Fitness and wellness inspiration is everywhere, being thrust at us in the form of magazines, IG accounts, and curated Pinterest boards. No one can deny its limitless supply. But when we really dial in, we start to wonder: What of this actually inspires us to be our best selves, without attaching some futuristic ideal to our body shape or version of perfection?
We found precisely that in Jo Encarnacion of GoFitJo—a true, sincere source of inspiration. If you peruse her beautifully curated Instagram account (we see your photog skills, Jo!), you’ll find she’s often sharing more of the #highlightreal aspects of her wellness journey than that of the #highlightreel—pictures and words that are perfectly filtered and often lacking in substance.
We were lucky enough to sit down with Jo and chat about her journey—what she’s learned and what she passes on to her clients and those of us following along from afar.
HealthyWay: Thank you for taking the time to hang out with us! Let’s start by talking about strength. As you know, our summer campaign, Strong For Summer, is a guide to getting strong, however you define that. Can you share what strong means to you?
Jo Encarnacion: Strong takes on so many different meanings for me. Ultimately strong to me means having the ability to overcome any challenge mentally. Some days that strength is what you need to get up out of bed because you’re having a hard day. Some days strength is that mental toughness to deal with a hard task at work. For me being strong will always equate to having the internal power to overcome your own personal challenges.
How do you help your clients define strong for themselves?
Everyone defines strong so differently… For a lot of my clients, teaching them to be vulnerable is a sign of strength. I only coach women, and a lot of my clients are high-performing, goal-oriented women who simply just tackle their to-do list like no other. However, this can also bring on an overwhelming sense of having to keep up with the Joneses. For a number of them, finding strength in asking for help or being vulnerable to letting others in is where we insert that internal power.
Let’s talk about what movement looks like for you these days.
So this varies week to week depending on what I crave. Some weeks it’s two to three days of SoulCycle intermixed with three days of full-body circuit training. Some weeks I’m all in five days a week of lifting and one day of yoga. No matter what my movement looks like, I aim to move my body for about an hour five days a week and a day where the only movement I do is yoga.
We know you’re a proponent of HIIT training. Do you have a go-to workout?
My go-to HIIT if I’m in the gym happens to be a StairMaster HIIT cardio session. I do this for 30 minutes, working on a high interval of between [level] 8 and 12 for a minute and a low interval of [level] 5 for 30 seconds.
Recovery is so important, especially when you move as frequently as you do. What does your form of recovery look like?
I try to do a little bit of restoration and recovery every day. This is typically in a form of mobility, stretching, and foam rolling. Active recovery is a light walk or bike ride with my little one.
Okay, we’ve gotta know… You once said in an interview, “Exercise is optional, movement is essential.” What did you mean, and can you expand on this?
This phrase is such a beautiful phrase to me. Every single one of us were designed to move no matter what body, shape, size, form, skin color, etc. And I believe that throughout the course of the fitness craze, we’ve slowly focused on more regimented forms of exercise, heart rate training zones, and calories burned. Instead of focusing on these metrics, we need to focus on movement, because to me movement equates to feeling good in your body.
That’s such a beautiful way of looking at movement. How has your personal movement journey evolved through the years?
I only started exercising a little under five years ago. Health, wellness, and fitness [were] not a part of my upbringing outside of school. It wasn’t [a] topic of discussion in my household nor was it a priority for my parents to teach me. As I got older, busier, and more consumed by my own life as a mom, I started to go down a spiral of unhealthy habits and poor mental health. I was dealing with anxiety [and] depression and had a low opinion of myself.
[From there] my movement journey has evolved from the extremely rigid to a little bit more free flowing. When I first got into fitness, I had this perception that it needed to be one way and only one way in order to be healthy or that I needed to be a lean body type in order to do yoga or Pilates. …Ingrained in my mind was this singular perception of what fitness was meant to look like based on societal examples and the small range of role models we were given to follow: If you wanted to put on muscle, you had to lift weights, [and] if you wanted to have a lean, long body, you needed to do yoga or Pilates. There was just so much confusion….
So I found something that I fell in love with, which was bodybuilding and weightlifting. From there I started a short-lived two-year hobby of bodybuilding competitions, which was not only competitive but also extremely rigid. There was a meal plan and workout plan, and outside of that, there was no room for other forms of movement. The reason for this is because in bodybuilding, everything is meticulously calculated to a T. So in order to incorporate another form of movement into your week, you had to balance out your macros to make sure you were yielding the results you wanted. It was draining, but it also taught me so much about myself, what I was capable of, and what goals I could accomplish if I was hyper focused. Which, at that time, I very much so needed.
But now I’ve been able to define my health around how I truly feel in this present moment. Defining my health this way has allowed me to view exercise as optional—but movement [is] essential to one’s body and health.
Author: Ashley Murry
When we sat down with health and lifestyle coach Jo Encarnacion to talk about her wellness journey and how she maintains such a positive outlook on life, we knew she’d likely drop a few truth bombs on us. We were ready for that.
