosely the next month.

That's when my hair started falling out uncontrollably. I pulled out actual hairballs while brushing. Literal clumps of hair fell out when I showered, brushed, or did nothing at all. Before this, I lost a few strands during brushing or in the shower-but never anything like this.

Crash dieting can cause Telogen Effluvium-excessive, rapid, uncontrollable hair shedding that goes on for 3 to 6 months. I've seen 4 MDs who gave me the same diagnosis, and agreed that the diet was too restrictive. An MD or RDN would've never given me such a meal plan, and would've intervened when I had problems instead of encouraging me to continue.

I only regret not knowing what I know now. Writing meal plans ARE NOT part of a personal trainer's scope of practice–no matter how many online nutrition certs they've racked up. They can only provide general nutrition advice. ONLY MDs and RDNs are qualified to write meal plans.

Jon and Steve were so focused on me eating fewer calories than my basal metabolic rate that they failed to take my total daily energy expenditure into account. That made my calorie deficit too drastic, hence the ONGOING HAIR LOSS. I've since fixed my diet, but it will take months for my hair to stop shedding, and YEARS for my hair density to return.

This is where I am now. I lose the same amount of hair in 1 day that I used to lose in 1 week. Prior to joining Jungle Fitness, I had long, thick, thigh-length hair. It's been about 3 months since this started, and I've lost half my hair volume.

The worse part was Steve and Jon's initial responses. Steve tried to double down on his caloric restrictions. Steve wanted to talk to me about "possibly adding an avocado" when I mentioned that my hair was falling out. Never mind that the problem was the severely restricted diet and number of calories. Look, he has no business telling someone what they can or can't eat.

The only person who initially expressed any support or empathy was Heaven. Steve just stopped responding. He did not take responsibility for anything. Jon did not respond until I left this review. Initially, he expected me to continue training with JF for the next 10 months in hopes that I might change my 1-star review. Had I not demanded that he cancel my 1-year contract and refund unused sessions, I strongly doubt he would've.

I DEEPLY REGRET the money...

Let's face it... Getting that sexy body we've always wanted isn't something that happens overnight. It takes sweat, tears, determination, hard work and sometimes even a little blood. There is NO cheat for this. No magic pill, no easy solution, no compromise. I've always known this on a personal level but throughout the years I've continued to miss my goals and maintain my strong mentality. Tired of looking like a stick, I randomly did a yelp search for gyms in the area and found Jungle Fitness. I was amazed to see all the transformations that others had gone through and I knew that this was it. This was the answer.

I love Jungle Fitness. Plain and simple. There is no other gym like it. I've tried going to 24 hour, bally's total, LA fitness and even the UCI Arc but none of them have what Jungle Fitness offers. Here's a quick rundown of why Jungle Fitness OC BETTER THAN eerrrbody else.

Personal Training: No matter how many times I watched work out videos online for technique, tips, methods and etc., I never was able to replicate them correctly in the gym. Not having something there to correct you on your really hinders your growth and slows down your pace for success. The reason why I love Jungle Fitness is because all the trainers here are EXTREMELY knowledgeable about everything. Health, cardio, muscle building, body weight loss, diet, philosophy, EVERYTHING. They know what they're talking about and they tailor their workout for YOU. CUSTOM MADE. I've never experienced that before in another gym. They pay attention to every detail of my workout and give me so much great information about my form, technique and everything else in between. I've learned more here in 3 months than I have in all the previous years reading from online bodybuilding articles and from friends.

Environment: Jungle Gym is an amazing place to work out at. I never feel out of place here. Everyone is extremely friendly and so supportive. I actually know almost every other person here that trains with me. It's a great system of support. It feels like a family and no one is judging each other. All I ever hear are compliments, words of encouragements, and loud high-fives.

Fun: Don't get me wrong, the workouts here are beyond intense. I've never been worked so hard to my limit before in my life. By the end of the workouts, my body is physically destroyed. I can barely stand on leg days. Despite all this, the best part of coming here and working out is that I'm always having a great time. The trainers are always cracking jokes with us and making sure we're having a good time. The workout routines are also always changed around so you never get bored. Before you know it, the hour is over and your ready for that post-workout protein shake.

If health and fitness is as a priority to you as it is to me, then I highly recommend personal training with Jungle Fitness. If you're not sure whether its for you, SUCK IT UP. This is for your health and your health should be one of your TOP priorities. Keep your new years resolution and DO what you know is right!

I Love You...

To start off, I have hypothyroid that became a goiter with multi-nodules. Any body with hypothyroidism knows losing weight is a really challenging battle with this condition. My thyroid levels were also raising and I gained a lot weight within months and hated my body My doctor told me that if my goiter grew bigger I might need surgery or radiation to remove or shrink it. I don't want to go through any of that. I found out that to prevent the goiter from growing, working out to boost my metabolism can help prevent it from growing. So I found Jungle fitness.

I decided to choose Jungle fitness becuase it had a lot of positive reviews online. It's not a huge place like 24 hr, but it has everything u would need and when u workout with the trainer they really work u out hard. :)

I really enjoyed this gym. I signed up with a 6 month contract and trained with the trainer 3x a week. Compare to how I was 6 months ago, I feel stronger. I remember day one I was hyperventilating, felt like I was dying, and oh yes I do remember vomiting after words. But now I feel awesome working out 💪. The first couple of days working out I felt like a failure because I felt I couldn't do most of the workouts, but the trainers are really positive and they keep u motivated. Jesse (one of the trainers) would tell me something like 'its hard now but it will get easier. U're here now and not sitting on the couch'. So anyone with hypothyroidism, don't give up! Working out is hard and we have to work harder to meet our goals. But we can do it!

Jesse is an awesome trainer. He gives encouragement at the right time. Like when I think I'm gonna drop on the floor and die from a working out, he does his clapping hand thing or rooting me on and for some reason I feel I could push pass the pain and feel re-energize. He really knows how to mix things up and not make every work out the same thing over and over. Every day is a new work out. I feel bad for him because I'm not really a morning person so he kind of got my morning grumpy-ness. :)

As for results 6 months later, I'm happy with the results for a hypothyroid slow metabolism person. I know I loss some weight and gained muscle. To me that's awesome because losing weight is hard for my slow metabolism. I didn't think I'll lose any. My diet is good from knowing whats healthy to eat, but I know my drinking hasn't helped out at all and that's all on me my fault. :). So I know I need to be more discipline when it comes to drinking.

My recent visit to the doctors for an ultrasound of my goiter showed that it has not grown and my thyroid levels has gone down to normal levels. 👍. I'm super happy about that.

With school and no income coming in, I can't continue my journey in battling my weight at Jungle fitness, but I would most definitely love to re-join Jungle fitness gym in the near future.

Thanks Jesse and Jungle fitness. See you...