It’s crunch time for America’s toughest personal trainer.
Jillian Michaels, the relentless drill sergeant on NBC’s The Biggest Loser who became a fitness icon and health and wellness guru, is hitting on the road with her first-ever live tour. Dubbed “Maximize Your Life,” Michaels’ stage show will be an interactive experience that’s part lecture, part theater, and – Michaels hopes – pure inspiration.
She brings her show to Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on April 18 and to the King Center in Melbourne April 19.
“I personally love a direct connection with my audience,” Michaels says. “I like that one-on-one, face-to-face conversation. I can see if someone’s hearing me, if they’re getting me. If we want to turn things around in this country it’s got to be a reach one teach one grassroots movement.”
Michaels has appeared on 11 seasons of The Biggest Loser, which is seen in more than 90 countries around the world. She is also an author, having sold more than 3.5 million bestsellers worldwide, including Master Your Metabolism and Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life. Her DVD 30-Day Shred is the best-selling fitness DVD of all time.
She’s also a mother of two along with her partner, Heidi Rhoades. Michaels subtlety came out in May 2012 with a People interview, where she discussed her relationship with partner Heidi Rhoades and their two children.
She had never mentioned her partner before that, even after revealing she was bisexual in a 2010 interview with Ladies Home Journal. But that was because she says Rhoades is a private person.
“When we were having kids, I thought, How am I supposed to hide a newborn?” Michaels told Redbook last year. “So we thought, Let’s talk about it. It wasn’t so much about coming out. It was more about, okay, this is my family.”
Now she’s going live and in-person with her new tour, which is being promoted by Live Nation Entertainment. Between rehearsals, Michaels took time out to explain what she intends to accomplish with her tour:
WATERMARK: What will people get out of your “Maximize Your Life” live show?
JILLIAN MICHAELS: Obviously you’re going to learn how to lose weight and how to keep it off. But that’s not what the show is about at its core. I want you to walk out being connected to your passion and authentic truth, with a clear, defined goal of what you want for your life, for your physical health and every other facet of your reality. Then you will learn how to redefine your self-image and reboot your confidence. You’re going to walk away believing in your ability to achieve your goals. And I’m going to give a set of steps, a skill set and a toolbox of how to achieve these goals. In the show we’re going to get to the bottom of why you and your dreams and your goals are worth it and subsequently how to achieve them.
What will you actually be doing in the two hours?
It’s me on stage but I’m engaging the audience throughout. I’ll be bringing different audience members on stage. There are exercises they go through, and questions to think about, write down and explore throughout the show. There are huge LED screens behind me taking people on this journey, so what I talk about you will see illustrated behind me. You won’t see so much Jillian the tough taskmaster in the show. I will confront you, challenge you and call you on the carpet, but there’s not going to be any yelling.
You tell audiences your own story, and describe your persona struggles with food and weight.
I’ve walked this path and know what it’s like. It’s like being a dry drunk. Once you use food for comfort, you always use food for comfort. You always have those issues. It’s who you are. Whether you’re an alcoholic, or use drugs or spend too much money, or eat too much – it’s the same issue. You’re nourishing yourself in destructive ways. So this show is my way of saying to people, ‘I get it.’ Although bad things may have happened to you, now you’re victimizing yourself and repeating the pattern. Here’s how to stop it. Here are ways of feeding that need that are life-affirming, not self-destructive.
On The Biggest Loser we’ve seen you push people beyond their endurance. Why?
The reason I yell on The Biggest Loser is because I’m dealing with a group of people who are literally killing themselves, who are digging a grave with their teeth. They are in a life-or-death intervention on that show. I need them to understand very quickly that the pain of where they are is greater than the pain in their fear of change. In addition, I need them to have success and achievement in that gym, because that’s the how-to of an accelerated transformation. I’m trying to set up an experience of success, where the glass is half full and they know what it feels like. And I need them to take responsibility for the state of their life. What they’ve done, how they’ve created this pattern. Because if you don’t take responsibility, then you don’t have the power to change it.
The Biggest Loser is a competition where the number on the scale is all that matters. How do you feel about that?
For me it’s never been about building a better body. It’s about building a better life. It’s about utilizing health as a platform to build your life, and utilizing fitness to redefine self-image. It’s never been about weight. Health is an entry point for a total transformation in your life. You’re not just healthier, you’re a happier human being.
I want you to be a healthy individual, physically and emotionally. Granted you’re not always going to be happy. Bad things are going to happen, but how you respond to those bad times is what will help you grow, so that things get better, not worse. That’s my goal.
It’s one thing to tell people they need to kick-start their goals. It’s another to show them exactly how to do so. How do you do that?
You have to establish a lasting source of motivation. The way you do that is by establishing your ‘Why.’ People can accomplish any ‘how,’ as long as they have a ‘why’ to live for. Maybe it’s fitting in that wedding gown, or walking your daughter down the aisle, living to 100, meeting your great-grandchildren or wearing a bathing suit on the beach for your 20th anniversary. What is the ‘why?’ When you have it, it makes any ‘how’ tolerable.
So who should go to your show?
If you feel stuck, like you wake up every day asking is this all there is, then this is the show you need to come to. I will get you unstuck. I will help you realize that the possibilities for your life are unlimited. It’s just a matter of having the tools and the skill set to achieve that.
More Info
WHO: Jillian Michaels
WHAT: Maximize Your Life Tour
WHEN: Thursday, April 18, at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater
Friday, April 19, at The King Center, Melbourne
TICKETS: RuthEckerdHall.com; KingCenter.com