What we didn’t expect is that she would flip the concept of balance—the ideal that most of us seem to be chasing these days—on its head and present us with an entirely new perspective. Jo shared with us how she stays mindful through busy days, how “messy” can still be strong, and how being intentional allows her to be a role model for her girls.
HealthyWay: You’ve spoken about how a “messy” life can still be a beautiful life—a perspective that says so much about your overall mindset. How did you come to embrace this perspective?
Jo Encarnacion: I have this strong belief that we are all in the messy middle of our stories, still trying to redefine ourselves, our health, and how we move through our lives in our bodies. So to me when I think of “messy” I think of it as an unfolding of the journey we’re on. I see it as the part of our stories we’re still trying to sort out and … when we can sit and honor that, we find the most strength and the answers to what we’ve been searching for.
Do you have specific practices or routines that help you to maintain your positive outlook?
I use the Five Minute Journal app and recently was given the physical journal. I love it because it allows me to write down things I’m grateful for and tap into that mindfulness first thing in the day. I also honor my body by moving first thing in the morning. This might mean I’m heading straight to the gym to work out or lift, a SoulCycle class, or simply stretching—a simple cat to cow variation or simple Sun A flow. [Sometimes] I walk outside and just take in fresh air!
You have a lot going on in your life—you’re a mom, you run your own business, and you’re prioritizing your health and well-being. How do you create balance and stay mindful through all of it?
I think balance is something we’re always going to be working too hard to chase; I personally believe in harmony more than balance. I strive for harmony in my life and … like to think about harmony [similar to how] an a cappella group sings in harmony—you have a mixture of highs and lows, but everything together [creates] one beautiful song.
So this is how I look at all the areas [I’m juggling in my life]. It’s a beautiful mess, and all things aren’t always equally going well, but when I step back to look at the holistic picture, it’s really beautiful. [As for] how I practice mindfulness in my life … I look at my values and see how all actions, things I do, people I encounter, experiences I’m a part of all intertwine with [one another]. If they don’t fit [with my] value[s] then I give it a hard no so I can allow space for all other things to flourish.
Wellness starts with a healthy mindset and also impacts those around us. You’ve gone from bodybuilder to wellness coach promoting a healthy(ish) lifestyle. What impact has your wellness journey and, ultimately, your mindset shift had on your kids?
I see it in such little ways, which excites me the most. Like when Olivia calls berries candy or when she chooses to eat a healthier snack on her own. When it comes to self-love and body acceptance, I want to believe that my children have a stronger sense of self in order to face this world that’s constantly telling them to change.
Some of my intentional choices are to be actively mindful about the conversations about myself and body image around my children. I look to always see the good first before speaking about areas of improvement or growth. We don’t label good or bad foods in the house, rather we refer to them as energy sources and how that affects our energy throughout the day.
Most importantly I try my hardest to model joy in the house, because this world is already super stressful and we need to be able to really showcase joy so our kids can know to seek that in their everyday routines too.
Summer is such an amazing time of year, and with it comes a new energy and motivation. Maybe it’s the promise of pooltime—or maybe it’s just our vitamin D levels being restored—that brings out the sunny demeanor in all of us. Either way, the start of summer presents a great opportunity to check in with yourself and on your goals. If you set goals at the start of the new year, how have you progressed? Are they still relevant, or do you need to make a few adjustments?
Whether you’ve got ambitions to run a marathon, nail a one-legged crow, or get your finances in order (so you can make it to the inversions class to nail said one-legged crow), how you go about setting your goals can make all the difference.
To help your hustle, we called on lifestyle coach and self-proclaimed mother hustler Jo Encarnacion to give us her quick and dirty tips to setting and crushing your goals this summer.
Discover.
Self-discovery is incredibly important to both setting and achieving your goals. It helps to dig deep and learn more about yourself. In doing so, you’ll likely discover things that don’t exist on the surface—like what drives you and where you’re most confident.
Stay SMART.
Setting SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely is a common practice of businesses and teams. And the process works very well for personal goals too. The acronym serves as a reliable checklist to ensure the goal is well thought out and relevant to your current desires.
Time it out.
When working with clients, I break down large goals similarly to how I work toward my own goals—as smaller one-, three-, and six-month goals. Every two weeks we check in on their progress and make changes based on what’s working and not working. Setting smaller goals and pairing them with action steps helps with continuous progress.
Two Words: Bullet. Journal.
Bullet journaling is my favorite way to make lists! It allows you stay on top of your tasks while tapping into your creative side.
Enroll others.
Regardless of your specific goal, it’s important—and oh so helpful—to have others who can help you through. Find a community of like-minded women who you can look to for advice and lean on for support when necessary. There are countless Facebook groups, in-person meetups, and tools to support you as you work toward achieving your goals; take advantage of them!
Let passion prevail.
Don’t discount the importance of passion when it comes to the hustle. When you’re passionate about what you’re working toward, the goal is much more attainable. Check in to make sure you’re after that which sets your heart ablaze.