Interview Transcription

Samantha: Hi so what is your name and where are you from?

Jacob: I’m Jacob Fishback and I’m from Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Samantha: What year are you at FSU?

Jacob: I’m a senior, this is my last semester

Samantha: What is your major?

Jacob: Economics

Samantha: Is there anything that made you decide to come to FSU?

Jacob: Like half of my family went to FSU and my grandparents live in Tallahassee, my dad grew up in Tallahassee so I’ve always had a connection to this school.

Samantha: Are you like involved in any extracurricular or anything other than being a trainer?

Jacob: Umm... I’m in a business economics club that’s really it , its called NABE

Samantha: How did you get involved with working at the Leach?

Jacob: Um…so I guess like I was thinking about becoming a certified personal trainer on my own and then I actually saw a flyer in the Leach to apply for a fitness consulting position and that is like on the track to become a personal trainer. And they provide you with in job training that is really valuable to passing your exam and you get paid. So I figured that I might as well do that if I was going to go and do that on my own anyway.

Samantha: In what grade at FSU did you start doing that in? Jacob: I guess I would have been a junior when I started it. Like going into my senior year.

Samantha: Oh so you haven’t been working there since you began as a freshman? Jacob: No relatively new, just about a year

Samantha: What do you have to do as a trainer?

Jacob: Its mostly just like one on one training or group training. There is a very minimal amount of paperwork that we have to do its just mainly like signing sheets and stuff

Samantha: How many different clients or students do you have?

Jacob: I have like 5 different permanent clients right now and then you do a lot of free sessions with people so there’s a bunch of jut like one or two sessions with people and then you do a bunch of sessions with friends and whatever, its variable

Samantha: And students have to pay for them right?

Jacob: Students get 2 free sessions

Samantha: what, oh?

Jacob: then you can pay for packages after that

Samantha: What do you believe is the definition of a healthy lifestyle?

Jacob: Give me a minute to think about this … I think a healthy lifestyle is when you can become disciplined enough to you know go to the gym or workout in whatever way you can a few times a week or however many times you want to , eat healthy, and learn to practice moderation. It is not about never indulging or doing anything that is unhealthy. Its about being smart about making these choices. If you can be healthy most of the time that is the biggest thing to having a healthy lifestyle and staying sane.

Samantha: Do you think you follow this lifestyle?

Jacob: Yeah I would say so.

Samantha: What is your opinion on the food on campus with trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle?

Jacob: When I was a freshman it wasn’t great but I think that it has gotten a lot better. I know that they keep on having more and more healthy options. I don really use them because I don’t live on campus anymore and I cook all of my own food for the most part but from what I understand there’s a lot of healthier options popping up. Like with the new company taking over and making new food that is better for FSU.

Samantha: Would you say that specifically at FSU more people are dedicated to working out?

Jacob: I think that there is a really big workout culture at FSU. I don’t really know why but I think people around our age, kids in college have really been getting into working out. I think it has something to do with the availability of these really nice gyms. We have two really nice gyms and then we have IM programs and stuff like that. I also think that younger people just want to look good that’s another really big thing too especially college kids, especially girls.

Samantha: Do you think that the Leach and Health and Wellness Center provide all the things necessary for a good workout?

Jacob: The FMC is definitely geared towards cardio and the Leach is geared towards weightlifting. But I think that there is definitely something for everybody really I think that even if you don’t like a gym atmosphere you can always go to the IM fields or like the Rez and there’s all sorts of athletic activities out there and its all free so that’s good for everybody.

Samantha: How do you think going to FSU or college in general change the way that students think about their looks?

Jacob: I don’t know I think that with kids our age, social media is really popular. And I think that with social media people care more about how they look. they seek other people approval and stuff like that and they compare themselves to others a lot and constantly go onto social media.

Samantha: that is true, that’s I why I want to write this because I feel like this a controversial topic but you can get a lot of facts and opinions about it

Samantha: Do you think eating healthier, dieting helps you physically and mentally or do you think its one or the other?

Jacob: I think that it helps in both places. I might be a little bias here but I have been food journaling since my freshman year, basically everyday. I think it can be really easy once you habituate it into your lifestyle. I think that it is an overall positive thing as long as you stay healthy and don’t try like fat diets and stuff like that. If you eat healthy and eat enough food, it’s a really good thing and is really flexible.

