Jeremy Markum: Living Life to the Fulliest

Photo (c) Keith Munyan

„Why weight training? Doesn't endurance work burn more fat? Be prepared for a mess!“ When Jeremy Markum is writing about workout, you feel, this man has a message. Writing and workout: two passions of Jeremy Markum. And he's made for both of them.

First of all the 30-year-old hunk is made for workout. Fitness enthusiasts know his amazing physique from many professional shots. Jeremy has worked with photographers like Keith Munyan and Louis LaSalle, and for big model agencies. He has appeared inside numerous fitness magazines, even twice on the cover of Men's Workout, as well as on several DVDs of Ron William's Vistavideo.com, which is well known for its popular fitness models.

Images (c) Men's Workout

But Jeremy Markum is much more than just a hunk. He has both: brawn and brains, and they complement each other. He's not only an ISSA Certified Fitness Trainer, Jeremy also holds a B.S. in Psychology and a Masters degree in Information Science.

His love for fitness and health began with soccer, martial arts, and football. Already during college, Jeremy shifted his focus to all natural bodybuilding. He competed, drug-free, in the all-natural bodybuilding contest The 2000 Illinois Open and placed first in the light heavyweight division, third overall.

Special training philosophy

Jeremy's time-crunched experience during grad school of building a fitness-model physique, while at the same time, keeping up with his studies, caused him to evolve and refine many of the principles espoused by bodybuilders and other elite athletes. Thus, he developed his own philosophy of training, nutrition, diet and a healthy lifestyle. Meanwhile he works as personal trainer and publishes his profound knowledge on his own website www.jeremymarkum.com. There he tries to stand out from the crowd of fitness sites: In each of his articles and products he has a special and very personal approach to the various subjects of fitness and health.

DVDs "Muscle Quest" and "Muscle Dreams" (c) www.vistavideo.com

One of his messages: simplifying fitness, working out in less time, but much more effectively. „I want to help people improve their health and get in shape, no matter how hectic their schedules are, to help people get in shape faster, with or without a gym membership".

Jeremy criticizes muscle magazines for publishing information which is profitable for the supplement companies advertising in the mags, but bad for the readers. He regards himself as the living proof that you can build an impressive physique without steroids, without spending your whole day in a gym, and still have a life.

Photos of Jeremy by Frank Celaya www.frankphotos.com

What sounds easy, is in fact hard work. Jeremy is diligent both in the gym and at his desk. It will be difficult to find a fitness author who is nearly as productive as Jeremy. He has written and produced countless publications: articles, podcasts and exercise demos for his own website, newsletters for www.atozfitness.com, even one chapter in its All-Star e-book. Moreover his products, which he sells on his site. Two examples:
The Tao of Functional Fitness is a big package of book, audio CDs and DVDs to get in good shape using training techniques that emphasize portability, like bodyweight exercise and elastic bands.
On his DVD Damn Good Exercises Jeremy shows how perfect form makes the difference in the gym, if someone strives for a body like his, such as his biceps with "18 inches on a good day“, he reveals on his DVD.

"Damn Good Exercises" (c) www.jeremymarkum.com

His diction is straight to the point: „Gain muscle to burn fat. The more muscle you have, the more calories that muscle will burn.“ His diction is humorous: „With more muscle you can sit on your duff watching Jerry Springer and burn calories.“ His diction is convincing: "Too much cardio burns muscle! So avoid it!" And finally, his diction is passionate: "My purpose in life is to live life to the fulliest, and help others do the same."

Always new projects in the pipeline

In 2006 his life has changed. Jeremy married and moved to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. There he has transformed a 1500 square-foot facility into The Rustic Fitness & Performance Institute (www.rusticfitness.com), where he specializes in training athletes: "I'm hosting performance camps for wrestlers, football players, and other youth sport competitors, as well as more individualized, 1-on-1 coaching for those who want the ultimate edge."

Copyright not found

Outside of fitness and health, Jeremy has yet quite another passion: writing fiction. He's working on his first novel. Genre: horror. And hopes for a bestseller.

Pretty versatile, this Mr. Markum: athlete, fitness model, personal trainer, author, self-made business man, philosopher. Is there a function which all these activities have in common, a kind of intersection? An answer may be found on his very early blog "Caffeine Induced Reality", six years ago. There he introduced himself by saying simply: "My name is Jeremy Markum. I'm a writer." Writer. Definitely one who has much to tell, and whose best chapters may yet come.


Quotations are taken from The Advanced Training and Nutrition Guide, available on www.jeremymarkum.com, and from various articles of this site.

Special thanks to Frank Celaya www.frankphotos.com, and to Ron Williams www.vistavideo.com for their great photos.

Best Workout:
RealWorkoutsInc
Repetrope