Jill
watts
Cardio, Core & Strength
I was born and raised in Texas (Houston and Dallas), attended the University of Texas at Austin and earned a Bachelor of Science in Textiles and Apparel. I am married, have two adult daughters, 14 and 17, and a an adult stepson. I lived in Seattle for 8 years after I was married and loved living there, but family and job changes brought us back to Austin which is where I call home.
Life-Changing Experience:
Physical fitness has always been important to me and an integral part of my life. I started track in middle school and realized that I had some talent with sprinting so I continued to run track all through high school. I was on my way to pursuing a track career in college, but during my senior year in high school I was in a very serious car accident that broke both of my legs. This changed everything for me, but I stayed positive and never gave up. I learned some tough life lessons, and that accident helped make me the person I am today. It has given me the positive and hopeful outlook that I have on life. It made me realize that life can change in a moment and you have to make the best of what you have now and count your blessings. You also can not sit around and wait for life to be perfect, you must make a choice to live you want, despite some hard work and perseverance. You can never let anything get you too far down and you must always have faith. After a few years of surgeries and physical therapy I was back to normal and doing all the activities I loved again — skiing, running, dancing, hiking, and exercising.
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Sometimes we are thrown a curve ball, (well, many times) and you can’t just sit around and wait for things to get better. You have to change your attitude, make choices, and figure it out. In most cases it turns out to be a blessing!
Everyday is a
new day!
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Teaching Philosophy:
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My teaching style is fun and challenging but in a gentle way… I am not hard core but I do provide excellent results. I like to have a good mix of hard work, supporting friendships and connecting while I teach my classes. If you have not ventured out to Bee Caves park, please step out of your normal routine and join us sometime, I assure that you will have fun and its a beautiful setting, always cooler and breezy under our pavilion!
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Personal Mantra:
“Everyday is a new day!” It’s pretty simple, but sometimes not so easy to live by. I have learned over the past few years as I have had some major changes in my life and as my children have become older (tweens and teens) that things just don’t always go as planned. You can’t waste too much time being stressed or upset. The day will come to an end no matter how hopeless it may seem at the time, and things always seem better in the morning. Each day you can have a fresh start with a new perspective. Teaching and participating in iGnite always helps me too!
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My iGnite Journey:
I have always been very active (surfing and SUP are two of my favorite activities) and though I tried many different workout groups, I had yet to find one that I truly enjoyed. I first came to iGnite with a friend who had been telling me how wonderful it was, and assured me I would love it. She was right! I immediately realized that it was not just about the workout, but about the relationships with these amazing women. As I continued to take more classes and work out regularly with iGnite, I realized how it had changed my life. I was so motivated and inspired by the leaders and the weekly journals that I just wanted to tell everyone about it! How could you live without this?!
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After participating in iGnite for about a year and realizing how it had truly changed my life in such a positive way through exercise, health, friendships, inspiration, self-confidence and motivation, I knew that I had to be a part of this group in some way to pass this along to other women. I have always had a passion for fitness but iGnite was like nothing I had ever experienced in my 40 years of life. I was approached by some of the other leaders about getting certified to teach and that was it! I knew then that I could be a part of making a positive difference in women’s lives!
I have now been teaching for over three years with iGnite — the women in my classes continue to motivate and inspire me everyday. In addition to my group classes, I love providing individual training through iGnite’s 6-week fitness foundation program.
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain!
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