Samantha: I can’t believe that you kept one for that long, do you eat junk food?

Jacob: I usually just do a couple cheat meals a week and everything else I meal prep. I’m not a big dessert or snack guy so ill have like little things. My Saturdays are usually awful and I eat terrible food all day and I’m basically good for the rest of the week.

Samantha: What do you think is the most effective workout and dieting style?

Jacob: I mean its definitely individual, it changes person to person. But the most generally effective thing would be a few 30 min sessions of cardio, some resistance training twice a week like weight training. As far as dieting goes I would say that the most effective thing is to calculate how many calories your body naturally burns a day without exercise then find out how much with exercise your body burns and that is how many calories you should main to eat a day if you want to maintain your current weight. And if you eat about that many calories and if you try to break down the carbs, fats and proteins into a good distribution where you are not overdoing any of the categories then that’ll be the healthiest way. That isn’t a fat diet or anything, that is just healthy eating.

Samantha: if you wan to loose weight you would have to take the number and …

Jacob: you would just have to eat less than that number and you will for sure lose weight. You just eat less than more and maintain your exercise level to try and lose weight

Samantha: Um… if there was like one word that describes the community that you work in what would it be?

Jacob: Um... I would say like passionate. Everyone there is really into working out. They really like there job and really like teaching people about exercise.

Samantha: Has working at the Leach taught you anything about yourself?

Jacob: Um…I don’t know let me think about this sorry. I don’t really have a good answer for that, no not really.

Samantha: you like knew everything before?

Jacob: No but I can’t really think about anything at the leach that made me think about myself that I haven’t before.

Samantha: That’s ok.

Jacob: one thing that it made me discover, I don’t know this is really specific, but I really don’t like trying to like pick up clients in person. That makes me uncomfortable, standing and asking like 50 people to work out with me. That is how you had to do it before you were a personal trainer, its called Fit Coaching or if you are low on client you have to do this and eventually someone will say yes

Samantha: What do you have to do now to get clients

Jacob: Um… usually you just get new applications and then you get notified and its just first come first basis and you have to contact them or you can go find clients out on your own

Samantha: That’s like really causal

Jacob: During fit coaching you don’t repeat clients so it was kind of hard to find clients eventually.

Samantha: Have you always been really conscious about everything you eat and stuff? Out of all the places that you could have worked why did you choose the gym?

Jacob: Well I chose the leach just because I was going to go into personal training as a side job on my own.

Samantha: Like to make money here while working in school? It like doesn’t really relate to your major or anything.

Jacob: Like yeah I wanted to make money while I was in school but I also liked that this job was super flexible. My schedule is completely on my won terms and I also wanted to be more educated about fitness in a professional sense and know that my sources are really legitimate.

Samantha: Are you going to continue all of this when you graduate?

Jacob: I use to work at a gym before I worked at the Leach over the summer a couple summers back home and my old boss told me I could go work there so it thought of that to make money right after college this summer or something but I think I want to go to graduate school for economics.

Samantha: Was it hard to balance, your job school and friends?

Jacob: Not this job it isn’t really super demanding

Samantha: Do you have anything else to add that would be valuable to my interview other than that?

Jacob: Well what is your question and point that you are trying to make?

Samantha: What at Florida State helps students between the ages of 18-21 create a healthier lifestyle? We are suppose to conduct research and find data and do an interview and we have to find sources for an annotated bibliography. I’m just like trying to do that if that makes sense. I’m not really answering the questions; I’m just trying to give facts about why certain factors help students have a healthier lifestyle.

Jacob: Well I guess I don’t know if I emphasized it enough when you asked a couple of questions earlier. But I really think that we have a ton of resources for students that are trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Like I think we could market a little bit better because no one knows about the two free sessions. You can even go to the heath and wellness center and you can talk to a dietitian and nutritionist.

Samantha: why doesn’t anyone know anything about this

Jacob: I think you have to like look in the right places

Samantha: You need to like go about it yourself

Jacob: they have information like on the TVs and flyers and brochures but no one really reads that

Samantha: Alright yeah that’s true. Thank you so much for helping me I really appreciate it

Jacob: For sure good luck on your project.