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Stroller Boot Camp:
Fitness Maven Out to Change the World, One Mom at a Time
By Aaron Parnell
 

Jeanene Cannon, normally a petite at 5'3½", had ballooned up to 140 pounds before she delivered her first baby. In a quest to find a solution to the problem of her new 'baby fat', she created Stroller Boot Camp to help other moms who want their bodies back. Cannon revealed the secret of her fitness success and how she's making families happier with her fitness know-how and enthusiasm in a recent interview.

CityFlight: What got you into fitness in the first place?

Jeanene Cannon: I just wanted to get back to basics after my first child. So I just started training and exercising everyday working out with weights. I changed my eating completely, which made a huge difference. After I had my child, I got into the best shape of my life.

CF: So are you recommending that for everybody? That they should have a child then get into shape?

Jeanene: Originally, I just wanted to get back to my [healthy] diet, to get back into good shape, and get back to where I was. I ended up excelling beyond that. I was so motivated by the fear of not being able to lose the baby weight—and lose my figure forever. I didn't want to be one of those people. I wanted to be fit and healthy for my husband and kids, and still retain the quality of my life.

CF: How did it all get started?

Jeanene: After a year of being a stay-at-home mom, I started teaching at 24-Hour Fitness. I got my instructor certification and started teaching a Boot Camp class. I had quite a few people come up to me and ask, "What do you do to look that way? How do you eat? How do you train?" A friend of mine said, 'Could you please write something out for me—like, how to eat and what to do?'

In the beginning, I literally started giving away work-out plans for free to anyone who asked. Before long, even before I was certified as a personal trainer, people were saying, "I don't care if you're certified…I can tell that by the way you look that you know what you're doing—and I just want to train with you... [and here's my money!]".

So, I said, 'Okay!'—and that evolved to Stroller Boot Camp, personal training, nutrition coaching, my husband teaching basketball camp, and more.

CF: Who is your primary audience?

Jeanene Cannon: My work as a fitness coach is really about making a small difference in the world on a larger scale, starting with one person. I feel good about working with mothers and women, in general. I know I'm changing a lot of people's lives when they come home with healthy choices they pick up at the grocery store and prepare in a healthy way. They're now starting to make changes for their children in a healthy way.

CF: What do you think is the biggest health problem in our community?

Jeanene Cannon: Childhood obesity is a huge epidemic. In the African American community, there are a lot of problems with the kind of food that we eat and the way that we prepare our food. I believe that mothers are the ones who really have a huge influence on the health and well-being of their sons and daughters. We're the ones who buy the food. We're the ones who bring it in the home and cook it and feed it to our families.

CF: What is the most important secret you have discovered about getting and staying healthy?

Jeanene Cannon: We can't be consumed by one aspect of our lives. Being balanced with your eating, being balanced with your training, balanced with your life—you'll find a person at the height of happiness. You have to have balance. That is the key.

To find out more about Jeanene Cannon's Stroller Boot Camp and other fitness programs and events, visit www.physiquecomplete.com, or call 510-457-6944.