Short yet imposing with that booming voice, the local fitness expert stood atop a small raised platform in a corner of her downtown Santa Barbara studio on a recent morning.
Dozens of locals clad in colorful workout gear jogged on treadmills, powered through pushups and battled to hold arm weights — somehow still smiling through the pain.
A pregnant woman lying on a soft mat pushed through crunches.
The group gathered in the name of Jenny Schatzle, mirroring the 35-year-old Santa Barbara exercise and nutritionist guru’s energy and laughing when she spontaneously broke into dance or playfully called out a name with a compliment or motivational tidbit.
“I like the couple competition,” she said into her headset microphone, over the sound of upbeat pop music. “I’m into it.”
“This is a lifestyle.”
“Everybody finishes.”
“There is no better cure for a hangover than Jenny Schatzle.”
She could be right, if popularity has anything to do with it.
Locals are seeing results, and that’s what keeps them coming back for more. The reputation of the Jenny Schatzle Program has spread, especially since the facility moved from East Gutierrez Street where it opened in 2013 to a bigger and more visible location at 211 Carrillo St. two months ago.
Schatzle’s confident and sweet manner seems to win over most clientele, who are all ages, shapes and sizes. They sign up for her six-week program, which offers an unlimited number of classes and meal plan tips for $375.
Workouts are never the same and progress in difficulty, and there are nine classes a day from which to choose.
“There’s no judgment,” Schatzle told Noozhawk. “We believe in pushing each other. The only competition is with the ‘you’ you were yesterday.”
The Minnesota native said she fell into her career after moving to study communications at Santa Barbara City College in 2000. She began working the front desk at the former Gold’s Gym downtown at age 19 so she could take more fitness classes.
As a natural motivator, Schatzle pushed her classmates to do well — so much so that a trainer took her aside and said, “You’re loud, and people like you. Why don’t you teach a class?”
So she left college and did that for five years before briefly venturing into the local personal trainer industry.
“I missed groups,” Schatzle said. “That’s really where my passion is.”
She started hosting $5 weekend workouts at the beach across from Chase Palm Park shortly after, growing the class from 10 people to hundreds. That’s when she moved the Jenny Schatzle Boot Camp into a facility and added the less intimidating name.
She’s also a sought-after public speaker who always makes time to run or do fun outdoor activities with her fiancé, Connor.
Schatzle is selling a lifestyle program, emphasizing self-love and confidence over weight loss (although her clients get those results, too).
“My main goal is I want to move people,” she said, not ruling out future expansion. “My goal is to take over the world.”
It’s much less ominous than it sounds.
Schatzle wants people to reach their own goals, toiling alongside workout buddies and some of her five instructors who know everyone by name and dole out high-fives accordingly.
She said as much at the end of a recent class, after which a middle-age woman walked up to Schatzle with a big smile on her face, wrapping her in a hug.
“You almost killed me,” the woman said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
