Jackowski, Edward J.

views updated

JACKOWSKI, Edward J.

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: Baruch College, City University of New York, B.B.A.; International University for Graduate Studies, Ph.D. (behavioral management).

ADDRESSES:

Office—c/o Exude, Inc., 16 East 52nd St., New York, NY 10022. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, fitness adviser, public speaker, certified personal trainer, and instructor of aerobic conditioning. Founder of Exude, Inc. (fitness center), New York, NY. Founder and chief executive officer of Escape Your Shape (developer, producer, and marketer of fitness products). Board member of Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation.

MEMBER:

American College of Sports Medicine, International Dance and Exercise Association.

WRITINGS:

America You're Exercising Wrong: One Hundred Fallacies, Facts, and Tips, Exude (New York, NY), 1993, published as Hold It! You're Exercising Wrong!, Simon and Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

Escape Your Shape: How to Work out Smarter, Not Harder, Simon and Schuster (New York, NY), 2001.

Escape Your Weight: How to Win at Weight-Loss, St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to newspapers, including USA Today. Author of sports and fitness column in New York Daily News; columnist for Modern Maturity, 1998.

SIDELIGHTS:

Founder of Exude, Inc., a New York City-based personal training center, Edward J. Jackowski is one of the nation's leaders in one-on-one motivational fitness training. While still an undergraduate studying business management (he eventually earned a Ph.D. in behavioral management), Jackowski began to develop a vision of an entrepreneurial enterprise based in fitness, and started his business with a $400 loan from a fellow student.

The result was Exude, the principles behind which he delineates in the books Hold It! You're Exercising Wrong!; Escape Your Shape: How to Work out Smarter, Not Harder; and Escape Your Weight: How to Win at Weight-Loss. Jackowski also founded and serves as chief executive officer of Escape Your Shape, which develops and markets fitness products.

Central to Jackowski's philosophy is the concept that no single exercise regimen fits all persons—or, more properly, all body types. He has identified four basic body types, concepts he has copyrighted: the Hourglass, whose body weight is evenly distributed top and bottom; the Spoon, who tends to be skinnier above the waist and heavier below; the Cone, who is the opposite of the spoon (i.e., top-heavy rather than bottom-heavy); and the Ruler, who is straight up and down. Half of all males tend to be Rulers, while approximately forty percent of all females are Hourglasses.

Each body type requires a particular exercise program which combines aerobic exercise such as running or jumping rope—a Jackowski favorite—as well as anaerobic strength-training activities such as lifting weights or doing pull-ups. For example, most exercises benefit Rulers, whereas Hourglasses should avoid exercising on an incline or lifting heavy weights. Likewise a Cone, because he or she likely has an upper body that is already well-developed in proportion to the lower, should eschew heavy weights for the upper body in favor of exercises that develop the quadriceps, hamstrings, and other muscles below the waist. A ski machine set on high resistance for the upper body can help a Spoon, who can also benefit from upper-body strength training.

Hold It! You're Exercising Wrong!, which first presented Jackowski's ideas to a national audience under the title America You're Exercising Wrong,received relatively wide reviews for a self-published, direct-marketed book. Clarence Petersen in the Chicago Tribune described it as "full of surprises," noting that, for example, stair-climbing machines could actually increase lower-body bulk for some body types. He also noted one of the key ideas promoted by Jackowski: that "an eleven-dollar jump rope is one of the most important pieces of exercise equipment in which you can invest."

Wendy Schmid of Vogue, who went to Jackowski for one-on-one training, soon found herself with a jump rope—what she called "Jackowski's secret weapon in the war on fat"—in her hand. She went on to note that "This simple two-handled rope is the crux of the Exude philosophy. Beneficial for all body types, the jump rope, according to Jackowski, will burn fat, define muscles, and—the coup de grace of fitness—even get rid of cellulite."

Schmid went to see Jackowski after hearing how, at the request of noted developer and celebrity Donald Trump, he helped former Miss Universe Alicia Machado lose twenty pounds. Her own goals were modest: a basically fit Hourglass, she wanted to "fine-tune my particular shape," which was getting overly muscular in some areas. "You've been working out this way," Jackowski told her, moving his arms "airtraffic controller like." Instead, she needed to be moving from side to side.

At the end of eight weeks, Schmid had lost only five pounds, but had reduced a total of five and a half inches from her body measurements. Though Jackowski also had her work with a nutritionist, she managed this feat without major change to her diet.

Though he has noted that proper diet is of course important to overall fitness and health, Jackowski observed in a USA Today article that "A great exercise program can make up for a poor diet, but a great diet can never make up for a lack of exercise." For weight loss, he prescribes what described thus: "alternating two-and three-minute intervals of aerobic exercise, such as jumping rope, with two or three minutes of anaerobic work, such as strength training, with as many as fifty repetitions for each triceps kickback, biceps curl, military press, or [other] exercise."

Not all authorities agree with Jackowski's program. "I don't think your should choose a specific aerobic exercise based on your body shape," John Porcari, commented in the Arlington, Illinois, Daily Herald that, "No matter what their shape, people need to choose an aerobic exercise that they like and that they'll stick with. Same with resistance training." At the same time, many people have benefited from Jackowski's principles, which he has laid out for readers in an easy-to-understand format. Sue-Ellen Beauregard in Booklist called Hold It! You're Exercising Wrong! a "sensible basic fitness guide" whose key information, presented in boldface type, makes for ready comprehension.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1995, Sue-Ellen Beauregard, review of Hold It! You're Exercising Wrong!, p. 789.

Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1993, Clarence Petersen, review of America You're Exercising Wrong, p. 148.

Daily Herald (Arlington, IL), July 30, 2001, Hilary Shenfeld, "Triumph over Your Body Type," p. 1.

Houston Chronicle, April 11, 1993, "Take Notice," p. 2.

USA Today, March, 2003, Edward Jackowski, "Don't Fool Yourself about Getting in Shape," p. 60.

Vogue, August, 1997, Wendy Schmid, "Roped In," p. 142.

ONLINE

Escape Your Shape,http://www.escapeyourshape.com/ (September 16, 2003).

Exude,http://www.exude.com/ (September 16, 2003).*

More From encyclopedia.com