Health - Injuries life’s obstacles so we can either stay the course or accomplish amazing things. It has the power to make us persistent. In this series, Unstoppable Voices, Runner’s World HIIT & Run Club Brooks Running to expand the platforms of ordinary runners: Run Happy Advocates Health & Injuries.
Jah’son Patterson’s path to fitness wasn’t just a professional choice. His collegiate football career and degree in exercise science led him in that direction, sure. But he had other reasons motivating him as well. In fact, the strongest influence may have been his family health history. “There have been a lot of serious health issues in my family, and I lost a few uncles at young ages,” said Patterson, the owner of Jahguide Fitness, a personal training company in Orlando, Florida. “Fitness and nutrition are extremely important because I don’t want to follow in the same footsteps and potentially take years away from my life.”
Fostering Connection
After graduating from college in 2015, Patterson, or Jahdy as he’s known to friends and clients, spent time educating family members about the importance of taking charge of their health, even helping them develop fitness plans. “I would train them and exercise with them to show them what to do and provide accountability,” he said. But his influence didn’t end there.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Patterson and a friend launched outdoor boot camp classes in downtown Orlando to help get their neighbors moving when gyms shut down. At first, only a few folks showed up, but the boot camp’s prime lakeside location in the heart of the city made it visible to passersby, and soon the classes started growing and growing, said Patterson. When life returned to normal, local interest and enthusiasm ballooned even more.
Today, the camps are a fixture in downtown Orlando. “They’ve allowed me to see how much of a community you can build through fitness,” Patterson said. “Everybody is there to take care of their health, to join a positive movement where everybody is supportive, always encouraging each other, and giving it their best shot.”
To his surprise and delight, the classes have also become a great way for locals to grow their networks and their friendship circles. “A lot of relationships are made at my classes,” he said. “Some people have become close friends who go out to dinner all the time. An apartment manager connected with a concrete and ditching company entrepreneur, and they developed a business connection. Fitness is a powerful tool that can positively impact the community and connect people.”
Achieving Balance Through Running
The running portion of boot camp and other popular fitness classes is often an afterthought— obligatory quarter- or half-mile runs mixed in with all the squats, push-ups, and burpees. Patterson’s classes, on the other hand, actually prioritize running. In fact, he changed the name of his exercise group to HIIT & Run Club to better describe the format of each session, which entails starting at one location, running 1-1½ miles (or run/walk for those unable to run the entire time) to another spot and doing a HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workout, then running back to the starting location. A total of two miles may not be considered a long distance in running, but it’s just enough to balance out the higher-intensity calisthenics.
“The class wouldn’t be complete without the running,” said Patterson, who also recommends longer 3- to 5-mile runs for many of his clients on days they’re not doing his class or other resistance training. “People really feel uplifted after the runs. Nobody ever came back from one of my strength workouts and said, ‘Yeah, that was great.’ It’s more like, ‘You’re trying to kill me!’ [laughed]. With the running, it’s different. People enjoy that part of the workout, and it really gives them a mental boost in addition to all the health benefits you get from running. It’s just a totally different feel than the HIIT portion. The two types of exercise—high-intensity training and running— complement each other perfectly.”
As popular as his in-person classes have been, Patterson spreads his positive health outlook to an even greater audience online, where, as a Brooks Run Happy Advocate, he has nearly 275,000 followers on Instagram (@jahdy_p). “My goal is to get people moving and increase the awareness of how impactful fitness can be,” he said. “You don’t need to have a gym membership; you can just go outside and go for a run. It’s a great way to explore new places, plus it’s refreshing to be outside and connect with both nature and your community.” Running, he adds, reminds us there is life all around us while at the same time helping us escape some of the stresses, expectations, and demands that fill our days. “Running helps me get out of that mindset so I can see things for what they are vs what we build them up to be,” he said.
Feeding the Spirit
Patterson firmly believes that health and fitness are about more than being active—they’re a lifestyle. “Some people think it’s about improving how they look, but fitness runs deeper than that,” he said. “It builds discipline and character. You’re not just going to look a certain way, your body will release endorphins that will make you feel better and healthier, too.”
The mental and spiritual aspects of running are so important to Patterson that he incorporates them into his classes, where he prompts clients to think about things they want to accomplish each day. As he put it, “I drop mind-based nuggets to help them set their intentions.”
While his dream is to open his own gym one day, for now, Patterson said he’s happy to serve others by sharing his fitness knowledge through classes, training sessions, and social media. When it comes to running in particular, he said, “the more I give, the more that comes back to me.”
